29/09/24 - Manor Farm - Ash Lake

Weight - 51lb 9oz (9lb 13oz - silvers)

Catch - 10 Carp, 2 F1s, 21 Skimmers

Weather - Cold start, mostly cloudy, rain later

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 6th overall, 3rd in section

With 17 today, we had 10 on Windmill and 7 on Ash. At least it meant we would have more space than we had the last time we were here in June when we had 22 all on Windmill.

Being the bigger lake, Windmill was likely to produce the winner, but I wasn’t too disappointed to draw p15 on Ash. I had no idea whether it was a decent draw, but it looked OK. Plumbing up revealed 7ft of water from 8m and remained flat out to 13m. To be honest I didn’t fancy catching in that depth and found 2 areas left and right at 11.5m in 5ft of water. I also had a small, submerged bush to my right.

The match could be split into 3 parts. The first 2 hours I tried catching on 6mm p-nut pellet or 4mm bubblegum pellet, over 4mm bubblegum pellet, but only caught a couple of small skimmers. I also caught an F1 and a skimmer on the method, but I was going nowhere. In the meantime, Steve to my right was also struggling, but almost everyone else seemed to have caught a couple of carp or F1s.

As I couldn’t catch any carp or F1s, I really needed to put some fish in the net and hope for a late charge. Therefore, I decided to cup a ball of Uzit Natural Re-Act and GLM (mixed 2:1), with bubblegum micros and some dead reds at 11.5m. Double dead red maggot was best and by topping up every 2^nd fish with a nugget of feed via a toss pot, I managed to keep this line going for 90 mins or so, but with 2hrs remaining I really needed to catch some carp and F1s.

I had been pinging 4s to my left in 3ft of water and meat by the submerged bush. The meat swim was a bust, hooking 2 fish, but losing both as the hook pulled on 1 and I got broke by the other. Therefore, I set up a new swim to my right at 11.5m again pinging pellet in 3ft of water

By alternating left and right, fishing a hair rigged 6mm p-nut pellet, I caught some big F1s up to nearly 6lb, plus a couple carp. I knew I had the best last hour on the lake, but felt I needed another 30mins and that’s how it worked out missing out on winning the lake by 7lb.

1.   90-14 – Steve Chandler – Windmill Lake

2.    71-  2 – Cliff Dutton – Windmill

3.    58-13 – Matthew Gale – p5 Ash

4.    56-  6 – John Pearce – Windmill

5.    56-  4 – Bobby Moore – p18 Ash

6.    51-  9 – Ken Rayner – p15 Ash

14/09/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 34lb 3oz

Catch - 12 Carp, 4 F1, 6 Skimmers

Weather - Cold start, sunny all day and a strong breeze

Match - Summer Series rd 8 (14 fished) - 5th overall, 2nd in section

When I signed up for this summer series, I felt a top 3 position would be good as there were a number of good local anglers competing.  

Today was the final round of the series and I was lying 2^nd behind Andy Jane who had the same number of points as me but had a better weight advantage. Regardless of today’s result I was at least guaranteed 2^nd place, but I obviously wanted to win if possible.

I drew p14 and was happy with my draw as I fished it in the first round claiming a section 2^nd. Andy drew p15 which is the end peg on my bank and in the other section. To be honest I thought I had a chance of winning my section and hoped Andy would finish no better than 2^nd.

Setting up, there was a stiff breeze blowing left to right down the lake, which could make fishing the far bank difficult. We also had a couple of cold mornings recently and a tricky match was expected. I still decided to focus on fishing meat (covered in Uzit A-krill cloud) as I have done all series, but had some 4 & 6mm expanders, plus maggot just in case.

On the all-in I started on meat at 3+1 to my left and managed 1 carp, an F1, plus a couple of skimmers in the first hour, which was par with those around me.

The next couple of hours were a struggle. I had an early look across to the island, toss potting a few cubes of meat with p-nut micros, but the wind was proving to be a nightmare as I couldn’t get any decent presentation and when I could keep the rig still, I couldn’t get a bite. In the meantime, Mark Saunders to my left on p12 had managed to catch a few fish across and was ahead of me, plus Andy was now catching down the end bank and was probably leading his section.

In an effort to make something happen, I fed a little groundbait (a 50:50 mix of black bubblegum crush expander) with micros at the bottom of the far shelf, fishing a 4mm expander I caught a couple more skimmers, plus 2 small carp. I tried maggot but only caught a tiny skimmer, so stuck with expanders.

With 2 hours remaining I only about 8lb. Fortunately the wind had dropped, and I could now fish the island, and at last I started to catch on meat. As a back up I had fed meat on a short line and down my left margin. The short line didn’t produce, but to be honest as I didn’t have anything to lose, I was being quite aggressive with my feed in the hope of catching some bigger carp.

As for the margin I only caught 2 fish and struggled to catch from the island swim in the last 30mins resulting in a disappointing end to the match. I had hoped to have won my section, however although Mark had fewer fish, he some chunky F1s caught shallow on caster to claim the section win.

In the end it didn’t matter as Andy won his section and the match to claim the series win, so well-done Andy.

Overall, I was pleased to claim 2^nd and £280. The fishing has been tough at times, however it’s a lovely venue, with brilliant owners who just want to improve the fishery.

1.    60-  6 – Andy Jane – p15

2.    44-  7 – Steve Partington – p18

3.    38-  1 – Mark Saunders – p12

4.    36-  4 – Luke Seabrook – p20

5.    34-  3 – Ken Rayner – p14

Series Top 3 (after droppers)

1.    Andy Jane – 9pts (372-  4)

2.    Ken Rayner – 10pts (320-  8)

3.    Steve Brown – 12pts (287-  2)

01/09/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 257lb 8oz (15lb silvers)

Catch - 52 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 1 Tench

Weather - Cloudy and muggy. Rain later

Match - Open (9 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd on lake

After seeing there was an open being run at Shiplate over the canals I decided to jump on as I enjoy my visits. Sadly, there were only 9 of us and a decision was made to split us over both canals, rather than putting us all on the 1 lake, mostly because Steve Howell didn’t want to be surrounded by too many people. At least it would mean lots of space and hopefully bites.

I drew p2 on West Pool, which is a peg I have always fancied drawing. There was a reed bed to the left where I decided to fish GLM paste, although my main attack would be 8mm meat covered in A-krill cloud.

On the all-in I had thought about starting across on the far bank with meat, however there were a couple of pleasure anglers on the main lake who were doing a lot of walking between their pegs as they were setting up. Therefore, I decided to start by the left-hand reed bed whilst the pleasure anglers settled down and started fishing.

After an hour I probably had 50lb of carp, plus 10lb of skimmers and a single tench, and a much better start than I expected. I found feeding 6mm p-nut pellet was better than micros, probably because the swim was nearly 3ft deep.

A switch to fishing across on meat, which proved to be troublesome. On 3 occasions I managed to snag on underwater roots, which required me going around and pulling them out. Once the swim was cleared, I caught, but I didn’t feel it was quick enough. I also lost a complete rig, when the elastic snapped on the puller, which was annoying as I only checked the elastic last week, but obviously not closely enough.

A quick try down the right-hand margin in 18in of water, fishing meat over GLM groundbait and bubblegum micros resulted in a good run of fish that were a better stamp than those I was catching across. In fact, I never went back to the far bank again.

After 3hrs (6hr match) I probably had just over 100lb. Back down the left-hand paste swim, I had a really good spell for 30mins before I started foul hooking.

The remainder of the match was a case of alternating between the 2 margins swims, where feeding 6s down the left was still best and toss potting groundbait/micros, plus a couple of cubes of meat was best down the right.

I had the occasional look over a 2+2 swim fed with meat, where I caught a couple of carp, but the 2 margins swims were definitely best.

I was pleased to weigh 257lb and a PB for the venue, where I ran venue expect Kirt close, missing out on the lake win by 20lb and was left ruing my bad 2hr hours, but still a great days fishing. As it happened Hawthorns fished even better!

1.    309-  7 – Gary Flinders – p3 (Hawthorns)

2.    298-  8 – Dave Cockayne – p5 (H)

3.    279-12 – Kirt Pinkett – p6 (West Pool)

4.    257-  8 – Ken Rayner – p2 (W)

Silvers

1.    21-  8 – Ron Stark – p9(W)

2.    15-  0 – Ken Rayner – p3 (W)

3.    13-10 – Golly – p11 (W)