25/08/24 - Hillview - Canal 1

Weight - 71lb 10oz

Catch - 25 F1s, 7 Carp, 6 Tench, 4 Roach, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Cool, cloudy and windy.

Match - Tackle Den (21 anglers) - 6th overall, 3rd in section

Todays match was over Moorhen and Canal 1, and everyone wanted Moorhen as it was likely the winner would come from here. Therefore, I was disappointed to draw p49 on canal 1 and a strong breeze blowing right to left down to Matt Greaves on p41 was going to be a challenge.

As I didn’t know which lake I would be fishing and I’m not in touch with the venue, I brought 4pts of maggot (in the hope of catching shallow on Moorhen), meat and corn. Having done well on meat recently I decided to start on this and see where the match took me.

As the wind was likely to increase during the match I decided to start across on 6mm meat, but soon switched to 8mm meat, toss potting meat and fishery micros. After an hour I had 9 F1s of varying sizes for about 15lb and a good start, matching Jason Crump on p47 who was fishing maggot short.

The 2^nd hour was a disaster. I managed to snag my rig on a root requiring a new hooklength, snapped another hooklength when a fish broke me and then a loose thread in my landing net somehow managed to wrap around my rig when I netted a fish, requiring a new rig.

Eventually I got back into a rhythm, however the wind was getting stronger. I had been feeding meat short and to be honest I was disappointed with the response and soon converted it to a short maggot line.

Due to the wind I also switched to fishing maggot across and catching F1s shallow, however the wind was just becoming impossible, and I had no choice but to fish short.

My maggot line produced a couple of F1s before they disappeared, which prompted a switch to my left margin (downwind) fishing meat. I soon added some proper carp and F1s before the swim died. Moving back to my short line, it was now full of small silvers and even feeding maggot heavily I couldn’t feed them off.

I had hoped for a strong last hour (5.5hr match) but it was slow going. The left margin produced the occasional fish and I eventually had to fish longer towards p48 platform catching my best fish of 8lb. I also caught a few fish down my right margin on 6mm expander.

Come the all-out I was a little annoyed with myself as that poor 2^nd hour cost me a possible section win, although the wind didn’t help either. In hindsight, I should have set up a pellet line when I realised the short maggot line wasn’t going to work.

As expected, the winner and second place came from Moorhen in the windward corner of the lake and Matt won our lake.

1.    96-15 – Steve Venn – p1 (moorhen)

2.    96-  6 – Andrew Black – p19 (moorhen)

3.    83-  3 – Matt Greaves – p41 (canal 1)

4.    82-  4 – Jason Crump – p47 (canal 1)

5.    73-13 – Cliff Dutton – p3 (moorhen)

6.    71-10 – Ken Rayner – p49 (canal 1)  

17/08/24 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 51lb 4oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 15 F1s, 4 Skimmers, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm and mostly cloudy

Match - Summer Series (11 fished) - 3rd in section, 3rd overall

The 6^th round of this series and unfortunately as usual with any league there were a couple of no shows that weren’t doing well in the league. This meant we only had 11 fishing today and a decision was made to remove a peg from each section, leaving one peg not drawn.

I was disappointed to find myself on p20, which was further compounded when Andy Jane drew p18 and Steve Brown on p15. Looking at past results, p20 has never been higher than 3^rd in section and plumbing up I realised why. Ideally you want an area with 18in of water, to catch the better stamp carp. I found 1 spot about 2ft deep tight to the far bank, but the margins were slightly deeper.

On the all-in I had a good start fishing meat (covered in Uzit A-krill cloud) at 3+1, netting 5 decent F1s and a small carp in the first 40mins. The next 30mins was a struggle, but I eventually started catching tight to the boards again on meat, including a big F1 which was weighed separately at 4lb 9oz.

I also managed a couple of fish from the short line, which I kept topped up when I needed to rest the far swim. After 3.5hrs, things were looking good. I could see Lucas catching on p24 and probably winning the section, I could also see Steve catching, but noted he was netting quite a few small fish. More importantly, I was probably 25lb ahead of Andy, who I needed to beat to strengthen my position in the league.

Moving into the last 90mins I was conscious I really needed my margins to produce to maintain my position but struggled. I tried paste down the right-hand margin as this was the deepest and meat down the left. The paste failed to produce, which was a surprise as it produced quite well last week, As, for the left margin I only caught a couple of small stamp carp.

I kept picking up fish from the far bank, which were now carp, but other than a 3-4lber they were a small stamp.  

In the meantime, Andy had started catching down his margins where it was only a foot deep amongst the sedges netting some much better stamp carp.

Come the all-out I was nervous about what Andy had, although he had fewer fish than me, the stamp of fish meant he was catching me up. Unfortunately, Lucas beat me from p24 and those better stamp fish for Andy, including a 5lber on the whistle meant he won the section.

Fortunately for me I just managed to beat Steve to finish 3^rd in section. Mixed emotions, if I’m honest, 3^rd in section was probably the best I could expect from the peg, but I was disappointed as Andy is now leading the league, due to a higher aggregate weight advantage.

With 2 rounds remaining, hopefully this round will be one of my droppers.

1.    59-  2 – Andy Jane – p18

2.    56-12 – Lucas Hurcombe – p24

3.    51-  4 – Ken Rayner – p20

4.    50-  6 – Steve Brown – p15

League Standing

1.    11pts – Andy Jane (371-5)

2.    11pts – Ken Rayner (337-9)

3.    16pts – Steve Brown

11/08/24 - Harescombe - Doughnut Lake

Weight - 65lb 5oz

Catch - 40 Carp

Weather - Hot and sunny. Light breeze

Match - Open (15 fished) - 2nd overall

I decided to fish todays open on the Doughnut Lake for only my 2^nd visit and hoped I would do better than last time.

I drew p24 and looking at the recent results it suggested it wasn’t the best and plumbing up probably revealed the reason why. I knew I would have focus on the far bank as it was too deep down the middle, however the far bank plumbed up like an egg box, with no shelf and the bottom almost immediately slopping away. With no flat spots, I decided fish corn so it would act like a plummet, and I at least would know that I was fishing on the deck in 2ft of water.

The corn was flavoured with Uzit P-nut cloud and I toss potted some p-nut micros. I also set up a small hybrid feeder, which I only used once at the start of the match as I wasn’t quite ready on time and caught a carp whilst sorting myself out. I also found a less steep area at 2+1 to my left which was fed with 6mm pellet.

After catching the carp on the feeder, I immediately went across to the far bank and it took 10mins to get going, but as the match progressed, I got bites reasonably quickly.

From those I could see, Nick Hancock on p19 was probably the only one who was beating me and I just kept my focus on the far bank.

Whenever I felt the far line needed a rest I came in on the short line, but only had 2 fish on paste all match. However, a 10/15mins rest was worth it as I started catching again when I returned to the far line.

Coming into the 5^th hour and the sport was slowing down or was it I was melting in the heat and at times the pole was literally too hot to handle.

Going into the last hour I had hoped my short line would kick in, but it never did. As a throw away line I dumped micros and corn down the left margin at 8m. Again, no flat spots, but the other issue was there was no cover. I did catch 1 carp and lost another, but the fish just didn’t settle which wasn’t a surprise.

Fortunately, the prolonged rest meant I had a good last 30mins fishing the far bank to finish the match 2^nd in what turned out to be a very close match for the minor places.

1.    100-  3 – Nick Hancock – p19

2.      65-  5 – Ken Rayner – p24

3.      63-10 – Gary Townsend – p7

4.      62-  7 – Ronaldo – p13

5.      59-  5 – Andy Jane – p11 

10/08/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 62lb 7oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 17 F1, 2 Roach

Weather - Mostly cloudy and breezy at times. Warm & sunny later.

Match - Summer Series rd 5 (14 fished) - 2nd in section, 2nd overall

Round 5 of the Summer League and a change of scenery when I finally drew the far bank in the shape p22. Allan Oram was pegged next to me on p24 subbing for Andy Jane who was 1pt behind me in 2^nd place and Steve Brown lying 3^rd was on the most consistent peg at the moment p16.

To consolidate my league position, I ideally needed to at least beat Allan. As usual for this league, my attack focused on 6mm meat covered in Uzit A-krill cloud, however I brought 2pts of caster just in case I needed to catch shallow, and I also mixed some paste (Uzit GLM).

I started short on meat and had 6 fish in an hour. Switching to the far bank I only had a small area to target of natural bank which offered shallower water, as most of the far bank was lined with wooden steaks. By toss potting meat with p-nut micros I caught a couple of better stamp carp in amongst the F1s and smaller carp.

As I only had the one small area to target across, I wanted to keep the swim going for as long as possible and switched to fishing paste to my right next to a reed bed as a back-up swim. Initially the paste only produced small F1s, but as the match progressed, I netted a couple of better carp.

Throughout the match it was nip and tuck between myself and Allan, and at one point I managed to get a 4 fish lead, but most of the time there was only ever 1 or 2 fish between us.

With an hour to go, both lines were starting to show signs of fading. I had considered trying shallow, however Mark Saunders on p20 had fished caster all match and only caught a handful of F1s, plus quite a few small roach, so I decided against it and kept nicking fish from both swims. I also caught a couple of F1s from my short meat line.

I had also been feeding meat and micros down my left margin, and to be honest the response was quite disappointing catching only a couple of small F1s.

As I still had the unused caster and I felt I needed another fish, a handful of caster and micros was deposited into my right margin where it was 12in deep. 10mins later the water was clouding up and the last 30mins proved to be quite productive catching 4 carp and 2 F1s on double caster.

Come the all-out, I thought (hoped) I had 2 fish more than Allan, which I did, however Steve took full advantage of his peg to win the section and the match.

1.    66-  7 – Steve Brown – p16

2.    62-  7 – Ken Rayner – p22

3.    59-  1 – Allan Oram – p24

4.    42-  6 – Les Harper – p29 

League Position

1.    8pts – Ken Rayner

2.    10pts – Andy Jane

3.    12pts – Steve Brown

04/08/2024 - Tunnel Barn - House Pool

Weight - 94lb 8oz

Catch - 48 F1s, 5 Carp, 5 Perch, 4 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Mostly cloudy and breezy at times.

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

A trip to Tunnel Barns House Pool with Tackle Den and we had a good turnout of 20 anglers. After the warm and sometimes hot weeks weather, today was cooler and cloudier, so I was a little unsure how it would fish.

Peg 8 for me which is a good area, although the island is 17m away and I set up a swinging rig (which never got used due to wind) to get closer to the island along with a couple of over-shotted rigs, conventional shallow rigs and a jigger. I also set a paste rig to fish 2+1 and a meat rig for the margins.

On the all-in I started on the GLM paste, whilst I primed my shallow caster line at 13m. After an hour I had 6 big F1s, although in hindsight I probably stayed on the short line a bit too long, but I wanted to give my shallow line as long as possible to develop and I couldn’t see anyone running away with it just yet.

When I did switch, I struggled to catch and eventually got going, fishing 4in deep with an over-shotted rig. However, it was tricky trying to stay in contact with them, switching between rigs and depth, and the breeze that was blowing right to left meant I struggled to keep my feed as tight as I would have liked.

As the match progressed, I started swapping between the long line and the left margin next to a small reed bed again catching shallow.

At the half-way point I was about to net a big F1, when my top kit slipped out of my hand and despite my attempts to pull it back it sunk. Steve Venn on p6 lent me a feeder rod and I unbelievably managed to snag it. However, just as I was about to make a grab for it, the hook detached and the top kit sunk never to be seen again.

After all that faffing about it took be a little while to get back into a rhythm.

The left margin was now only producing small F1s or silvers, so I started feeding 6mm meat covered in A-krill cloud with micros and I kept the short paste line topped up with small balls of micros. For 45mins I swapped between the margin and short line to keep me ticking over, whilst I kept feeding casters hoping my shallow line would recover, particularly as Steve on p6 was now catching really well over his.

When I returned to my shallow line, I caught a few big F1s, before the smaller ones returned.

In the last hour the margin line got stronger as I picked up a few carp up to 4lb in amongst the F1s, switching to the paste line to rest the margin.

When the match finished, I knew Steve had at least won our section as he was admitting to 160lb, so I was pleasantly surprised to finish 2^nd overall and a few more lessons learnt. In hindsight I didn’t feel that paste was right today, and I think I should have started my shallow line a little closer.

Another busy day and I do enjoy my visits to the venue.

1.    177-  3 – Steve Venn – p6

2.      94-  8 – Ken Rayner – p8

3.      89-  5 – Jason Crump – p32

4.      77-  3 – Andrew Black – p33

5.      70-10 – John Pearce – p29