29/12/24 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 56lb 12oz

Catch - 26 Carp

Weather - Cloudy with sunny period.

Match - Open (20 fished) - joint 1st overall

With the upcoming teams of 4 I booked into todays match. With 20 booked on, the pegging was going to be a bit tight and p21 was in the right area, although a little concerned as I was in middle of 5 anglers.

 
As I was setting up it was obvious there was a few fish in front of me, although the water was quite clear and hoped they would feed. On the all-in I tried dobbin bread across, but couldn’t get a proper bite, whilst Nigel Reeves to my left and Andy Fry to my right were catching straight away dobbin maggot. I tried catching on the deck by a clump of sedges tapping in maggot with a little

crushed expander, which produced 5 fish, but I wasn’t catching as quickly as Nigel, who got off to a flying start.
 
I did catch one carp dobbin corn skins, but it just wasn’t right and after an hour I set up a light 4x10 rig to fish maggot.
 
It was a relief to start catching and I spent the next 3hrs dobbin maggot along various areas of the far bank.
 
The last hour slowed down. I had fed maggot at 2+2 and at the bottom of the far shelf, but never had a bite, from either swim. Fortunately, I managed to catch a couple more carp, dobbin maggot, including one on the all-out.
 
At the weigh in, I knew I had been catching up Nigel, but thought he was just ahead of me, so was a little surprised when we both weighed the same to jointly win the match.
 

1.    56-12 – Ken Rayner – p21
1.    56-12 – Nigel Reeves – p22
3.    41-11 – Martin Pettifer – p7
4.    40-13 – George Organ – p5
5.    39-  3 – Gary Townsend – p19

28/12/24 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 129lb 5oz

Catch - 43 Carp, 4 Roach, 1 Perch

Weather - Grey, overcast and cold.

Match - Open (11 fished) - 5th overall

After a tough month of not catching a lot, I decided to fish todays open to get a few bites and looking at yesterdays result the bulk of the fish appeared in front of pegs 58 & 56 which were first and second with 486lb (Martin Rogers) & 446lb (Jack Stamp) respectively.

I wasn’t disappointed to draw p48 and speaking to Lee Jan who drew it yesterday, he weighed 262lb for 4^th mostly catching down the margin on maggot over micros.

I started at 4m on 6mm bubblegum pellet over 6s. After 45mins I had 11 fish and looking around it seemed to be on par with everyone else. I had an early look down my margin, but had no bites and my short pellet line was now fading.

As there were fish boshing by the island, I tried fishing the method, hooking 4 fish, but only netting 2 and by the end of the second hour I had added not a lot as I chopped and changed. In hindsight I was trying to force the peg too much, expecting 200lb+, when the fish weren’t really having it.

I wasn’t the only one struggling and decided to change tact slightly. I set up a new line at 10m, feeding 4mm pellet, instead of 6s and started catching again, but just as I thought I was lining a few up, the swim faded again. Fortunately, the margin swim started to show signs of life where I caught for the last 90mins fishing dead maggot over micros, although the last 15mins the fish had backed off.

Overall, the lake fished harder than yesterday, and I didn’t get my feed right and should have fished a different match, but at least I caught a few fish which was welcome.

1.    237-  0 – Tony Gilbert – p44

2.    184-14 – Alfie Rhodes – p54

3.    157-  2 – Adrian Drew – p49

22/12/24 - Shiplate - Hawthorns

Weight - 18- 0

Catch - 4 Carp, 1 Ruffe

Weather - North westerly gales. Cold, mostly sunny

Match - Winter League (14 fished)

I agreed to fill in for Luke Fothergill for this final round of the Winter League. I must admit I questioned why, as 50mph winds were being forecast. Fortunately, as we were on the canals, the north westerly would be mostly blowing from behind.

Peg 5 on Hawthorns was my home for the day and to be honest not a lot happened.

The far bank plumbed up horribly, not helped by the far bank shrubbery as I couldn’t get tight to the far bank. I did manage 2 carp dobbin bread in the first 15mins and thought it might be ok, however those fish were a false dawn.

I managed 1 more carp on maggot, fishing the bottom of the far shelf and 30mins from the end caught another carp in front of peg 6 on meat over micros.

Despite the tough run I’ve been on, I have always felt I’ve done OK, however today, it was obvious I had got something wrong as there was a 52lb to my left and 37lb to my right.

1.    124-  3 – Mark Poppleton – p7 (West Pool)

2.    117-  2 – Gary Flinders – p13 (WP)

3.      96-  4 – John Mills – p1 (WP)

4.      90-  9 – Mark – p5 (WP)

21/12/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 20lb 12oz

Catch - 3 Carp, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Mostly cloudy, strong westerly

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 4 (33 fished) - 2nd in section, 15th overall

As the 4^th round of the league was postponed 2 weeks ago due to Storm Darragh, today was effectively the 4^th round (and the final round is now 1^st February).

I was lying 7^th in the league, but there are 5 of us on 5pts and I have the lowest cumulative weight, so today I really wanted to draw a corner and to put a decent weight in the net.

I was a little disappointed with p33, which to be fair is a decent section peg, but I was always going to be fishing for 2^nd as venue regular, Paul Homewood turned up on p31.

It rained heavily yesterday which meant today was going to be tough and I started the match cautiously, trying the lead & bread towards the island, then corn without success. In the meantime, Paul had caught a couple of carp and the writing was already on the wall.

After 30mins, I decided to try the pellet cone (80:20 mix of bubblegum micros and 2mm P-Nut pellet) and double corn and 10mins later I netted my first carp, which was a relief.

I had my 2^nd carp an hour later, again on the pellet cone and corn, but it was fair to say that it was hard going, and other than Paul no one else had caught a carp in my section.

As a backup I had fed groundbait and maggot at 16m in case I needed some skimmers, but I only fished this swim for 15min without success and I didn’t waste too much time trying, as I had already caught a carp, I wanted to concentrate on catching another one or two.

I tried pinging corn halfway to the island, but it was spreading too much in the strong head wind, so I switched to 6mm pellet. Unfortunately, I only caught 1 skimmer over this line. I also tried fishing the method tight to the island and unsurprisingly never had a bite.

With 30mins remaining I eventually caught my 3^rd and final carp, again on double corn and the cone. I did have another bite 5mins before the end on double corn, but it was only a skimmer.

As expected, Paul won the section with 47lb and I was pleased to finish 2^nd in section, which pushed me into 6^th in the league. Fingers crossed for a corner peg and a boat load of fish in the final round.

1.    82-13 – Pete Sivell – p39 (Tile)

2.    78-  3 – Jamie Cook – p9 (Brick)

3.    74-  4 – Dave Wykes – p40 (T)

4.    49-11 – Phil Phelps – p11 (B)

5.    47-  2 – Paul Homewood – p31 (T)

6.    46-10 – Chris Higgs – p27 (T)

15/12/24 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 13lb 3oz

Catch - 7 Perch, 5 Roach, 2 Carp

Weather - Mild,mostly cloudy with sunny periods. Breezy at times

Match - Club Christmas Match (14 fished) - 12th overall

With 14 anglers, this Christmas match was always going to be tough one. P25 put me in an area I thought would be Ok and I at least avoided the shallower end of the lake.

 

Starting on the lead and bread produced a small carp straight away. With no further bites on bread or corn, I tried my 11m line where I fed a 50:50 mix of Black ReAct & Black Bubblegum groundbait, a few 2mm p-nut pellet and dead reds. This produced some roach up to 12oz and then another small carp.
 
The rest of the match was just a struggle. I managed a handful of perch to my right at 8m on maggot, but I really needed to catch some carp.
 
I had expected to catch by the island late on where I had been pinging 4mm pellet and corn, but never had a bite. In fact, I tried various areas of the swim without success.
 
By the all out, I was in a row of 6 pegs, that were bottom of the standings, so obviously the fish didn’t want to be in the area. My peg was 8ft at 6m and just over 9ft at 11m, which in hindsight was too deep and the fish didn’t want to come in too close the bank.
 
As it turned out the shallower end of the lake was the place to be.
 
1.    38-  1 – Tim Lynch – p11
2.    29-  6 – Martin C – p17
3.    25-12 – Terry Fell – p7
4.    23-  7 – Mark Cartwright – p5
5.    23-  4 – Tom Ince – p13   

08/12/24 - Hillview - Moorhen

Weight - 18lb 9oz

Catch - 3 F1s, 3 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather - Northerly gales, rain later

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 10th overall, 5th on the lake

The 4^th round of the Bomb & Feeder league at Sedges fell victim to Storm Darragh with 70mph wind gusts forecast and a met office red warning issued.

The wind for today had reduced to 40mph gusts blowing in from the north, so a cold day was likely.

Today was the final Tackle Den match of the year and we would be on Moorhen and canal 2. I drew p6 on Moorhen which is normally a good peg, however I had the wind blowing straight into my face and an uncomfortable day was on the cards.

I started on the straight lead towards the island, firstly with bread and then corn without a bite. I then tried the maggot feeder, but halfway into the match I was still fishless.

I had also been cupping in maggot at 2+2, expecting to catch a few Ide, but felt in hindsight I had fed a little too heavily, so set up another swim to my right were it started to shelve up, feeding more negatively with micros and maggot.

The 2^nd half of the match was better, as I eventually caught an F1 on the maggot feeder, then caught a couple of skimmers and an absolute beast of an F1 weighing 8lb 10oz over my negatively feed pole line. I caught my final F1 from the right margin over dead maggot.

I was surprised not to catch any Ide, but it was bitterly cold in the wind and all the better weights on the lake were to my right, with Matt Greaves winning our lake from p9. However, canal 2 was the place to be as it offered some shelter from the wind. Another day for me to forget, but it was tough for most due to the poor weather conditions.

I finished the club aggregate league in 2^nd behind Andrew Black who deservedly won and Matt finished 3^rd.

1.    65-  9 – Alistair Tilney – p60 (Canal 2)

2.    54-  2 – Jason Crump – p65 (C2)

3.    38-  6 – Pete Phillips – p67 (C2)

4.    35-13 – Matt Greaves – p9 (M)

5.    32-10 – Paul Stafford – p62 (C2)

1/12/24 - Harescombe - Field Lake

Weight - 4lb 14oz

Catch - 1 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Sunshine and showers

Match - Open (10 fished) - 7th overall

Another trip to Harescombe, this time on Field Lake and I really thought it couldn’t be any worse than yesterday.

Peg 1 put me on the first peg after the Willow tree on the left bank and I fancied it for a few particularly late on meat. Well, another disappointing day. I started on bread into the right-hand corner and then the lead & bread 20m out, without success.

As very few carp had been caught, I tried catching some silvers at 13m and then 14.5m om maggot over groundbait for a few skimmers. To be honest I thought I would at least catch a few more than I did.

With 2 hours remaining, I needed to catch some carp and started pinging corn and pellet at 16m. I had hoped I would catch on a 3+2 line with meat and to be honest I couldn’t believe I couldn’t get a bite. I eventually caught a small carp on meat fishing into the right-hand corner late on.

Overall, the whole lake fished very hard. The top 3 all caught fishing single baits against features. Very little was caught over any feed. Ed Bryant to my left and Luke Seabrook on the dam wall tried catching through the water, which both are very good at without success.

A frustrating day and I’ll be glad when the fish settle down and we can catch a few fish.

1.    25-  3 – Aaron Nash

2.    24-13 – Allan Oram

3.    20-  3 – Andrew Black

30/11/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 4lb 15oz

Catch - 1 Carp, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Mild and cloudy. Breezy at times

Match - Open (14 fished) - 10th overall

I was looking forward to fishing Match Lake as I haven’t fished it since September and some new fish were added a few weeks ago.

Although I expected a tricky day, I was happy with p22 as it has been a good area recently. I started dobbin bread across to the island, I hooked a foul hooker, which soon came off. Next put in I had a proper bite and it was a good fish, which then snagged me in some near bank sedges. The 3^rd put in I foul hooked another fish, which also came off.

So, not the best start, and no more bites.

I just couldn’t get a bite. I had 2 swims set up to fish against the island, toss potting maggot in one and a little groundbait over the other, where I had 1 skimmer. I also fed my margins with maggot and meat over a short line, sure I would at least get a couple of late fish, but nothing. I even tried pinging pellet to my left, but I just couldn’t catch any fish.

My one and only carp came on the all-out dobbin bread against the island. Liam next to me on p24 only had 2 carp, so a classic case of aquatic bingo as the fish seemed to have shoaled up in other areas of the lake.

1.     79-  4 – Allan Oram – p29

2.     54-15 – Steve Partington – p4

3.     41-  4 – Mick O’Brien – p20

4.     34-  5 – Jerry Wiggett – p10

23/11/24 - Sedges - Brick Lake

Weight - 24lb 9oz

Catch - 2 Carp, 6 Skimmers

Weather - 2 Carp, 6 Skimmers

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League rd3 (35 fished) - 15th overall, 2nd in section

Following a week of cold weather, storm Bert arrived (although I think we missed the worst of it), which was likely to stir the cold water around and I wasn’t sure where I wanted to draw.

 

Mixed feelings when I drew p8, as this side of Brick Lake has been hard and I really needed to hope that the corner peg p10 didn’t catch.
 
On the all-in I deposited 3 large feeders of groundbait (50:50 – Black Bubblegum : Black ReAct) and dead maggot at 16m. Whilst that settled, I started on the straight lead towards the rope for 1 small skimmer on bread and another on double corn.
 
After an hour Ken Cocks on p10 already had 3 carp and was easily winning my section as no one else had a carp so far. A switch to a 3-hole mini feeder over the 16m line and I caught 2 more skimmers on dead maggot, losing a 3^rd. I also missed a couple of bites, which were difficult to see in the heavy wind.
 
At the halfway point I was struggling to get a bite anywhere in the swim and then Paul Rossiter on p7 caught a carp. As I was struggling to line up any skimmers and there were no signs of improvement, I decided to stop feeding groundbait and ping corn over the 16m line – I never had another over this line, but it was worth a try.
 
As for the far line I had been using a pellet corn (80:20 mix of Bubblegum Micros : P-nut micros) and catapulting balls of micros in the hope of pulling in some carp from the other side of the rope as the fish seemed to be balled up in front of the pegs opposite.
 
A near 3lb bream, caught on my light lead rig and corn, followed 45mins later by a smaller one, were welcome bonuses.
 
With 90mins remaining I caught a carp on corn, which put me 2^nd in section, however Scott Laver to my left caught his first carp and then lost a 2^nd shortly afterwards. Bob Gullick on p6 was also catching skimmers on a hybrid and I felt I really needed another carp.
 
With 10mins remaining the rod was nearly pulled off the rest and a 10/11lber was safely netted to secure 2^nd in section behind p10, which to be honest I was happy with. The corners were definately the place to be as 6 out of the 8 corners won their sections.
 
As for the league I slipped from 6^th to 7^th, however there are 5 of us on 5pts - I just happen to have the lowest combined weight. So, with 2 matches remaining its incredibly tight.
 
1.    118-15 – Robert Dumitrscu – p11 (Brick)
2.    102-10 – John Moody – p30 (Tile)
3.      93-  6 – Ken Cocks – p10 (B)
4.      80-  0 – Steve Jackson – p40 (T)
5.      72-  8 – Paul Homewood – p12 (B)
6.      57-14 – Pete Sivell – p14 (B)

 

 

13/11/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 37lb 5oz

Catch - 10 Bream, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Bright and sunny, light breeze

Match - Open (16 fished) - 4th overall

Another match at Shearwater, but only 16 this time which at least meant a few more spaces and hopefully better fishing.

My day didn’t start well when I realised 10mins after leaving home that I had left my big feeders at home and due to heavy traffic getting out of Melksham meant I arrived 30mins late. Fortunately, I spoke to Clayton who drew my peg, and I ended up on the lawns again, this time on the left side, with Clayton on the same peg as 2 weeks ago. There were also 2 pegs above the Boathouse, which was the better end in the last match and there were no cormorants or otters, so hopefully I thought I might catch a few.

As my rods were already made up, I managed to get set up in time and ready for the 15mins pre-baiting period. This time I decided not to feed too much groundbait or corn, instead 5 medium cage feeders of micros (80:20 mix of Bubblegum & P-nut – soaked in Project X), hemp, a few 4mm p-nut pellets, with a dusting of black re-act groundbait was deposited at 66m.

Whilst I let that settle, I cast a hybrid towards the buoy to my left with an 8mm orange wafter hoping for an early carp. After a 20 min cast, I reeled in to find a 3oz skimmer attached which promptly dropped off as I went to swing it.

The next cast was over the feed using 6mm pink wafter with some worm cloud. 12 mins later the tip went round and my first bream. After 90mins I was up to 4 before the swim died and then Clayton caught 4. The news was the 2 pegs above the boathouse had 4 & 5 bream.

After re-feeding, I tried a short (30m) line, but only had indications from small fish, so stuck with the 66m line. With 2hrs remaining I was starting to get bites within 3-8mins and it was looking good for a strong finish, however 3 cormorants turned up and I couldn’t get another bite for an hour.

When they disappeared, I re-fed and caught 2 more bream in the last 30 minutes.

In the end 4 of the top 5 came the lawn side of the lake, so the fish definitely moved from the last match with the top 2 coming from the other side of the boathouse, but overall a tough day for most with only 7lb (2 Bream) needed to win the Dam Wall section.

1.    53-  7 – Mike Brown – p16

2.    44-  0 – Rob Manns – p15

3.    42-  5 – Martin Rodgers – p6

4.    37-  5 – Ken Rayner – p13

5.    18-15 – Clayton Hudson – p14 

10/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 45lb 2oz

Catch - 34 Carp, 8 F1, 3 Gudgeon

Weather - Grey & overcast, brighter later

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd overall

Originally 23 had booked in and fortunately this dropped down to 20, which meant we didn’t need to put in the corners.

I drew p20, which if I couldn’t draw between p7-p11, I was happy with. After catching nearly 100lb last week shallow I knew it would be different today with so much pressure on the lake and the lake fished as I expected.

I still decided to start short on the expander, just in case, but 1 F1 after 10mins confirmed what I thought. So out to 15m at the bottom of the far shelf, tapping in 4mm fishery pellets covered in Uzit P-nut oil, with a hair rigged 4mm or 6mm pellet. I kept going for nearly 3 hours and knew I was ahead of those around, however it was slowing down and I decided to push up the shelf a bit more, but it wasn’t nearly as good as I hoped and I had a really bad 4^th hour, not helped by losing a fish where the elastic snapped at the connector (and yes I had checked it).

By finding a shallower area at 16m, I at least had a good last hour fishing maggot. To be honest I was a little annoyed with myself for that bad 4^th hour, because I should have caught at least 50lb to win the match.

Performance of the match should go to Andrew Black who is leading the club championship, ahead of me with one more match remaining, who decided to fish despite having a bad back. Due to his bad back Andrew couldn’t use a seat box so he fished in a fold up chair, armed with a feeder rod and a couple sections of pole, and finished the match 3^rd. Well done mate.

1.    46-15 – Pete Phillips – p14

2.    45-  2 – Ken Rayner – p20

3.    30-14 – Andrew Black – p23

4.    30-12 – John Brady – p8

5.    29-13 – Alistair Tilney – p17

09/11/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 58lb 8oz (7lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 6 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 1 Eel

Weather - Grey & overcast

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 2 (39 fished) - 4th overall, 1st in section

The 2^nd round of the Uzit Bomb & Feeder league and we had one drop out so there were 39 anglers. Weather wise we had another day of grey overcast conditions with little wind, which was resulting in many fisheries suffering from oxygen crashes. So, it was no surprise to see the aerator on when we arrived.

I drew p37 on Tile again and again next to Karl Turner who had switched from p38 to p36. £1 side bet was soon placed.

It was noticeable the lake had gone a little clearer from 2 weeks ago. I had considered feeding groundbait at 16m as a back-up line, however I noticed a few skimmers topping in the area so I decided to catapult corn instead and only feed groundbait if I couldn’t catch on corn.

I had 2 lead rods, 1x light and 1x heavier rig, and a feeder rod which never got used.

Starting on the heavier rig with an 8mm pellet and a tea bag (2mm p-nut pellet) in the deep water at the bottom of the island shelve, hoping for an early carp. After a 20min cast I didn’t have a bite.

A switch to the 16m line soon resulted in a skimmer on corn. As for the island swim I had started feeding 8mm bubblegum pellet and fished a pellet corn (mixture of p-nut & bubblegum micros) and caught a 10lber on meat after an hour. However, I couldn’t catch another.

I caught another skimmer and an eel from the short line, but it wasn’t until I cast to the right of my feed by the island with the light rig that I caught another carp.

For the rest of the match, I just kept alternating between the 2 lines to keep catching. With ½ hour remaining I noticed peg 40 land another carp and to be honest I wasn’t sure whether he was ahead of me or not, but I was now struggling for a bite.

With 10mins remaining I tried double corn cast beyond my feed and 5mins later hooked a carp, which I eventually netted 7mins after the all-out. At 16lb 12oz it was certainly worth having as I managed to win the section, beating p40 by 8lb. Needless to say I was quite happy.

1.    97-  3 – Pete Sivell – p30 (Tile)

2.    79-10 – Paul Homewood – p35 (T)

3.    68-13 – Paul Tidball – p13 (Brick)

4.    58-  8 – Ken Rayner – p37 (T)

5.    57-  8 – Dave Romain – p25 (T)

6.    53-  6 – Dan Mitchington – p31 (T)

03/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 97lb 8oz

Catch - 45 F1s, 33 Carp

Weather - Grey & overcast. Light breeze.

Match - Open (6 fished) - 3rd overall

With not a lot on this Sunday, Ivy House made a late announcement they would be running an Open on Heron, so I booked in.

There were only 6 of us and Andy put in every other peg from p2 to p12. I drew p12 which was the one peg I didn’t want as it’s a corner peg that is rarely put in.

Speaking to Pete who was fishing the Winter League on the other lakes he said he caught shallow yesterday during a pleasure session. As I was unloading the car, I realised I left my shallow rigs at home, but fortunately I had a couple rigs I could adapt.

As it felt a bit chilly, I started at 14m fishing a hair rigged pellet, toss potting 4s. I caught a few carp, but it was obvious the fish were up in the water already as I struggled to get a clean bite fishing on the deck. Therefore, I switched to fishing a short pellet line, whilst I primed the shallow line at 11m with maggot.

I caught a couple more carp over the short line but couldn’t line them properly and switched to my shallow line. Whilst my rigs weren’t perfect, I was at least catching F1s mostly on an over shotted rig.

Whenever the line needed a rest I tried the short pellet line with limited success, which just left the margins. I fed the right margin with corn and micros as I wanted to target the better sized fish, but I realised a little late that maggot and groundbait was the better option. To be honest I should have come 2^nd but didn’t as I spent too long in the first hour trying to catch on the deck, I was a bit slow getting the feed right in the margins and I was unprepared to catch shallow.

Considering it’s the first week of November the lake fished really well, however, I expect it will fish differently when the lake is full next week.

1.    160-  0 – Dan Driscoll – p8

2.    106-12 – Rob McMann – p4

3.      97-  8 – Ken Rayner – p12

30/10/24 - Shearwater

Weight - 4lb 5oz

Catch - 1 Bream, 2 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Perch

Weather - Cloudy, sunny later. Light breeze.

Match - Open (28 fished) - 17th overall

Managed to jump onto one of the few opens allowed at Shearwater run by Clayton and was more than happy to draw the boathouse on the lawns. However, we were met by an otter swimming around.

During the 15min pre-baiting period I deposited a good amount of groundbait, micros and corn at 61m.

After an hour I didn’t have a bite on the hybrid, but neither had anyone else on the lawns! As well as the otter we also had 2 cormorants for company, which were obviously unsettling any fish in the area.

As I couldn’t get a bite, I decided to feed a 25m line and fished a conventional cage feeder with dead maggot. This produced a couple of small fish and then a bream, but after that I struggled to get another bite.

For the rest of the match, I swapped between the hybrid and a conventional feeder at 61m for 1 perch, occasionally dropping in on the short line for a couple of small fish.

I tried waiting for up to 25mins on a cast on the long line and even tried fishing beyond 61m, but just couldn’t find any bream or carp.

A quiet day, where my section was won with only 23-15 (1 carp and 3 bream) and 4 of us only had a 1 bream, so not the area to be in.

In hindsight, I think I fed too much groundbait over my long line, it attracted too many small fish, which in turn encouraged the cormorants, but I still think I would have struggled.

1.    104-  8 – Andrew Pritchard – p15 (dam wall)

2.      69-11 – Zak Williams – p5 (road side)

3.      67-  8 – Jack Stamp – p9 (road side)

4.      40-10 – Steve Trevett – p11

5.      39-  3 – Mike Brown – p3

6.      31-15 – Andy Neal – p1

26/10/24 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 50lb 12oz

Catch - 6 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Cold start. Warm & sunny, no wind

Match - Uzit Bomb & Feeder League - rd 1 (40 fished) - 8th overall, 2nd in section

Today was the first of five rounds of the Uzit Bomb & Feeder league at The Sedges, with a full house of 40 anglers over Brick and Tile lakes.

I drew p37 which was in a decent area on Tile, although p39 and p40 were going to be tough to beat for the section points.

As I felt skimmers might be important in this league, I had a little practice on the Wednesday before (on p22) just to sort out my rigs and play around with a few ideas. I ended up catching 30lb of skimmers, on dead maggot over groundbait and later on corn which proved to be really good. So, I had a plan, target the island to start and feed corn (covered in Uzit P-nut cloud) at 13/14m as a backup.

Well, it was a very slow start for everyone. I started on the tea bag and 8mm pellet, with 2x 15-minute casts, as I didn’t feel regularly casting a method was the right way to start. However, after no bites I tried the method and then the maggot feeder, eventually catching a 9lber after 1hr 40mins.

I kept plugging away but with 90mins remaining I had only added 3 roach, despite rotating methods and even trying my corn line without success. In my mini section of 5, Nige Jeffery (p36) had 1x 12lber plus a couple of skimmers, Karl Turner (p38) had 2 carp, Nick Chedzoy (p39) had 4 carp including a 15lber and Shane Padbury on p40 was struggling. So, no one was running away with it, and I knew it would be hard, but not this hard. As well as having every peg in, the bright flat conditions weren’t helping.

Returning to my short corn line produced a carp, which was very welcome and then in the remaining hour I caught a further 4 carp, plus 2 skimmers on corn and another skimmer under my rod tip on meat.

I must admit I felt I got out of jail in that last hour, and I was relieved to have finished 2^nd in section to Nick and a reasonable start to the league.

1.    104-10 – Jamie Cook – p33 (Tile)

2.      83-  0 – Luke Fothergill – p21 (T)

3.      78-  8 – Robert Dumitrescu – p23 (T)

4.      71-10 – Dave Romain – p10 (Brick)

5.      64-  8 – Chris Ware – p14 (B)

6.      63-  6 – Nick Chedzoy – p39 (T)