01/02/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 24lb

Catch - 8 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Bright start, showery later.

Match - Teams of 4 - rd 2 (40 fished) - 5th in section, 18th overall

The 2^nd round of this teams of 4 and I at least made this round without incident. Have to say a big thank you to Trevor Halliday who stepped in during the last round at very late notice and the team won the 1^st round.

Today’s draw put me on p14 (old p18) and to be honest I was happy with that although the peg struggled last week. The hot pegs were to my left and when I saw Steve Brown (p16), Chris Telling (p18) and Ronaldo (p20), I knew it would be difficult to beat them.

On the all-in I started dobbin bread along the far bank and had 2 carp in the first 10mins. Sadly, the next hour didn’t go as planned as the next 3 fish all came off and the air turned a little blue!

I tried tapping in maggot tight to the far bank using a light strung out rig and at half depth, but couldn’t get a proper bite, whilst the pegs to my left (particularly Chris) were catching. The only other person I could see catching was Cliff Dutton on p8, although it sounded like he was foul hooking a few.

Next, I tried fishing a metre off the far bank that is usually good for a few bites but I only caught 1 carp. I had another on the straight lead and maggot, but I just felt I was on the edge of the fish as I couldn’t get a run together.

I persevered with tapping in maggot and a little groundbait (So Simple Top G : Crushed Expander) against the far bank but I still couldn’t get a proper bite. I even tied a new rig with a bulk and 4” inch hooklength, and had a fish straight away, but again couldn’t get another, although I did lose a foul hooker.

A final throw of the dice was a 6m line to my right at the bottom of the near shelf, fed with maggot where I caught 3 carp late allowing me to claim a few more points.

So, a tricky and frustrating day, finishing with 5pts (out of 10). Fortunately, as a team we didn’t have any blow outs and Steve won Meadow Lake, which meant we finished the day 2^nd, maintaining our lead in the league.

1.    63-15 – Chris Telling (Team 1,2,3,4) – P18 Doughnut

2.    55-  4 – Matt Greaves (4 skinz) – p6 Match

3.    53-15 – Steve Broadhurst (Tackle Den) – p11 Meadow

4.    53-14 – Luke Fothergill (Future Networks) – p3 Match

5.    53-  1 – Andy Fry (Team 1,2,3,4) – p15 Match

6.    49-  8 – Alistair Tilney (Tackle Den) – p24 Match

Teams of the Day

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 13pts

2.    Tackle Den – 15pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 18pts

League to Date

1.    Tackle Den – 3pts (27pts)

2.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 3pts (28pts)

3.    Maver Harescombe Green - 6pts

24/01/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 26lb 14oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 1 Perch

Weather - Grey and windy. Showers later.

Match - Open (8 fished) - 3rd overall

At least I managed to make it to the venue this week, having suffered a tyre blow out last week,after hitting a pothole.

Only the 8 of us today and Gary decided to peg us on the ‘sheltered’ side of the lake due to forecast gale force winds.

It was my first time fishing the lake since Gary had re-pegged the lakes, reducing it from 28 to 21 which is better and we now have pathways to the pegs that will help keep the kit a little cleaner.

I drew peg 16, which was between old pegs 20 & 21, so the right area. The problem was the wind. As I set up the wind was roughly from behind and the trees offered some shelter. Unfortunately, the wind switched slightly and began blowing from a more southerly direction, effectively up the lake, left to right.

On the all-in I tried fishing tight to the far bank, but the wind was already proving difficult, not helped by the fact I had to fish with a short lash to fish under the branches.

I tried fishing in the slightly deeper water a metre off the far bank, but presentation wasn’t good and a switch the straight lead and pinkie resulted in a tiny perch, but no carp.

Chris to my left already had a couple of fish dobbin maggot, however with less overhanging foliage he was able to fish with a longer lash.

During the occasional periods where the wind dropped a little I was able to stick my dobbin rig under the branches, tight to the far bank fishing 14in deep I could catch a couple of fish mostly on double pinkie or maggot before the wind became too much.

I then switched to the straight lead for 1 carp, but felt I needed to feed some bait and switched to the maggot feeder 2m off the far bank, adding a dash of So Simple Top G smog to the maggot in the feeder. At one point I had 3 fish reasonably quickly, but it was obvious dobbin under the trees was best.

I struggled in the last hour when the wind picked up again and I managed to snap my no5 section!

A frustrating day where I knew I could have definitely doubled my weight if I could have fished properly.

1.    49-  5 – Chris Cameron – p17

2.    33-  9 – Allan Oram – p21

3.    26-14 – Ken Rayner – p16

17/01/26 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 50lb 5oz (42lb 7oz - silvers)

Catch - 14 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Roach, 3 Carp

Weather - Bright, sunny, light breeze

A rare pleasure session at my club water and the intention was to target the silvers.

Although the water temperature was only 5c I've ended up having a lovely day.

I fed swims at 10m left and right in 7ft of water, with small balls of groundbait (So Simple BMGX : GSC mixed 2:1) with a few micros boosted with BMG and maggot.

My rig had a 0.09 bottom and size 20 F1 pellet hook attached to no8 black slip elastic.

By bouncing between the 2 swims I managed to keep the fish coming.

11/01/26 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 35lb 6oz

Catch - 8 Carp, 4 F1, 1 Perch

Weather - Lakes stilled ice over, became increasingly mild and windy

Match - Tackle Den (15 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd on lake.

The first Tackle Den match of the year and we were at Hillview on the Canals 2, 3 & 4.

Although the weather forecast was for much milder conditions, there would be gale force winds and still the expectation of breaking ice. As a result, we had a few dropouts, with only 15 fishing, which meant we were now on Canals 3 & 4.

I was quite pleased to draw p87 on canal 4, as it meant I wouldn’t be at the windward end of the lake where the wind would blow any ice.

After breaking the ice, creating a channel to the far bank I set up my rigs. On the all-in I shouldn’t have been surprised the ice was shifting already. I started across tapping in a few maggots and soon caught an F1, by which point my channel had nearly closed up.

The ice was already clearing from the pegs to my right, and a pair of ducks arrived. So, I started feeding maggot on the ice letting the ducks break the rest of the ice for me. In the meantime, I caught a perch and a small carp on maggot fishing next to the p88 platform. Surprisingly these were the only fish I caught here.

After an hour the ice had pretty much cleared my swim, however the issue was the wind had picked up making presentation on the pole difficult to the point I couldn’t fish tight to the far bank, so I concentrated on fishing the deep water in front of the pampas grass.

Since I was struggling to get a bite on the pole, I thought I would try the straight lead catching a carp on maggot, but it was much slower than expected and I only had 1 more carp late on. I even tried dobbin bread and then maggot, but the wind was a problem and I didn’t have any bites.

With an hour remaining I probably had 15lb, level with Luke and Pete to my left, whilst Matt and Simon were both ahead of me. The wind dropped slightly so I concentrated on the deep water in front of the pampas grass, tapping in maggot and started to get some regular bites, having a strong finish the match, catching 2 carp in the last 5mins allowing me to sneak into 2^nd on the lake. The best rig fishing 0.09 bottom to a 20 F1 pellet hook and 8 elastic.

1.    44-13 – Matt Greaves – p91 (canal 4)

2.    40-15 – Andy Bartlett – p73 (canal 3)

3.    35-10 – Andy Dixie – p82 (canal 3)

4.    35-  6 – Ken Rayner – p87 (canal 4)

5.    34-  2 – Simon Collins – p89 (canal 4)

10/01/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 10lb 13oz

Catch - 5 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Cold & sunny. Swim iced over

Match - Winter League - rd 6 (14 fished) - 9th overall, 4th in section

Another cold week and the final round of the Winter League on Match Lake. After another freezing night the question was had the lake refrozen after defrosting the previous day. On arrival pegs 15 & 16 were covered in ice, but otherwise the lake was clear.

Match results during the week suggested the majority of the fish had been caught in the early numbers, so I wasn’t sure where I wanted to draw. Normally I would have been over the moon to draw p15, however I needed to break the ice and the peg has struggled in the last 2 matches.

Breaking the ice was relatively straightforward, although I was concerned about creating too much disturbance and only broke the ice to the bridge. I didn’t bother breaking the ice towards the point of the island, as I expected the ice to melt away when the sun came out. Sadly, this was a mistake, as the ice started to reform in the area I had cleared whilst I was setting up and the temperature during the day didn’t get above 3-4c and there was no wind to help the melting process.

On the all-in I started at 10m over a small ball of groundbait, fishing a single pinkie or maggot, but I couldn’t get a bite. Eventually, I caught my first fish on maggot after 2hrs fishing further towards the bridge but couldn’t catch as quickly as Phil opposite on p16 as the fish just didn’t want to come my side of the lake.

A switch to fishing a 4mm expander, produced a couple of better stamp fish and with an hour remaining, Allan on p14 thought I might be leading the section. Unfortunately, I only had 1 fish in the last hour, really regretting not breaking the ice towards the island as I needed somewhere else to go.

I finished the match 4^th in section, dropping from 3^rd to 7^th in the league which was disappointing.

Well done to top 3 Chris, Nigel and Allan. This series just hasn’t gone my way, with some difficult draws and even when I drew spot-on, I couldn’t fish my peg as I wanted.

1.    27-12 – Phil Stone – p16

2.    27-10 – Andy Fry – p2

3.    24-  0 – Rich Churchill – p6

4.    20-11 – Allan Oram – p14

03/01/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 13lb 1oz

Catch - 4 Carp

Weather - Cold, sunny, northerly breeze.

Match - Winter League (13 fished) - 11th overall, 4th in section

Another cold week and a forecast heavy overnight frost meant the ice breaker was packed into the car.

At the draw we had 2 no shows and the draw was completed with all pegs in. I drew p17, with my section running from p11 to p19. I was reasonably happy, although I would have preferred p19 as its closer to the ‘hot’ pegs in the 20s. I was a little concerned as p13 hadn’t been drawn with Nigel Reeves on p11 (who was lying 2^nd in the league) and Allan Oram on p15.

When I arrived at the lake, there was ice from p11 round to p26. Fortunately, it was fairly thin, and I wasn’t concerned about breaking it up as I felt it would drift around anyway as it melted and any fish, I hooked from the far side I could use the pole to break the ice. Also, I was hoping everyone throwing their ice breakers would push the fish towards me.

On the all-in I started dobbin bread, before switching to maggot, hooking a carp that came off as I was shipping back.

With an hour gone I hooked another carp fishing on the deck (in 3ft of water) with double pinkie that was safely landed. I soon hooked another on the maggot dobbin rig, but as the fish kited left the pole jammed against a thick piece of ice and the hook pulled.

Soon after the ice had completely cleared from my peg drifting into the 20s. The northerly breeze was proving to be a real pain, as I had to fish the full 16m to get to the far side, however the wind was just strong enough to make it very awkward.

I tried the straight lead, a tiny cage feeder and a maggot feeder, but other than 1 lost fish I was struggling to get a bite. In the meantime, Allan and Nigel both started catching on the maggot feeder, and Sean on p19 had also caught a couple of fish on the method.

I knew there were fish under the small bush opposite me, but the wind and later the sun meant I couldn’t ether present the rig properly or I couldn’t see the float! Eventually I caught 2 more carp on the straight lead and maggot tight to the far bank, right of the small bush, but knew I would be bottom of my section.

Somehow (more by luck than judgement) other results went my way and I’m still lying 3^rd in the league, but it is now very tight for the final round.

1.    55-  9 – Rich Churchill – p5

2.    46-13 – Tom Driver – p23

3.    44-13 – Simon Duke – p20

4.    43-  1 – Paul Dunford – p21