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

 

18/04/26 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 93lb 8oz

Catch - 36 Carp, 6 F1

Weather - Sunny & breezy

Match - Open (14 fished) - 2nd overall

A return to Ivy House and an open on Old Match Lake organised by Mitch Rowlands. I haven’t fished this lake since last summer and I was told there were plenty of bites to be had.

I was happy to draw p1, which has been the form area recently. There wasn’t much to report in the first hour only catching a small carp and a F1 on the method by the small island, plus a carp from the 13m line on 6mm pellet over 4s boosted with baninion.

At the start of the 2^nd hour, I noticed a few fish moving between the islands and tried the straight lead and 6mm expander, which resulted in 5 carp and I was up and running.

I kept the 13m line primed, pinging 4s. When I switched it took 10 minutes to get going and for the next 2hrs I had a really good run tapping in 4s with a 6mm hair rigged pellet.

Come the 4^th hour I lost my way a little and I switched to a new 13m line closer to the end bank. I kept catching but not as quickly as before and the average stamp were slightly smaller.

I also started feeding 4s and some corn down the right margin, initially catching on 6mm pellet, but when I tried corn, I just got indications from the small fish, so I decided to stick with 6mm pellet. I kept feeding 4s and corn, although in hindsight I should have fed heavier with micros and corn to draw in the bigger fish and only realised this a little too late.

In the meantime, Carl on p3 started catching some big fish down his margin on corn and was catching me up, overtaking me in the last 45mins.

As a backup to my margin line I started feeding pellet over a short line and wished I had started feeding here earlier as I had a run of good stamp fish before the all-out.

Overall, it was nice to feed to some bait, and I was pleased to have finished 2^nd overall, although with a few better decisions in the last 2hrs I could have won.

1.    115-  6 – Carl Mulford – p3

2.      93-  8 – Ken Rayner – p1

3.      81-  4 – Gary Etheridge – p9

4.      52-  6 – Mick Gale – p18

5.      45-  0 – Mitch Rowlands – p4

22/03/26 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 37lb 9oz

Catch - 19 Carp, 2 F1, 2 Skimmers, 1 Hybrid

Weather - Sunny, light cloud later

Match - Open (17 fished) - 5th overall, 4th on lake

With limited match availability, I decided to stay local fishing Ivy House, which had an open on over Kingfisher and Moorhen.

I wasn’t too concerned where I drew as it wasn’t blowing a gale or raining. In fact, it was a very pleasant day, so much so I decided to bring a couple of paste rigs.

P47 put me in the right area, however as this has been the better end of the lake, I was in a line of 6 and expected it to be difficult, whilst the anglers at the other end had a little more space.

The weather was obviously making me feel positive and I hoped the fish would take a bit of feed as I didn’t fancy a day of dobbin. On the all-in I started across, however as the far bank is deep at nearly 4ft I know from past experience the fish can be really difficult to catch and dobbin can be hit and miss.

Therefore, I decided to start on a small piece of paste (So Simple Top G : Crushed Expander), just to provide a target bait and caught 2 carp in the first 15mins. It became tricky after this and I could see Rob Guppy on p45 catching on dobbed maggot. As I didn’t have any maggot, I tried dobbin corn skins without success, although I tried later in the match for 1 carp and lost a 2^nd as it got tangled in a large sunken branch.

After an hour I was up to 5 carp and needed to rest the far bank and started tapping in 4mm pellet (boosted with Baninion), fishing a hair rigged 4mm pellet, switching later to a 6mm. I had to keep swapping between this swim and the far bank to keep the fish coming, but at least I had a few bites.

I had also fed a short line, more in hope than expectation and didn’t have a bite.

By the all-out, I knew Rob had beaten me and I was fairly sure I had beaten everyone else I could see, however pegs 41 & 37 with the extra space both beat me.

1.    80-  6 – Rob Guppy – p45 (K)

2.    60-  6 – Carl Mulford – p41 (K)

3.    45-11 – Lenny – p37 (K)

4.    41-10 – Ray Russell – p34 (M)

5.    37-  9 – Ken Rayner – p47 (K)

23/11/25 - Ivy House - Moorhen

Weight - 38lb 8oz

Catch - 16 Carp, 6 F1

Weather - Cold start and bright

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 4th overall, 3rd in section

We had 20 booked on today, 12 on Kingfisher and 8 on Moorhen, and virtually every peg in. I drew p33 on Moorhen which was OK.

I took the water temperature which showed 5.2c, compared to 12c 2 weeks ago. Combined with recent heavy rain (which brought the levels up a little) and a cold snap it was likely to be a hard day.

I started across tapping in a few maggots and didn’t have a bite. In the meantime, Alistair to my left started catching immediately dobbin bread, and I had to follow suit, eventually catching my first fish 30mins into the match.

It was noticeable I was on the edge of the fish as Alistair kept catching and most of my fish came by fishing to my left towards Ali. I only had 1 fish to my right all match.

Over an hour I caught 8 carp all on bread, but my catch rate was slowing, so I switched to fishing at the bottom of the far shelf (13.5m) fishing a 4mm expander over tiny nuggets of fishery micros boosted with Baninion and groundbait (Top G & Crushed Expander). I had to move to my left to stay in contact with the fish, but at least I was catching albeit more F1s which were a smaller stamp than the carp. I tried maggot on the hook to see whether I could catch quicker, however this just resulted in a roach which fell off.

With 90mins remaining the swim was fading and decided to try across tight to the far bank fishing 4mm expander feeding nuggets of micros and groundbait. This resulted in more carp, bouncing between 2 swims to keep them coming.

The last 30mins slowed down, as had the whole lake. I had tried a short maggot line but only gave it 5mins when I couldn’t get a bite.

On the all-out I knew Alistair had won our lake and I missed out picking up the section as Andy Burns on the end peg (p35) weighed 43lb.

1.    55-13 – Alistair Tilney – p32 (Moorhen)

2.    53-  9 – John Brady – p42 (Kingfisher)

3.    43-  8 – Andy Burns – p35 (Moorhen)

4.    38-  8 – Ken Rayner – p33 (Moorhen)

5.    38-  7 – Andy Bartlett – p48 (Kingfisher)

6.    31-  8 – Steve Venn – p47 (Kingfisher)

09/11/25 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 84lb 14oz

Catch - 35 Carp, 9 F1s

Weather - Mostly cloudy, occasional shower and blustery at times.

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 1st overall

Today’s match was on the canals, Kingfisher and Moorhen. Both lakes, along with the Old Match Lake have recently been stocked with the fish from Heron Lake, which has now been sold.

The draw put me on p45 on Kingfisher, which normally isn’t the best area, however I did have a spare peg to my left. I was also surprised at how low the lake was and made the decision to set up in the margin. What I didn’t realise until it was too late was shipping out to 14m was going to be awkward as I was sat so far below the bank.

Plumbing up revealed only 2.5ft of water down the middle and 2ft tight to the far bank.

On the all-in I started on a 4mm expander tapping in fishery micros & 4s boosted with So Simple Baninion at 14m. I caught small carp immediately, but felt the micros were bringing in too many small fish.

So, I switched to hair rigging a 4mm pellet over toss potted 4s and the stamp of fish immediately improved, rotating 2 swims at 14m.

After 2hrs I was up to 16 fish and switched to tapping 4s at 16m tight across to keep putting fish in the net. I had a quiet 30min spell after a fish snagged me in some roots on the far bank.

A brief look over a short maggot line didn’t produce a bite, and I never tried this line again.

The 14m lines continued to produce, but it wasn’t until I went to 14.5m over 2 swims that my catch rate increased, still tapping in 4s. I occasionally tried the 16m swim where I tried pinging pellet, but that resulted in too many liners so I stuck with tapping in pellet, but could only catch 2 or 3 fish before having to rest the swim.

Late on I also caught down the bottom of the left-hand margin, again on pellet.

In the end a lovely day’s fishing.

1.    84-14 – Ken Rayner – p45 (kingfisher)

2.    76-  4 – Matt Greaves – p28 (moorhen)

3.    61-  1 – Steve Venn – p48 (kingfisher)

4.    58-14 – Steve Broadhurst – p49 (kingfisher)

5.    52-10 – Luke Sherman – p31 (moorhen)

17/08/25 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 109lb 12oz

Catch - 74 Carp, 18 F1s

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Open (20 fished) - 2nd overall, 1st in section

So, my first match under the So Simple banner. After Uzit, I considered whether I actually wanted sponsorship again and if I did it had to be right.

Having used So Simple products when Andy Seery ran the business, I was already familiar with some of the product range and still use the gofters and 8mm red gonuts. Other favourites were Baninion Crush Boost and BMG Boost. In the end, it was an easy decision, as I already know many of the So Simple members and the brand appears to be going from strength to strength.

Today’s match was at Ivy House on Heron Lake organised by Rod Wootton, and we had a full house of 20 anglers. It was really nice to catch up with a number of anglers I haven’t seen in a while since moving to Melksham from Bristol.

This match would also be pole only and I was handed p23 which is an average peg, but I was still confident of catching a few. I haven’t fished the lake since last year, however feedback suggested that paste was doing the business and that would be my focus. I also had 4pts of caster to catch shallow and see where the match took me.

My paste was Coco Squid, previously called BOG (Bagging on Green) and something I used a lot in the past. The fishery pellets (4s and micros) were doused in Sludge.

Like many fisheries at the moment water levels were down which meant the margins were very shallow, but as I was setting up there were already fish showing themselves.

On the all-in I started at 1+1 and started catching immediately on paste, feeding 4s over the top. I briefly tried the margin, but the fish definitely preferred the deeper water (2.5ft) and I was flying. After 2hrs I already had 70lb and was thinking 200lb was on the cards.

However, the action started slowing down. I had a little run on the overshotted rig and caster at 11m, catching F1s, although action was short lived in the bright flat conditions.

The remainder of the match was a case of rotating swims to keep putting fish in the net, as the lake just shut down. I’m really not sure why, as the later stages of the matches are usually busy. I do wonder whether the oxygen levels had dropped as the bubblers were turned off at the start of the match, but that’s just speculation.

Fortunately, my good start meant I won my section and finished the match 2^nd overall.

1.    120-10 – Lewis Jones – p4

2.    109-12 – Ken Rayner – p23

3.    101-14 – Lee Massey – p22

4.      95-  2 – Craig Smith – p16

5.      93-  2 – Lee Tennear – p11

6.      92-  8 – Gary Bedford – p7

27/07/25 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 61lb 13oz (8lb 10oz - silvers)

Catch - 17 Carp, 2 F1, 15 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Warm & cloudy.

Match - Tackle Den (22 fished) - 2nd in section, 5th overall

It’s been 12 months since I last fished the Old Match Lake and when I arrived, I saw the water level was down by over a foot and as a consequence the match was restricted to 5hrs, rather than the normal 6hrs.

We had 22 today, so every peg was in, plus 4 on the island of Willow, which meant it was likely to be tough going.

I drew peg 4, which was OK, and I had birthday boy Matt Greaves on p3. On the all-in I decided to focus on paste again, starting at 14m just feeding a few 6s in the pot and I got off to a great start catching 3 carp in the first 3 put ins, before suffering a couple of missed bites. Setting up a new swim a couple of metres to the right of the first, bouncing between the 2 swims helped me to keep catching for next 45 minutes.

I had been catapulting 8s between the island gap and fully expected the tip to go round when I tried the straight lead and pellet but 9I only hooked and lost one small carp throughout the match, so stuck with fishing the paste.

A switch to a short line (6m) produced another run of carp, before the skimmers arrived. To be honest, I was quite happy to stay on the skimmers during the middle of the match, even switching to my F1 paste rigs.

However, Matt started catching down his margin earlier than expected and I felt I needed to do the same before I fell too far behind. Unfortunately, I could only catch small skimmers and started wasting too much time trying to encourage carp into the margins, as they would come in but wouldn’t settle.

I decided to dump 2 cups of micros and a few 4s down the right margin. Whilst that settled, I went back out to my 14m line and started catching again, adding a couple more carp from the short line and 3 more from the right margin late on.

In the end the lake fished better than expected and I managed to pick the section by default.

1.    96-13 – Steve Venn – p7

2.    73-14 – Pete Philips – p20

3.    71-  6 – Andy Burns – p10

4.    63-  7 – Matt Gale – p16

5.    61-13 – Ken Rayner – p4

6.    56-14 – Simon Collins – p17

10/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 45lb 2oz

Catch - 34 Carp, 8 F1, 3 Gudgeon

Weather - Grey & overcast, brighter later

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd overall

Originally 23 had booked in and fortunately this dropped down to 20, which meant we didn’t need to put in the corners.

I drew p20, which if I couldn’t draw between p7-p11, I was happy with. After catching nearly 100lb last week shallow I knew it would be different today with so much pressure on the lake and the lake fished as I expected.

I still decided to start short on the expander, just in case, but 1 F1 after 10mins confirmed what I thought. So out to 15m at the bottom of the far shelf, tapping in 4mm fishery pellets covered in Uzit P-nut oil, with a hair rigged 4mm or 6mm pellet. I kept going for nearly 3 hours and knew I was ahead of those around, however it was slowing down and I decided to push up the shelf a bit more, but it wasn’t nearly as good as I hoped and I had a really bad 4^th hour, not helped by losing a fish where the elastic snapped at the connector (and yes I had checked it).

By finding a shallower area at 16m, I at least had a good last hour fishing maggot. To be honest I was a little annoyed with myself for that bad 4^th hour, because I should have caught at least 50lb to win the match.

Performance of the match should go to Andrew Black who is leading the club championship, ahead of me with one more match remaining, who decided to fish despite having a bad back. Due to his bad back Andrew couldn’t use a seat box so he fished in a fold up chair, armed with a feeder rod and a couple sections of pole, and finished the match 3^rd. Well done mate.

1.    46-15 – Pete Phillips – p14

2.    45-  2 – Ken Rayner – p20

3.    30-14 – Andrew Black – p23

4.    30-12 – John Brady – p8

5.    29-13 – Alistair Tilney – p17

03/11/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 97lb 8oz

Catch - 45 F1s, 33 Carp

Weather - Grey & overcast. Light breeze.

Match - Open (6 fished) - 3rd overall

With not a lot on this Sunday, Ivy House made a late announcement they would be running an Open on Heron, so I booked in.

There were only 6 of us and Andy put in every other peg from p2 to p12. I drew p12 which was the one peg I didn’t want as it’s a corner peg that is rarely put in.

Speaking to Pete who was fishing the Winter League on the other lakes he said he caught shallow yesterday during a pleasure session. As I was unloading the car, I realised I left my shallow rigs at home, but fortunately I had a couple rigs I could adapt.

As it felt a bit chilly, I started at 14m fishing a hair rigged pellet, toss potting 4s. I caught a few carp, but it was obvious the fish were up in the water already as I struggled to get a clean bite fishing on the deck. Therefore, I switched to fishing a short pellet line, whilst I primed the shallow line at 11m with maggot.

I caught a couple more carp over the short line but couldn’t line them properly and switched to my shallow line. Whilst my rigs weren’t perfect, I was at least catching F1s mostly on an over shotted rig.

Whenever the line needed a rest I tried the short pellet line with limited success, which just left the margins. I fed the right margin with corn and micros as I wanted to target the better sized fish, but I realised a little late that maggot and groundbait was the better option. To be honest I should have come 2^nd but didn’t as I spent too long in the first hour trying to catch on the deck, I was a bit slow getting the feed right in the margins and I was unprepared to catch shallow.

Considering it’s the first week of November the lake fished really well, however, I expect it will fish differently when the lake is full next week.

1.    160-  0 – Dan Driscoll – p8

2.    106-12 – Rob McMann – p4

3.      97-  8 – Ken Rayner – p12

20/10/24 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 25lb 4oz

Catch - 12 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 F1

Weather - Rainy start, sunny later and very windy

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 12th overall

After a weekend up north visiting the in-laws, I was looking forward to getting back out on the bank. However, during the week I came down with a heavy cold and was feeling very rough on Friday. Fortunately, I felt a little better for Sunday, although I was given a wide berth at the draw!

Todays, match was over both canals and having not fished either for quite a while I wasn’t sure which one I would prefer. I wasn’t disappointed with p41 on Kingfisher as it’s normally in a good area although with nearly every peg in, I knew it would be tricky.

With rain and heavy winds forecast, I thought I would start at the bottom of the far shelf, feeding micros and 4 to my left and groundbait (black bubblegum : Crushed Expander) and micros to my right. The intention was to leave the short lines for later.

Starting off on the left-hand swim with a hair rigged 4mm pellet, I caught a number of branches and debris on the bottom, which was frustrating, particularly as Matt Greaves to my left started catching short.

Moving to my right-hand swim feeding small nuggets of micros and groundbait, fishing a 4mm expander I only caught 2 skimmers, whilst Matt was still picking on the odd carp.

The forecast wind was blowing, but fortunately it was mostly from behind me, so I decided to try fishing the far bank at 16m, fishing a 6mm expander. I managed 3 small carp but couldn’t catch another after losing a foul hooker. There just didn’t seem to be any volume of fish in front of me and even my short line failed to produce whilst Matt continued to pick up the occasional fish.

As I was struggling and with nothing to lose, I started pinging 4s and eventually I started to catch on hair rigged 4s, netting 8 carp and an F1 in the last hour.

Overall, a frustrating and disappointing match. I couldn’t work how to catch early, although everyone to my right struggled as well, but either way felt I should have caught more than I did.

1.    67-11 – John Brady – p34 (Moorhen)

2.    62-  3 – Andrew Black – p45 (Kingfisher)

3.    53-  1 – Pete Phillips – p28 (M)

4.    49-11 – Alistair Tilney – p27 (M)

5.    46-  9 – Matt Greaves – p42 (K)

28/07/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 192lb 0oz

Catch - 154 Carp, 33 F1s, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Warm and sunny

Match - Open (11 fished) - 1st overall

Today was going to be a warm one and we were all hoping for a few bites.

More than happy to draw p10 as its my favourite peg and usually a good area for F1s, however the match didn’t go as expected.

I started on Uzit GLM paste at 1+1, whilst priming a shallow caster line. After 25mins I had 16 fish and the F1s were already showing themselves shallow at 8m in the shade of a tree.

A switch to the shallow line resulted in a run of F1s which were a bigger stamp than the paste fish, switching between 2 conventional shallow rigs (4 & 8 inches), both of which were better than the overshotted rig. As the sun got higher the shallow line became worse with the F1s being replaced by small carp.

In the 3^rd hour my top kit plus 2 sections detached as I threw the pole back. The F1 that was attached took the whole lot to the far bank, which meant I had to go in for a swim!

To rest the shallow swim, I switched to the left margin on paste, initially feeding fishery micros and then 4s boosted by Uzit GLM pellet soak. I had a run of decent stamp carp, before the little ones appeared and this became a pattern for the rest of the match.

I kept the shallow line going and when I returned, I would catch a couple of F1s, before the small carp reappeared. I also opened up the right margin feeding caster, where fishing 8in was better than 4in.

As the match progressed, I just rotated around the 3 swims, trying to stay in touch with the bigger stamp fish. With 90mins remaining, I was just wasting my time with the shallow line as the F1s became really difficult to catch, so I just concentrated on the 2 margin swims and the stamp of fish slightly improved towards the end.

Come the weigh in I thought I might have 200lb and knew I had beaten the anglers I could see, but Tony Gilbert and Mick O’Brien were on the other side of lake. Unfortunately, the stamp of fish was below average, so I didn’t make 200lb and fortunately I just beat Tony and Mick to claim the win.

1.    192-  0 – Ken Rayner – p10

2.    187-  8 – Tony Gilbert – p21

3.    182-  8 – Mick O’Brien – p19

4.    172-  0 – Simon Duke – p4

21/07/24 - Ivy House - Willow Lake

Weight - 41lb 10oz (12lb 15oz - silvers)

Catch - 17 F1s, 12 Carp, 23 Skimmers, 10 Roach

Weather - Muggy start. Warm & sunny later

Match - Tackle Den (19 fished) - 9th overall, 1st in section.

19 of us today, with 14 on the Old Match Lake and 5 on the island of Willow.

I drew p23 on Willow, normally a flyer, however from the recent match results I’ve seen the weights haven’t been great since the introduction of the F1s over the winter. So, I was hoping to catch a couple of carp early and then late down my margins, and in between I was expecting to spend time catching F1s and skimmers.

An array of rigs were set up to cover my options. I started on the method cast to the far bank, with an 8mm orange wafter and soon caught a small F1. A change to a 6mm wafter produced another 2, plus a 2lb carp in the first 30mins.

Still hoping for an early carp, I switched to fishing U-zit GLM paste at 3+2 where I had been feeding 4s and caught a carp, but it was only a pound. As there didn’t appear to be any decent size carp in the area I got my head down, switching to my F1 paste rig catching F1s, small carp (1lb) and skimmers over the short line.

The line went a bit iffy after an hour and I tried fishing the tea bag and 8mm pellet towards the far bank, where I had been pinging 8s, but I only caught a couple more small carp. In fact, everywhere I tried it was F1s or small carp, including down the right-hand bank on 8mm pellet, where roach were a problem. I even tried slapping but couldn’t find any decent carp.

My second stint on the short paste line, produced another run of F1s and a couple of decent sized skimmers. I kept going hoping the better sized carp would turn up, but the roach did instead!

As I had my back to the rest of the anglers in my section, a quick enquiry revealed everyone was struggling and we were fishing for the section as a couple of anglers were catching on the Old Match Lake. I still felt I needed a big carp as it was quite tight between us, and a couple of carp would make a big difference.

With 2hrs remaining I started feeding my margins. Pellet/corn down the left and groundbait/micros/corn down the right. I never had a bite down the left and won’t mention it again. The right margin was frustrating. At one point there was obviously at least 1 carp in the swim as there were swirls and roach scattering, but all I caught were a couple of roach on double corn.

With 20mins remaining, 4 balls of groundbait went down the right margin. In the meantime, I saw Andy Black on p20 land a double from his margin and John Pearce also caught a carp. I really needed one myself.

The short paste line produced a couple more carp, but nothing bigger than 2lb. Back down the margin there was no signs of carp after my barrage, which was a worry, but I gave it a go anyway. The float just sat there and literally disappeared as the-all out was called and I was attached to a carp. At 5-6lb it wasn’t as big as I hoped, but at least it was a carp.

At the weigh-in my section had no chance of framing, but fortunately I at least won my section from John who weighed 34lb.

1.    114-  9 – Matt Gale – p10

2.      95-11 – Jason Crump – p1

3.      87-  7 – Michael Wilson – p13

4.      56-13 – Steve Venn – p8

5.      55-  4 – Pete Philips – p16

6.      53-10 – Cliff Dutton – p2