06/09/26 - Windmill

Weight - 57lb 6oz

Catch - 10 Carp, 1 Skimmer, 1 Roach, 1 Perch

Weather - Warm & sunny. Breezy later.

Match - Tackle Den (14 fished) - 4th overall

To be honest I haven’t enjoyed my matches at this venue and its probably not helped by the fact I’ve yet to draw a decent peg.

Unfortunately, that theme continued as I ended up on p16, a peg I drew back in April and looking at recent results for the last 6 weeks it hasn’t featured, so I wasn’t overly optimistic.

I wasn’t sure whether to use meat or paste and was told both were still working and had both on the side tray, along with dead maggot just in case.

I knew the first half of the match would be tricky and then it was a case of hoping for a few fish late on. With this in mind I decided to just focus on 1 swim towards the corner of the island in nearly 3ft of water at start, fishing meat or expander over micros and 4s. Other than a couple of liners, I didn’t have a bite.

On the hour mark I caught my first carp on the straight lead and a so simple red 8mm pellet tight to the corner of the island.

90mins later I hooked my next carp on dead maggot fishing tight to the far bank but lost the fish as it buried itself in the reeds.

Other than Steve Venn on p11 I saw very little being caught and just hoped a few fish would turn up down the margins. Also, at the halfway point of the match the wind started to pick up making it increasingly difficult to fish across to the island and it was an easy decision to start focusing over my short lines.

I had been feeding kriller 4mm pellet and micros down the right margin, dead maggot and micros down the left and 8mm meat at 2+2 at angle to my right.

With an hour and 40mins remaining I caught my 2^nd carp on kriller paste down the right margin, followed by a couple more.

To rest the swim, I tried my meat line and soon caught another carp, but the wind was causing the lake to tow and to be honest I wasn’t happy with my presentation, so I decided to dump micros and 4s at 2+2 to my left to paste later.

The left margin which was shallower than the right was a bust. I tried fishing dead maggot and paste, but other than one lost foul hooker I only caught a couple silvers.  

Therefore, the last hour was spent mostly down the right margin and the short paste line to have a strong finish to the match. It was just a shame there wasn’t a little bit more action early on.

In the end I was pleased to have weighed 57lb and to come 4^th from the peg.

1.    69-13 – Vince Grillo – p1

2.    67-  2 – Cliff Dutton – p21

3.    66-15 – Steve Venn – p11

4.    57-  6 – Ken Rayner – p16

5.    45-  5 – Dave Keen – p7

30/08/26 - Woodland View - Hay

Weight - 88lb 2oz

Catch - 23 F1, 16 Carp, 8 Roach, 4 Rudd, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Sunny, with cloudy periods. Blustery.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 5th overall, 3rd on lake.

We had 18 today, split evenly over Hay and Barley lakes. The information I had received was to fish short with pellet and shallow on maggot. Also to draw in the middle of either lake. I drew p16, towards the far end of Hay.

As we had a lot of rain yesterday, I started cautiously at 5m feeding 4mm fishery pellets boosted with So Simple Baninion, hair rigging a 4mm pellet. This resulted in a steady start resulting in about 20lb in the first hour, before the swim faded.

A quick look down each margin only resulted in 1 fish and to be honest I wasn’t happy with my rigs and switched them around.

The following hour I caught shallow on maggot, putting another 20-25lb in the net. The wind was making feeding difficult and presenting a rig was tricky at times, but I caught a few decent stamp F1s in amongst the roach and rudd. The swim faded after an hour.

During the middle part of the match, I lost my way a little trying to work how best to catch. Eventually, I started catching mostly F1s down the margins on 6mm pellet, plus some better stamp carp off the end of keepnets again on 6mm pellet over 4s.

I had to keep rotating swims to keep fish coming and it was steady rather than hectic.

By the end of the match, I was enjoying myself and wished we could have fished a 6hr match instead of 5.

At the weigh in I thought I had 90-100lb, hoping I would be closer to the 100lb mark. So, I was a little disappointed to have overestimated by as much as I had. With a little more venue knowledge I am sure I would have caught at least 100lb, however the anglers either side of me weighed 36lb & 27lb so overall I shouldn’t be that disappointed.

1.    95-  8 – Darren Lawrence – p10 Hay

2.    94-12 – Matt Greaves – p13 Barley

3.    94-  9 – Cliff Dutton – p4 Hay

4.    92-15 – Steve Broadhurst – p9 Barley

5.    88-  2 – Ken Rayner – p16 Hay

29/08/26 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 40lb 10oz (9lb 2oz - silvers)

Catch - 17 Carp, 2 F1s, 21 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Rained most of the day, breezy at times.

Match - Open (6 fished) - 4th overall

There are some days when you wish you hadn’t bothered and today was definitely one of those.

I had decided earlier in the week to fish Saturday and Sunday, staying at home Bank Holiday Monday. By Thursday, the weather forecast was for rain and after a few dropouts there were only 6 booked into the match. I had thought about staying at home Saturday and fishing Monday instead, but in the end I decided to stick with my original plan.

As there were only the 6 of us, we were all on the café bank and I fancied a draw at either end. Well, I drew p4, smack in the middle and to be honest I didn’t fancy it, as I felt the fish would just back off to the far bank.

As for the rain it never stopped all match, just as you thought it was going to stop it would re-start heavier than before.

Since there were only the 6 of us, I decided to keep it simple and focus on the pole and not bother with the feeder. Besides the ‘teabag’ boys were on pegs 1 & 2 and hoped I would have the pole line to myself.

Plumbing up on revealed 2ft of water, with 2.5ft at 5m and only a foot in the margins, thanks to the water levels being down nearly 2ft.

I started at 14m, tapping in fishery 4s boosted with So Simple Sludge and a 4mm in the band. I soon caught a small carp, but it was slow going. A switch to kriller paste produced another small carp, but I struggled to get another, as I was getting little knocks and the culprits soon revealed themselves when I netted a small skimmer.

A switch to fishing a 4mm expander, produced more smaller skimmers and another small carp, but I wasn’t going anywhere quickly, falling further behind pegs 1 and 2. I was really wishing I had stayed at home.

I fed micros and corn down my left margin. I soon noticed a swirl over the feed and tried double corn and the float shot under striking into thin, however I suspected small fish. A switch to paste resulted in a skimmer, confirming my suspicions.

Trying a different swim at 14m didn’t improve matters, so I decided to concentrate fishing a 5m line feeding 4s and my margin, hoping some of the proper units would turn up late in the match.

The margins didn’t produce anything other than a couple more skimmers and towards the end of the match I filled it in with micros, 4s and corn, which just encouraged even more silvers into the peg, but sadly no carp.

My short line produced a few carp and skimmers on 6mm pellet, but I lost a couple of foul hookers. A switch to paste helped, catching a few better stamp carp and skimmers, however it was all too slow.

Generally, the lake didn’t fish as well as it has recently. I just think the bulk of the fish moved to the other side of the lake.

1.    104-  2 – Mitch Rowland – p8

2.      79-  4 – Richard Rogers – p2

3.      72-  0 – Allan Smith – p1