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 

10/08/25 - Manor Farm - Windmill

Weight - 38lb 2oz

Catch - 13 F1, 1 Carp, 1 Roach

Weather - Hot & sunny

Match - Tackle Den (20 fished) - 2nd in section, 8th overall

We had 20 today, which meant 13 on Windmill and 7 on Ash. When I arrived, I was surprised to see the water level was down by at least 2ft. This meant it was easier to set up in the water.

I drew peg 10 on Windmill, only 1 away from where I drew last year and it meant it was likely I would need to fish against the left-hand reed bed. I managed to get some information from a trusted source who advised pellet worked, although the winner last week caught over dead maggot late on down the margins and very little was caught shallow. Also, the top 3 all came from around the island or above.

Despite the drop in the water levels, it was still deep at 2+1 (5ft) and I couldn’t see any point fishing in deeper water, so I picked a couple of

spots left and right in 4-5ft of water.

As I expected the reed bed to be my main swim, I set up 2 paste rigs, 1 with 0.19 straight through to a size 12 acolyte power rigger hook in case there were carp in the area or I had to fish tight to the reedbed. The other paste rig had a 0.14 bottom to a size 14 B911.

I started the match a metre off the reed bed in 2ft of water on the heavy rig, feeding 4s with paste and caught 2 F1s, including a 3lber almost immediately. Bites then stopped, so I switched to the lighter rig which produced another 2 F1s, but that was it.

I had been feeding 4s at 1+2 in front of me, but didn’t have a bite all match here, which I was surprised about. I also tried the pellet waggler, catching 1 F1 and roach. Other than Andy Black opposite me who caught 1 carp, no one else caught shallow.

My reed bed swim was now full of small fish, so I tried pellet left and right but only managed 1 F1. This was turning into a real struggle.

I noticed the reeds knocking and felt I had no choice, but to get tighter to the reeds where it was 18in deep and fortunately still shaded from the sun. First put in resulted in a 7lb carp, soon followed by a couple more F1s.

With 2hrs remaining I had just over 30lb and thought a late run down my margins would put me in contention. Several cups of groundbait, dead maggot and micros were deposited down the right margin. I hooked 2 carp but lost them both. The shallow water combined with the bright flat conditions, meant the fish just wouldn’t settle and it was probably no coincidence that the only place I could catch was by the reed bed.

I had the best weight at my end of the lake, however, my section ran along my bank and I missed out on picking up the section money. As expected, the top 3 weights on my lake came from the top end, also Ash Lake fished quite well.

1.    81-  6 – John Brady – p3 (Ash)

2.    78-  9 – Darren Hibbert – p18 (Ash)

3.    59-15 – Cliff Dutton – p22 (Windmill)

4.    55-12 – Steve Venn – p24 (Windmill)

5.    54-10 – Alistair Tilney – p12 (Ash)

6.    52-11 – Vince Grillo – p14 (Windmill) 

06/04/25 - Manor Farm - Island Pool

Weight - 54lb 3oz (7lb 9oz - silvers)

Catch - 18 F1s, 3 Carp, 9 Skimmers, 2 Tench

Weather - Cool start, sunny all day, cool NE wind.

Match - Tackle Den (18 fished) - 1st overall

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t looking forward to this match as I was expecting 20 anglers (which turned into 18) all on Island Pool which would be tight and it was likely to be a difficult match, as recent results have been won with only c.50lb with fewer anglers fishing.

On arrival, the north easterly breeze was blowing into the car park end of the lake and I quite fancied drawing in the breeze, so was pleased to draw p37, although I had to put my hoodie on as it was a bit cool in the breeze.

The peg meant I didn’t have an island chuck, but I had a long margin into the corner and just hoped the car park would be quiet.

Having never fished the lake before I set up the straight lead and feeder rods straight away, as we never have long enough to set up with these matches and I needed time to familiarise

myself with the contours of the lake. I managed to sort out most of my pole rigs before the all-in and was a little relieved the lake wasn’t as deep as expected, but at 6ft it was deep enough.

So, I started on the pellet cone with corn on the hook cast 20m as I finished sorting my pole rigs and the tip went round and a F1 was netted. Staying on the pellet cone for the rest of the hour I caught a 7lb carp and another F1.

Come the 2^nd hour I switched to fishing at 13m where I had fed 4mm bubblegum pellet and by tapping in 4s with a hair rigged 4mm pellet caught 5 F1s and a skimmer. However the wind was being a pain, and the tow had picked up, which meant the start of the 3^rd hour was a struggle.

As the tow and wind was proving problematic, I decided to just fish for bites, switching to a 0.5g chimp rig at 11m, over micros and groundbait (crushed expander and black bubblegum) fishing a 4mm expander.

By feeding a nugget of micros and groundbait every 2^nd fish I started catching a few skimmers and the recently stocked 6oz F1s. As time went on, I caught the odd better sized F1 and a bonus 1.5lb tench.

With 2hrs remaining I knew I was doing OK, although I could see Andy Burns on p32 catching well down his margins.

I had already had an early look down my left margin next to p38 platform, where I had been pinging pellet without success. Due to the wind I decided to introduce corn as well.

My next try resulted in a bite straight away, which promptly came off. The next put in did produce a carp, before the swim went quiet.

I had also started feeding meat (covered a-krill cloud) at 2+2. After a couple of decent skimmers, I hooked what I was hoping for - a proper carp. It was a double figure fish and everything was going well, until it decided to go on a little run and the hook pulled!

I then lost the next 3 carp, 1 the hook pulled fishing the margin and the other 2 were fouled hooked (1 down the margin and the other over the short line). Needless to say I wasn’t happy. Fortunately, I managed to successfully net another carp, plus a couple of decent F1s.

Not quite the finish I was hoping for, but I had an enjoyable day. Andy was admitting to 35lb and I thought I had 40lb. As it was, we both underestimated, but I was pleased to have won on a day which proved to be tricky for most.

1.    54-  3 – Ken Rayner – p37

2.    42-  2 – Andy Burns – p32

3.    36-10 – Pete Philips – p25

4.    34-11 – Cliff Dutton – p24

5.    26-15 – Ian MacDonald - p5

29/09/24 - Manor Farm - Ash Lake

Weight - 51lb 9oz (9lb 13oz - silvers)

Catch - 10 Carp, 2 F1s, 21 Skimmers

Weather - Cold start, mostly cloudy, rain later

Match - Tackle Den (17 fished) - 6th overall, 3rd in section

With 17 today, we had 10 on Windmill and 7 on Ash. At least it meant we would have more space than we had the last time we were here in June when we had 22 all on Windmill.

Being the bigger lake, Windmill was likely to produce the winner, but I wasn’t too disappointed to draw p15 on Ash. I had no idea whether it was a decent draw, but it looked OK. Plumbing up revealed 7ft of water from 8m and remained flat out to 13m. To be honest I didn’t fancy catching in that depth and found 2 areas left and right at 11.5m in 5ft of water. I also had a small, submerged bush to my right.

The match could be split into 3 parts. The first 2 hours I tried catching on 6mm p-nut pellet or 4mm bubblegum pellet, over 4mm bubblegum pellet, but only caught a couple of small skimmers. I also caught an F1 and a skimmer on the method, but I was going nowhere. In the meantime, Steve to my right was also struggling, but almost everyone else seemed to have caught a couple of carp or F1s.

As I couldn’t catch any carp or F1s, I really needed to put some fish in the net and hope for a late charge. Therefore, I decided to cup a ball of Uzit Natural Re-Act and GLM (mixed 2:1), with bubblegum micros and some dead reds at 11.5m. Double dead red maggot was best and by topping up every 2^nd fish with a nugget of feed via a toss pot, I managed to keep this line going for 90 mins or so, but with 2hrs remaining I really needed to catch some carp and F1s.

I had been pinging 4s to my left in 3ft of water and meat by the submerged bush. The meat swim was a bust, hooking 2 fish, but losing both as the hook pulled on 1 and I got broke by the other. Therefore, I set up a new swim to my right at 11.5m again pinging pellet in 3ft of water

By alternating left and right, fishing a hair rigged 6mm p-nut pellet, I caught some big F1s up to nearly 6lb, plus a couple carp. I knew I had the best last hour on the lake, but felt I needed another 30mins and that’s how it worked out missing out on winning the lake by 7lb.

1.   90-14 – Steve Chandler – Windmill Lake

2.    71-  2 – Cliff Dutton – Windmill

3.    58-13 – Matthew Gale – p5 Ash

4.    56-  6 – John Pearce – Windmill

5.    56-  4 – Bobby Moore – p18 Ash

6.    51-  9 – Ken Rayner – p15 Ash

02/06/24 - Manor Farm - Windmill Lake

Weight - 46lb 13oz

Catch - 27 F1s, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Warm and sunny. Breezy at times.

Match - Tackle Den (22 fished) - 2nd in section, 4th overall

A new venue for me up near Evesham, where you can park behind every peg and the lakes were full of F1s and carp. Originally, we were booked on to Middle Lake, however due to numbers this was moved to Windmill Lake. As we had 22 anglers it still meant some tight pegging was likely.

I drew p9 and was really disappointed when I saw my peg as the reed bed was encroaching in front of the platform and was told ‘we don’t normally put that peg in’. Anyway, after some whinging, I was left with no choice but to strip off and get in pulling up as many of the reeds as I could and I was proud of my work, although I badly sliced my little finger on one of the reeds. Thanks to Pete Phillips next to me on p10 for providing the first aid and plaster.

My plan of attack was always going to be caster shallow. I also set up rigs to fish on the deck. There was no point plumbing further than 2+2 as it was already 5ft deep and only getting deeper. Due to the numbers on the lake, I wasn’t sure whether we would catch short, however I really didn’t expect us to catch long on the deck due to the depth of the lake so felt I had no choice but to set up rigs for the short lines.

Although Pete to my right was quite close, the reed bed to my left afforded me some space to the next angler. So, on the all-in I started at 2+2 to my left on pellet. This produced an F1 almost immediately and with no more bites after 10mins l switched to fishing paste (Uzit GLM & Betaine) next to the reeds, feeding a couple of 4mm p-nut pellet I caught a couple more F1s before hooking a carp which tore down the length of the reeds eventually snagging me and losing the whole rig.

By the end of the first hour I had 5 F1s on the paste, whilst Pete had started shallow and caught a couple of fish. I had decided to prime the shallow swim prior to fishing it and as my reed swim had died it was time to give it a go.

The next 90mins was tricky. The right to left breeze was making feeding caster difficult at 14m and the depth meant it was difficult to find the fish. I had a few on a jigga, before catching some bigger F1s at 18ins on an overshotted rig. However, the fish just disappeared on me. In the end I decided to stop feeding and retried an hour later feeding pellet, but never had a bite.

The rest of the match was mostly spent fishing by the reeds with paste. I had also set up a meat line, but never had a bite.

In the end a tricky day for most with Andy and Ali having good days catching either side of the first island including a number of carp up to nearly 20lb. Despite my moaning at the start, the reed bed proved to be my saviour as the fish wanted to be near some cover.

1.   127-  3 – Andrew Black – p6

2.    121-  8 – Alistair Tilney – p32

3.      51-  2 – Ian Barker – p21

4.      46-13 – Ken Rayner – p9

5.      38-  7 – Bobby Moore – p30