Monday, 17 August 2026

16/08/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 65lb 5oz
Catch - 19 Catch
Weather - Warm & summy
Match - Tackle Den (15 fished) - 4th overall

We had 15 at the draw today, which meant several pegs would have anglers either side, so drawing a peg with space would be ideal.
 
Initially I was happy to draw p15, before realising the pegs either side were in, which meant catching short or down my margins which was going to be tricky. It at least meant I would have an opportunity to try my new pole (Matrix XTR 700) at its full length, fishing the far bank.
 
On the all-in I tried tapping in 4mm baninion pellet, fishing a 6mm on the hook. After 10mins of liners and no fish, I switched to paste without success.
 
I tried fishing pellet shallow, before losing the rig to overhanging branches. Next, I tried fishing an 8mm pellet on a bulk down margin rig tight to the far bank but again loads of liners and no fish.
 
I had fed micros and 4s on a top kit where it was 4.5ft, but never had a bite, which was not a surprise as I felt it was too deep, but could not find a flat spot in shallower water.
 
With nearly an hour gone and nothing in the net, I had to rethink my approach, especially as the lake clearly wasn’t fishing well despite Simon and Paul both catching either side of me.
 
The turning point came when I opened a tin of corn, fished on the margin rig tight to the far bank tapping in a few micros; that brought my first fish on the hour mark, followed by five more during the second hour.
 
The third hour was less productive when I tried to catch shallow, but the fish were not feeding confidently, so I went back to fishing corn and micros on the far bank, alternating between two swims to keep bites coming while trying, unsuccessfully, to catch Paul, who was making full use of his spare peg.
 
I tried the top-kit swim a couple more times, but it only produced one carp, and the margins produced nothing, which was not really a surprise.
 
At the weigh-in it was clear the whole lake had fished hard, perhaps because of the weather. Anyway, I was a little surprised, to finish fourth overall with 65lb 5oz.
 

1.    86-11 – Paul Stafford – p16
2.    83-14 – Pete Phillips – p19
3.    70-  4 – Vince Grillo – p8
4.    65-  5 – Ken Rayner – p15
5.    62-  5 – Simon Collins – p14
 

 


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