09/08/26 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 7lb 5oz

Catch - 52 Roach, 51 Carp

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (16 fished) - 2nd in section, 12th overall

It was a nice short drive to Rood Ashton with Tackle Den and on arrival I could see the lake was down about a foot, which meant some pegs would be very shallow.

At the draw, everyone wanted pegs 18 to 21, as that was where the fish had been showing. With that area likely to dominate, Steve decided to pay out the winners of four sections only.

I drew p2 which was about as far from the fish as I could be. I was then told that my peg in recent matches had produced no more than 25lb, so my enthusiasm was in short supply while setting up.

On the all-in, I started on the method to the island, but I could feel the feeder plugging in the silt. Needless to say, I had no bites. I also tried the straight lead at 25m, where I had been pinging 8s, but that didn’t produce either.

After an hour, Pete on p1 had one carp, Vince on p3 had a couple of small fish, and Simon on p4 had yet to catch.

So, I decided to try catching some roach. Before leaving the house, I had grabbed a bag of dead maggots from the freezer, although live maggots would have been better.

By feeding small balls of groundbait (Coco Squid : Crushed Expander) with dead maggots at 4m, I started catching baby carp among the roach. A whip would probably have been better, but at least I was catching and I hoped for a few carp in the final two hours.

With two hours remaining, Pete netted his third carp and Simon caught his only carp, so it was time for me to try for one myself.

I had kept pinging pellets over the 25m line, but I never had a bite.

I also started feeding 4mm pellet down my left margin. Fishing an 8mm pellet over the top brought no response, so I big-potted micros and 4s and tried paste, but this only encouraged the small fish. Any decent fish in the area would have pushed them out of the swim. So I switched back to 8mm pellet catching one baby carp, and then, 20 minutes from the end, some elastic came out of the pole — but the fish was only about 1lb.

Pete won our section by catching against the end bank and next to the reeds. So well done to him. Surprisingly, I came 2nd in section, with Vince weighing 3lb and Simon 5lb.

Fair to say, the lake did not fish well, with only one weight over 100lb and my part of the lake fished the worst.

1.    107-  9 – Shaun Hodges – p21

2.      56-  5 – Pete Philips – p1

3.      49-12 – Darren Hibbert – p20

4.      46-  8 – Andy Burns – p5

5.      43-  5 – Andy Bartlett – p19

08/08/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 91lb 6oz

Catch - 27 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Summer League rd5 (12 fished) - 3rd in section, 6th overall

This was the penultimate round of the summer league, and I really needed a good result to put myself back in contention for a top three finish.

I drew p5, which has been a good peg, although recently it hasn’t produced quite so well, however I still fancied at least 2nd in section from it, as I expected p1 to win after dominating this side of the lake over the last couple of weeks.

Sadly, the first two hours were appalling, putting only three fish in the net. I started across by the island in 2ft of water, tapping in a few 4mm baninion pellets with a 6mm pellet in the band. I soon caught an F1, but despite fish being in the swim I could not get a proper bite and lost a foul hooker. I then tried paste over the same line, losing another foul hooker and the one I did hook properly pinged off at the net.

Fishing tight to the far bank in 8ins of water was also fruitless, losing another fish. I then tried the method but lost another one!

Next, I tried a shallow rig and netted a foul hooker, but I was going nowhere fast.

Meanwhile, Steve on p1, Arthur on p7, and Gary (who was lying 3rd in the league) on p10, were all catching and at least 20lb ahead of me.

I had been feeding 4s and micros on a top kit+1 and had caught one carp early on Kriller paste. When I returned to that line, I finally had a run of fish. I still managed to ping out of a couple fish, and after speaking to others after the match it seemed we had all suffered the same problem: the fish were snatching at the bait rather than taking it confidently.

When I needed to rest the short swim, I tried the margins with either paste or 8mm pellet but only picked up a couple of fish. I could see fish coming into the margins, but they spooked out just as quickly and wouldn’t settle.

Another go across on the shallow rig didn’t last long, as my 14m section folded! Just as well I will be collecting my new Matrix XTR 700 later this week.

Back on the short line, it began to fade with an hour to go, so I fed a new swim 6m to my left and alternated between the two swims until the end.

By the all-out, I knew Steve had won the section and I was sure I had overtaken Gary. As for Arthur, it was much closer than I expected, and unfortunately, I missed out on 2nd in section by 2lb.

1.    272-  4 – Andy Jane – p17

2.    150-  5 – Steve Brown – p14

3.    132-  6 – Steve Partington – p1

4.    123-11 – Elvis – p15

02/08/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 121lb 5oz

Catch - 35 Carp, 2 F1

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Open (14 fished) - 1st overall

Due to low water levels (down about 2ft) Gary limited numbers to 14, which meant everyone would have some space.

I drew a peg I have never drawn before in the shape of peg 1 and although it doesn’t normally feature, I quite fancied it as the breeze was blowing down my end. Plumbing up only revealed 3ft down the track and the margins were 12ins

On the all-in I started across by the island on So Simple Kriller paste, netting my first fish after 15mins and a 2^nd after 30mins. I could see plenty of fish by the island but catching them was a different manner. Looking down the lake it looked like everyone was struggling to catch and I decided to ignore the far bank

and concentrate on my margins and short line.

When I switched, I tried fishing pellet in 2ft of water 6m to my right, but it became obvious the fish wanted to be in shallow water so that rig was never picked up again.

In the meantime, I had fed 4mm baninion pellet and micros at top kit + 1, fishing paste expecting an immediate response. When the float did go under it was a decent fish but I couldn’t catch another.

So, it was time to try my margins sooner than expected. I had been feeding 4s and micros 6m down the right margin, and there were plenty of fish showing, but again catching them was tricky.

After 3hrs I was up to 12 fish, as well as losing a few foul hookers. I started to catch more regularly on 8mm pellet toss potting a few micros and 8mm.

I had kept my short line topped up but as yet it hadn’t produced much and I decided to feed more heavily. I also started feeding micros to my left by the inlet pipe and this started to produce. By alternating between both margins my catch rate increased fishing paste.

I tried my short line again and this time I caught, staying on this line for most of the last hour, occasionally trying both margins when it needed resting.

On the all-out I was fairly sure I had beaten most of those I could see and it was a pleasant surprise when the normal flyers in the ‘teens’ hadn’t produced meaning I won the match.

1.    121-  5 – Ken Rayner – p1

2.    110-  2 – George Organ – p4

3.    108-12 – Ray Russell – p16

4.      99-11 – Andy Pollard – p19

5.      89-13 – Elvis – p5 

26/07/26 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 129lb 13oz

Catch - 43 Carp, 3 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm & sunny, but windy. 

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd in section

For today’s match we were over canals 2, 3 and 4 and I was very happy to draw p83, an end peg on canal 4, particularly as the wind was blowing into my end of the lake.

I had bought 5pts of caster expecting to catch shallow and there were plenty of fish showing themselves.

On the all-in I tried mugging a couple of fish early without success, not least helped by loads of branches and cut reeds that had blown into my swim. So, I switched to fishing 6mm pellet over 4s, down the right margin and down the end bank at 5m. This only produced a couple of fish, so I was soon trying to catch shallow on caster, but the wind was proving to be a real pain.

I caught a couple of fish, before one snagged me in a branch, prompting me to go round to try and clear the worst of the snags. To be honest I was pretty annoyed as I lost 4 fish to

various snags, which was clearly avoidable had more care been taken when gardening.

Back to the shallow line and I couldn’t catch, although the wind was increasingly getting stronger making feeding difficult. Looking down the lake, I could see John Brady who is a good shallow angler also struggling so I didn’t feel too bad about not catching.

I decided to return to my pellet swims and started to catch well. Due to the snags and the fact, I was catching more carp than F1s I switched from 4x10 rig to 4x12 and stronger elastic.

I kept going alternating between the 2 swims for a couple of hours, before I started foul hooking fish. I had pre-soaked some micros just in case I wanted to fish paste (the rule being you can only use fishery pellet and you can’t cup in the paste). First drop into the right margin I had a 8lber and stayed on this for a couple hours alternating between the right margin and a new swim down the left side of my nets.

With 30mins my paste rig snapped above the float, so I reverted back to fishing pellet and kept catching but the swims had slowed. As a back-up, I had fed pellet at 5m down the track resulting in a final run of fish before the end of the match.

I was fairly sure I had won my lake with about 150-155lb. The weigh in started at the other end of the canal and I followed the scales. When we got to my peg I realised one of my 5 nets had been blown into the water by a strong gust of wind. When I recovered it there were only 4 fish remaining and I reckon I lost about 20-25lb.

So instead of winning the match I ended up 4^th overall – gutted but I only have myself to blame.

1.    143-  4 – John Brady – p88 (canal 4)

2.    139-  9 – Steve Venn – p76 (canal 3)

3.    132-14 – Andy Dixey – p74 (canal 3)

4.    129-13 – Ken Rayner – p83 (canal 4)

5.    122-11 – Darren Lawrence – p79 (canal 3)

6.    111-12 – Vince Grillo – p72 (canal 3)                                                                                                         

25/07/26 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 121lb 6oz

Catch - 27 Carp, 14 F1, 4 Skimmers

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Summer Series rd4 (12 fished) - 2nd in section, 3rd overall

The 4^th round of the Summer Series and I really needed a good draw and result to put me back in the running for the league.

P6 was not what was required and felt p1 and p14 would be tough to beat.

I decided against taking meat and brought caster to fish shallow instead. I still mixed up some So Simple Kriller paste and started tight to the island but couldn’t get a clean bite so didn’t waste too much time making it work.

A switch to fishing 6mm baninion pellet over 4mm pellet at 2+2 to my left at the bottom of the shelf resulted in my first fish. Over the first hour I picked up the occasional fish mostly on pellet from the left-hand swim or down the right margin.

In the meantime, I had been prepping a shallow caster line and when I went over this line I couldn’t catch, giving up after 15mins, not least because the wind was proving to be a pain.

This meant, the 2^nd hour was slow and I felt I was overcomplicating things. So, I just focused on fishing pellet, returning to my right- and left-hand swims. The left-hand swim proved to be the best, whilst the right margin didn’t feel right so I switched to fishing at the bottom of the marginal shelf which proved to be much better.

With 2 hours remaining I moved to my margins over 3 swims (pinging 4s to the p5 pallet, down the left side of my keepnets and the right margin where I fed micros, hemp and 4s) fishing paste.

With 45mins remaining the swims closest to me just dried up. Fortunately, I could still catch by the p5 pallet and the occasional fish over the left-hand pellet swim. Since the margins had stopped, I decided to start a new swim at 2+2 feeding micros and 4s, resulting in a final good run.

Unfortunately for me Andy Jane won my section breaking the lake match record by 4oz, catching mostly on caster. I at least finished 2^nd in section weighing a PB for this lake.

1.    170-11 – Andy Jane – p13

2.    152-  3 – Steve Brown – p18

3.    121-  6 – Ken  Rayner – p6

4.    114-  7 – Steve Partington – p15

23/07/26 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 75lb 7oz

Catch - 21 Carp, 11 F1, 1 Roach

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Open (14 fished) - 8th overall

I fished todays open in preparation for next Saturdays Summer League and the lake has been fishing well with a new match of 170lb 7oz had been set a couple of days ago.

I drew p25 and to be honest I wasn’t happy as you are pegged next to the end bank, which would reduce my options. I would have preferred to have been on p24, however the platform was a bit wobbly (Gary has since repaired it).

So far fishing paste has been a bit hit and miss, and not as productive as last year. The same applied to fishing meat, but I was sure with the lake now fishing so well these baits would come into their own. Just in case they didn’t I set up a couple of pellet rigs as back up.

On the all-in I started on So Simple Kriller paste down the left margin, but only had knocks from small fish, in fact the tiny roach were a right pain at times.

I eventually caught a carp after 30mins on meat against the end bank but couldn’t catch another.

2 hours into the match I had 3 fish in the net and I really wondered what was going on.

I had been pinging 4mm baninion pellet towards p24, and when I switched fishing a 6mm baninion I at last started to catch. When the swim needed a rest, I caught a couple of fish fishing to the far bank corner with paste (I couldn’t fish a pellet rig due to scum blowing into the swim).

Going into the last hour I had been feeding micros and 4s either side on a top kit +1 and had a really good late run all on paste.

Sadly, the poor start cost me as I was only 9lb off claiming the section.

1.    139-  5 – Mick O’Brien – p10

2.    132-  8 – Ian Sutton – p15

3.      89-  3 – Martin Hook – p14

4.      87-  7 – Phil Auger – p8

5.      84-12 – Gary Townsend – p22

18/06/26 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 94lb 14oz (11lb 10oz - silvers)

Catch - 38 Carp, 25 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Open (12 fished) - 6th overall

I had originally intended to go to Harescombe today, however with only 3 booked in the match was cancelled. So, I booked into Ivy House on the Old Match Lake instead.

P16 for me, only one away from where I was last Sunday and the rigs were pretty much the same.

On the all-in I started at 13m fishing So Simple Kriller paste, feeding a few damped fishery 4s boosted with Kriller Sludge and I got off to a good start catching 5 carp in 20mins. Coming a little closer at 11m I kept catching for the remainder of the first hour, before the swim faded.

The second hour was difficult, trying the method towards the island for only a few fish and trying shallow proved fruitless.

Going back to the paste I started catching again and the during the 2^nd hour of the match concentrated on fishing at 5m and down the right margin. Although I did manage to mug one decent carp on 8mm pellet, most of the of carp I caught were mostly stockies, which were replaced by skimmers for a while over the 5m line.

The margin was a little hit and miss. Feeding 4s, corn and occasionally micros, I could see fish coming in and I would catch a couple of fish, but they wouldn’t stay in the shallow water due to the bright, flat conditions.

By the all-out I had plenty of bites, but too many stockies and skimmers. Had I caught the same stamp of carp as last week, I would have had about 115lb. So, a little disappointed to finish with 94lb, but an enjoyable day, nonetheless.

1.    183-  3 – Mick Lane – p7

2.    138-12 – Mitch Rowlands – p10

3.    131-  7 – Tim Hadland – p1

4.    130-10 – Harry Rowlands – p8

5.    112-11 – Alan Smith – p15

12/07/26 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 78lb 6oz 

Catch - 27 Carp, 4 F1s, 6 Skimmers

Weather - Sun & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 4th overall, 2nd in section

With all 18 pegs in, it was always going to be a difficult match and I wanted to avoid drawing the middle of the far bank in the teens as the pegs here are a little tighter. So, I was disappointed to draw p15.

Also, due to the hot weather the match was cut to 5hrs and the net limit lowered to 40lb.

On the all-in I started at 14m fishing So Simple Kriller paste, just feeding a few 6mm fishery pellet, hoping for a couple of early bonus fish. After 25mins I had 3 fish for 10lb.

A switch to fishing the method loaded with fishery micros boosted with Kriller Sludge and Fluro Crush, fishing a 6mm yellow or pink wafter, produced some very small carp. I tried fishing the straight lead and 8mm pellet to hopefully target a better stamp fish. I never had a bite, but after immediately retrying the method caught a couple of better stamp fish.

Whilst fishing the method I prepped a shallow 14m line feeding 6mm pellet, trying a couple of different shallow rigs without success.

I had also been feeding pellet over a 5m line. Initially, fishing a 6mm pellet, catching a couple of carp. Switching to paste after resting the swim I had a good run of fish for 90mins, just feeding 6s after each fish.

With an hour remaining a few skimmers showed and the swim slowed, so I fed a ½ cup of micros and 4s to kick start the swim but only had 2 more fish over this line.

I also tried the method in the last hour without success and despite feeding micros and 4s down my right margin (more in hope than expectation) I had no indications other than from silvers, which wasn’t a surprise.

Andy Dixey won the match next to me thanks to a late run down his margin as Terry on the other side of him wasn’t feeling well after taking a tumble in the car park and packed up early. Hopefully you’re ok.

To be fair I was quite happy to claim 4^th overall from where I was, it was just a shame the last hour just died on me.

1.    114-10 – Andy Dixey – p16

2.      90-  7 – John Brady – p6

3.      85-  1 – Cliff Dutton – p5

4.      78-  6 – Ken Rayner – p15

5.      77-10 – Darren Lawrence – p13

 

11/06/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 160lb 6oz

Catch - 47 Carp

Weather - Hot & sunny.

Match - Summer Series rd 3 (12 fished) - 3rd overall, 3rd in section

The 3^rd round of the Summer Series and the rotation meant we were on Doughnut Lake. When I arrived at the café I saw Chris Cameron, who was subbing for Steve Brown, so I really wanted to avoid drawing in the same section as him. Well, I failed and ended up next to him, which meant collecting a section win just got a little bit harder.

Plumbing up was a concern, as any flat areas were either 8ins or over 3ft, sloping away to 5ft. This meant, following the recent hot weather fishing shallow was likely to be the main tactic.

I did try catching on paste in the shallow water, tight to the island catching a couple of carp, but it wasn’t as good as I expected. I also kept feeding pellet over a top kit line in 5ft of water fishing paste for 1 foul hooker and a swim fed with meat in 3ft off to my right never produced a bite.

90% of my fish came shallow on 6mm baninion or kriller pellet, either mugging or catching in the feed at 6m or 14m. At the halfway point I only had 15 fish, probably because I was rotating methods trying to work out what was working best. Fortunately, the second half was much better and frustrating at the same time, as I had a really good run particularly over the short line, before struggling forcing a switch to the far bank.

In the end 160lb was just shy of my personal best for the lake, however I got well beaten by Chris and Andy Jane who also caught shallow. To be honest shallow pellet fishing isn’t my strongest discipline, and it showed today.

1.   308-  5 – Chris Cameron – p15

2.    201-  9 – Andy Jane – p20

3.    160-  6 – Ken Rayner – p17

4.    131-13 – Gary Townsend – p5

5.    106-  9 – Steve Partington – p3

02/07/26 - Lavington - Ellis

Weight - 64lb 15oz (15lb 9oz - silvers)

Catch - 8 Carp, 10 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 2 Tench, 1 Perch, 1 Rudd, 1 Chub

Weather - Warm & sunny

Match - Club Evening (9 fished) - 3rd overall

I missed the first evening (3hr) match and last weeks match was cancelled due to the hot weather resulting in a temporary keepnet ban.

Due to the increasing number of silvers in the lake, I wasn’t sure whether meat would be as effective as in previous years and speaking to those that fish here more regularly confirmed that it was working as well.

P6 wouldn’t have been my first choice as the margins are 5ft deep due to the bank being rebuilt a few years ago, although I could fish to p7 pallet where it was much shallower.

On the all-in I cast the method as tight as I dare to the island avoid plenty of overhanging branches, whilst I finalised sorting out my pole rigs. A stockie carp was my reward after 15mins and 3 casts.

A switch to fishing down the right margin next to a small patch of lillies, fishing corn and feeding 4mm pellet and corn resulted in a run of small skimmers, plus a bream and a tench, but it wasn’t as productive as I hoped.

I had also been feeding 8mm meat at 2+2 at an angle to my left and the response was much better with a proper bream and a hybrid, plus a couple of carp.

So, after 90mins I was doing ok, but I was conscious that there seemed to be more carp being caught to my left and across on p21 where Brian was fishing the waggler and 6mm pellet. As such, I felt I needed to catch carp rather than silvers.

For 30mins or so the wheels fell off, as I upped the feed over my meat line and right-hand margin, which just resulted in lots of small fish!

As yet I hadn’t fed by the p7 pallet, so ½ a cup of micros and corn was deposited here which soon resulted in tails in the swim. The problem was catching them.

I tried fishing double corn and caught a bream straight away. I then hooked and lost the next 3 carp. A few rig adjustments helped resulting in a couple of carp, before losing a rig on a foul hooker (fortunately the rig pinged back into the tree next to me).

Rather than set up a similar rig I thought I would try paste (So Simple Kriller), which proved frustrating with so many fish in the shallow water, but when I hooked a fish, it was at least in the mouth, netting my final fish in the whistle.

To be honest, I didn’t feel I fished a good match, as I kept chopping and changing, so I was a little to surprised to come 3^rd only missing out on 2^nd by 2oz (much to Martin’s relief).

1.    77-  6 – Martin Shulter – p21

2.    65-  1 – Martin White – p10

3.    64-15 – Ken Rayner – p6

4.    57-14 – Steve Musitano – p8

28/06/26 - Manor Farm - Windmill

Weight - 16lb 7oz

Catch - 5 F1, 1 Carp, 1 Tench, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather - Warm, sunny & breezy

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 11th overall

I was looking forward to this match, as recent results showed the venue was fishing well and caster shallow was working.

The match was supposed to be over Windmill and Ash lakes, however when we arrived, we were told we would all be on Windmill which would make the fishing harder.

I drew P31 opposite the point of the island and I would have preferred to have been at the other end of the lake where the wind was blowing. The island had plenty of overhanging brambles, which meant I couldn’t get tight, but I still fancied it for a few fish.

I had Steve Venn to my right on p32 and didn’t expect my right margin to be productive however my left margin under the tree plumbed up lovely with a nice flat bottom.

As it turned out the whole lake fished poorly.

I caught a couple of fish early on the method to the island. My left margin initially produced an F1 and a 5lb carp on 6mm pellet over 4s, but these were the only fish I caught here.

Despite feeding caster shallow for 3hrs, I never had any indications, not even from silvers.

I even tried the pellet waggler by the island without success, which just left a short line fed with meat, which produced 1 F1 and a skimmer.

A really poor day. In hindsight, would I have changed my approach. Probably not. Of those around me, we all had a similar number of fish, it was just I only had 1 carp compared to 2 or 3 that others had caught.

As expected, the windward end of the lake proved to be best.

1.    63-11 – Cliff Dutton – p24

2.    41-  0 – Darren Lawrence – p22

3.    36-13 – Brian Duckett – p26

4.    32-13 – Andy Burns – p34

5.    31-12 – Pete Philips – p20 

27/06/2026 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 35lb 0oz

Catch - 10 Carp, 3 F1, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach

Weather - Hot, sunny and breezy

Match - Summer League rd 2 (12 fished) - 7th overall, 4th in section

The 2^nd round of the Summer League and we were on Match Lake. After last weekends 3^rd in the open I was confident in my approach, i.e. meat and paste, with pellet as a backup. I had hoped to fish Thursdays affordable open, however this was understandably called off due to the intense hot weather, where the water temperature in the margins reached 31c! Even today the water temperature was 25.8c increasing to 27c. Due to the increased water temperatures, the match was reduced from 6 to 5 hours to reduce the stress on the fish.

At least it wasn’t as hot for today’s match and I drew p12, which was one of my favourites, however since Gary has reinforced the bank to stop the island eroding you can no longer fish into the shallow water.

On the all-in I started on So Simple Cocosquid paste by the boards and caught 2 carp after 30mins, but it wasn’t as productive as I had hoped.

In fact, this was the pattern for my match. I just couldn’t get anything to really work properly.

I tried fishing a metre off the boards with dead maggot over a small ball of groundbait and micros, which produced 1 carp and a small skimmer.

Fishing shallow with pellet didn’t work either, which was surprising and frustrating.

At the halfway point, I realised I may be on the wrong bait, as Elvis opposite me on p18 was catching well shallow on maggot and I saw Mark down on p6 catching on maggot.

During the 2^nd half of the match, I decided to focus on the margins targeting the bigger carp in an attempt to pull back the deficit. Needless to say it was slow going. Fishing meat only produced 2 fish, with paste being the most productive down the left margin towards the p11 pallet.

4^th in section was not what I needed as Steve Brown on p2 won the section fishing caster and maggot, and Mark Court was 2^nd in section fishing maggot.

To be honest I didn’t expect maggot and caster to be so dominant and I have to accept I got it wrong.

1.    91-  0 - Elvis – p18

2.    80-13 - Steve Brown – p1

3.    71-14 - Mark Court – p6

4.    65-11 - Andy Jane – p8  

21/06/26 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 61lb 1oz

Catch - 18 Carp, 9 F1, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Open (13 fished) - 3rd overall, 2nd in section.

I was looking forward to returning to match lake as I haven’t fished it since the Pole Champs and I was more than happy to draw p29.

Looking at recent results, it hasn’t featured that often, however it is a peg that has been kind to me in the past.

On arrival the aerator was in full flow and was switched off just before the start of the match.

On the all-in I started by the island on Cocosquid paste and there were plenty of fish swimming about and not feeding. I tried feeding a cup of kriller micros and 4s to get their heads down, but they just weren’t feeding.

In the meantime, I had been feeding 8mm meat (covered in Sludge) and 6mm kriller pellet my side of the spillway where I caught 2 carp on meat. I also started tosspotting meat and a few micros the other side of the spillway at 13m.

After 2hrs I only had 4 fish, however the 13m spillway swim kicked into life and I started to get regular bites all on meat, just feeding no more than 4 cubes with a few micros.

I kept the near spillway swim topped up and picked up the occasional fish when I needed to rest the far swim.

I also started feeding 2 pouches of 6s to the island and when I returned fishing paste caught a couple of fish before having to rest the swim and returning for a couple fish. To be honest, paste wasn’t as effective as I had hoped. 

The last 30mins of the 5.5hr match the swim faded, before catching a couple more fish from the far spillway swim towards the all-out.

I knew I had done ok, but I was a little concerned that the stamp of fish may go against me, particularly as I saw Mark on p4 catching some decent fish, which is how it turned out.

1.    73-13 – Andy Jane – p18

2.    67-  3 – Mark Court – p4

3.    61-  1 – Ken Rayner – p29

4.    60-13 – Richard Rogers -p15

5.    58-  1 – Steve Partington – p13 

19/06/26 - Marston Fields - Elm

Weight - 38lb 14oz

Catch - 6 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather - Warm, sunny and windy

Match - So Simple Open (17 fished) - 14th overall

The So Simple boss Sev had organized a So Simple day at Marston Fields, that was a match with a mixture of sponsored and non-sponsored anglers. Sev also had a stand for spectators to sample the So Simple products.

Marston Fields was just over a 2 hour drive, which meant an early start and we would be fishing Elm Lake, that is in the shape of a doughnut lake with the island being 30m away and 5ft deep.

At the draw, I was told the best area would in the 20s. Alas I drew p11, with 2 locals either side and neither of them were enthusiastic about our draws.

I was also told the lakes are quite exposed and it can get a bit windy.

Setting up and there was a strong wind blowing at me from 11’o clock and it became obvious I would be lucky to fish longer than 11m. As I didn’t know the venue, I decided on a simple plan, namely the method to the island and paste over the pole line.

On the all-in, casting tight to the island was challenging as the wind was gusting quite a bit and I couldn’t get a bite.

I had also fed fishery micros and 4mm pellet boosted with Kriller Sludge at 11m and after 2.5hrs I caught my fish on Cocosquid paste, but due to the wind had to drop back to 10m.

This worked I as I started to get regularly indication and over an hour spell hooked 7 fish but only netted 2! The strong wind and tow were causing issues as the rig blow into a couple of fish, the hook pulled out of another at the net and the elastic (newly fitted) snapped on another. Needless to say, I was a little frustrated and any indications had stopped.

I did catch 2 fish on method to the island, but the action was short lived. I also tried pinging 8mm pellet and fishing the straight lead over the top without success.

Back on the pole I came back to 9m and the fish eventually retuned catching a couple more before the end of the match.

As we were weighing it became obvious that I was in the most exposed part of the lake. As a result, myself and the anglers either side of me were in the bottom 4, so I will consider myself a little unlucky.

It was good to catch up with Sev and Chris Whitehead who helped on the day, plus a couple of the sponsored anglers who I hadn’t previously met.

1.    144-  4 – Andy Griffiths – p5

2.    136-  6 – Matt Linforth – p18

3.      98-12 – LJ Stroud – p25

4.      90-11 – Mick Collinson – p23

5.      84-11 – Alan Hughes – p24