20/06/21 - Todber Manor - Homeground

Weight - 230lb 0oz

Catch - 68 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Perch

Weather - Drizzle to start and cool, later cleared.

Match - Wiltshire Angling Open (14 fished)

This match was originally on Ash and Homeground, but a few drop-outs due to Father’s Day, meant we were all on Homeground which I was pleased about. At the draw I drew p89, which is the right area, although you are in the corner with no island chuck, plus on arrival the wind was blowing out of the corner towards the opposite end of the lake and it was still quite cool.

Starting on pellet short 2+1, produced 4 fish in 30mins, but it didn’t feel right (or I still haven’t quite got this short pellet line sorted). Anyway, a switch to the Blue Ice paste at 3+1 at a slight angle to my left, over Bananion boosted micros, produced a couple more carp, but I felt the fish were not settled and an early look down my margin again on paste only produced a few more carp before backing off, resulting in a poor 2^nd hour.

In the meantime, Joe on p90 had started well, as had Matt Skyme on p87 and Terry Green on p88.

Fortunately, my paste line came to life by feeding a small ball of micros with the paste and I started to catch some of the slightly bigger stamp of fish resulting in a really good hour. At the half-way point I had 28 carp and my margin was also improving and by rotating between the 2 swims I kept the fish coming. In the last 2 hours the long paste line started to fade and I switched to feeding meat on my top kit and swapped between this line and the margin.

At the weigh in, I was left to rue losing a couple of fish, but the loss of a proper lad on the meat which snapped the elastic at the connector, definitely cost me 3^rd and possibly 2^nd overall.- 

The top 2 today caught mostly on the feeder, which is a sure sign the fish weren’t properly at it. Even Matt on p87 struggled to catch on maggot shallow until the 2^nd half of the match. As for me, I think I would have caught more had the wind been blowing in, as the bigger fish tend to follow the wind. That said you can’t be disappointed catching 230lb.

1st - 285-  4 - Joe Sheppard - p90

2nd - 238-12 - Ian Willetts - p85

3rd - 232-14 - Matt Skyme - p87

4th - 230-  0 - Ken Rayner - p89

5th - 202-  7 - Pete Neate - p84

19/06/21 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 38lb 0oz

Catch - 9 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 1 Eel, 1 Roach

Weather - Cool & cloudy

Match - Open (14 fished)

Decided a trip back to Ivy House was overdue and with reports that the Old Match Lake was fishing well I was looking forward to it. The only issue was the weather which had cooled down considerably over the last couple of days.

Peg 8 put me in a good area. Starting on 6mm pellet @ 5m, looking for an early carp only produced 4 small skimmers in the first 30mins. In the meantime, I had been pinging 6s to the island and 3^rd cast on a small method feeder produced a 2lb carp, which broke the middle section of my rod! Oh well it was a good excuse to buy a new 10ft Freespirit XTC.

I did try the waggler and was beginning to get a few indications, before losing the lot on a root. Have to say on reflection I didn’t fish a particular good match over the next 2 hours or so, probably overly aggressive with my feed, to compensate for not being able to fish to the island the way I wanted, on a lake which wasn’t fishing well.

I had fed pellet micros and 4s at 14m, pinging 4s over the top fishing worm, hoping for carp but only caught a few more skimmers. I had set up a negatively fed swim without success, when I should have  set up a proper skimmer rig as there were very few carp feeding.

Gradually a few small carp did make an appearance from the 14m line, but it was slow going.

With 2.5hr to go I had started feeding my margins, 6s down the left and corn/4s down the right. It wasn’t until the last hour than 1 registered my first bite on 8mm pellet down the left and landed an 8lber. 2 more followed, plus a 4^th on corn down the right.

Come the end, I knew Gary on p9 had done well, fishing down the right-hand end bank, but caught very little fishing long or down his left margin (towards me). Take what you will from that. As for me, breaking my rod definitely cost me as I am fairly confident, I would have caught a few off the island and I really should have come at least 3^rd. Instead, my 38lb was only good enough for 8^th.

1^st 123-  8 – Gary Donachie – p9

2^nd 86-12 – Mark Poppleton – p1

3^rd 45-12 – Gareth Boycott – p3

4^th 45-  6 – Stu White – p10

5^th 43-  6 – Chris Fox – p2 

Silvers

1^st 30-  4 – Chris Fox – p2

2^nd 21-  2 – Stu White – p10

3^rd 20-  0 – Alan Smith – p4

13/6/21 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 26lb 8oz

Catch - 5 Carp

Weather - Hot, sunny and flat calm

Match - Club (11 fished)

Those that fish here regularly were expecting a hard match and that is exactly how it turned out. The match ran from 9.30 to 2.30, so not the best part of the day, particularly as it was hot, sunny and flat calm.

I drew p19, the same peg as Friday night, so no island chuck again. When I got to my peg there were lots of carp of the surface and knew it was likely to be a mugging day.

After feeding some meat by the tree it was out with the mugging rig. Hard is an understatement, landing my first carp after 30mins, however they just were not interested.

A switch to the meat line, produced 1 bite and a lost big bream, but nothing else. It was the same story for the margins and I even started pinging 6s long and fishing deeper to no avail. So, I spent most of the match chasing fish hoping one of the would take the bait dropped in front of them.

I’ve tried pellet, wafter, meat and maggot, with 8mm pellet being the best with 4 carp and an 8mm gofter just producing 1 fish.

Come the weigh-in it transpired my 5 carp were on the small side. The winner had 4 fish for 31lb, 2^nd weighed 30lb (5 fish) and Tom had 4 fish to claim joint 3^rd.

To be honest I didn’t enjoy the day, as the fish were stubbornly reluctant to feed, which makes it hard to know what to next.

11/06/21 - Lavington - Ellis Lake

Weight - 37lb 12oz (12lb 12oz - silvers)

Catch - 4 Carp, 3 Bream, 2 Tench

Weather - Warm & muggy

Match - Evening Club Knock Up (8 fished)

I joined Lavington club during lock down as their lakes are only down the road and they have started to run some evening knock ups for the summer on Ellis lake which is a deep lake (7-9ft) with a central island. The matches are fished between 6-9, but only had 30mins to set up!

Tonight we had 8 fishing and I drew p19 at the top end of lake and no island chuck. Just 2 rigs, 1 to fish meat (coloured yellow with Baninion juice) at 7m in 5ft of water on a slope, as there are no shelfs and the other down the right hand margin feeding micros and 4s to fish paste (So Simple Blue Ice).

Last weeks match was only won with 33lb and with the water still looking a bit clear I wasn’t expecting big weights, but hopefully a steady one.

Starting on the meat, I landed an 8lber after 30mins, followed by a couple of 3½lb bream and a couple of tench. I found it best to tosspot the meat with a few 4mm pellet to keep my feeding as tight as possible on the slope.

Going into the last hour I had already tried my margin without success, but decided to concentrate here as I fully expected to catch a few on the paste. For what ever reason it never happened, so ended up going back to the meat rig for a couple more fish.

Come the weigh in I was nowhere near the top 2 weights of 75lb (pole & meat) and 73lb (feeder to the island), however I did come 3^rd with 37lb 12oz and an enjoyable evenings fishing.

09/06/21 - Durleigh Reservoir

Weight - 11lb 2oz

Catch - 3 Bream

Weather - Warm, cloudy, sunny periods, gentle breeze

Match - So Simple Knock Up (10 fished)

I’ve been looking forward to going back to Durleigh since I last fished it nearly 2 years ago. Today there were 10 So Simple members fishing and following reports of bream showing yesterday we were expecting bulging nets and a good days fishing.

I drew peg 6 near the slipway and with David Wykes on p7 we both thought we were in the right area, particularly since we all had plenty of space.

I had contemplated bringing a pole to fish short for roach, but decided against it and just brought 2 feeder rods, both with method feeders clipped at 51m and 75m. At the start I spent nearly 15mins feeding my ‘short’ line with So Simple Crush & BMG, micros, 4s and some corn, all boosted with baninion juice, giving them a bed of feed to graze over later.

I was expecting a slow start, but the following 3hrs were fairly uneventful, as I switched between the 2 lines, I even tried dead maggot just to get a bite. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one. Trev on p6 and Dave were also blanking, both of whom know how to catch the Durleigh bream and the grapevine suggested it was fishing hard. Although no one had heard from Andy who was hiding behind a tree on the end peg in the shallow water.

On the 3hr mark, Dave landed 1, after losing 1 earlier and as he landed his, I had an indication and a Bream on! At nearly 4lb it was a nice start, 2 more followed within 45mins, including a near 6lber all at 75m on an 8mm yellow gofter, I thought here we go.

The following 2hrs 15mins I was biteless again. I was fairly single minded in my approach i.e. only fishing the method, but both Dave and Trev tried all sorts to get a bite and failed, so it was difficult to measure if I got it right or not.

At least this swan kept me company or was it the freebies I was giving him.

My 11lb 2oz was only good enough for 6th on the day; but 1 more bream would have brought me 3^rd, so quite tight for the minor placings.

As it happened Andy Seery found the fish in the shallower water comfortably winning with 81lb 5oz. So well done to Andy. We were all pleased for him as he works hard on the So Simple baits in the BOG shed, which we all appreciate.

1st 81- 5 – Andy
2nd 19- 0 – Chris Whitehead
3rd 14- 5 – Mike Hosgood
4th 12- 9 - Jerry

06/06/21 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 137lb 15oz (8lb 10oz - silvers)

Catch - 45 Carp, 5 Bream, 2 F1, 2 Tench

Weather - Warm, cloudy and muggy

Match - Haines Summer League - rd 2 (23 fished)

23 of us on Hillview for the 2nd round of this enjoyable Haines Summer series. After my 1st round disaster at Lands End, being at the wrong end of the right section, I really needed a result and was disappointed to draw p50. My 8 man section was either side of the spit (p44 – p53) and with the breeze blowing into the 40’s, whilst I had the breeze off my back and flat calm, I thought I might struggle to compete.

Only set up 2 sections of pole and was going to focus fishing short, i.e. no messing about chasing (and wasting time) fishing shallow, like yesterday.

Starting at 2+1 on pellet, I lost 1 foul hooker, but no fish and a switch to paste brought no bites! So 15mins and no fish in the net. Allan Oram on p50 already had 3 or 4 carp on the pellet feeder to the far bank and my feeder rod was still in my bag, plus I could see the rest of the section behind me catching.

Rather than persist with the short line, I quickly set up a small 30g method with So Simple kriller sticky pellet and a 6mm orange gofter cast to the far bank. Fortunately, I started to catch and stayed on it for at least an hour, whilst priming my short line.

Surprisingly, I never caught a fish on the 2+1 line all match, which meant I ended up spending most of my time on the feeder.

Since the 2+1 line wasn’t producing, decided to start feeding meat on my top kit line instead, plus 4s and micros into my right- hand margin. Whenever I needed to rest the feeder line, I would switch to the margin, fishing the blue ice paste, but it was very slow. As for my meat line, there seemed to be a few silvers about as I caught skimmers and tench, which isn’t a good sign. It wasn’t until the last hour of the 5.5hr match that I started to catch carp short and down my margin.

Come the end of the match, I really thought I was looking at 4th section, as I thought I had about 140lb-150lb. Martin Pettifer (p48) was admitting to 200lb+, Andy ‘Numpty’ Eagle (p47) 160lb and Cosmo (p44) didn’t have a clue but was likely to have caught.

As it turned out we all over estimated! Some more than others, not that anyone took the piss about of Numpty for being nearly 40lb out. Fortunately, my 137lb 15oz took 2nd in section and 6th overall, which I was delighted about. Well done to Martin for winning the section and match, caught mostly shallow on pellet.

A really strange match, with most of my weight coming to the feeder. It was evident the fish were quite unsettled this weekend, probably due to the recent spawning rigours and very few big fish showed, at least in my section

1. 180-  7 - Martin Pettifer - p48

2. 170-  3 - Matt Banks - p57

3. 168-  8 - Dave Martin - p54

4. 143-10 - Steve Martin - p36

5. 139-  4 - Nick Veale - p55

6. 137-15 - Ken Rayner - p50


 

05/06/21 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 98lb 4oz 

Catch - 31 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather - Warm and sunny, variable breeze

Match - Open (41 fished)

A double header this weekend at Todber.

Saturday’s open was spread across Hillview and Homeground, with everyone once again hoping for Homeground. I found myself on p57 (Hillview) and having drawn on it before thought it could be hard particularly with p56 & p58 in.

Starting on 2+1 line with blue ice paste, I had 3 fish within 15mins, and then nothing. It was a similar story for those around me. A switch to the method produced a few fish, but I would catch a couple before they disappeared. In fact this was pretty much how my match went.

I tried to catch shallow on maggot on the pole, but it was mostly flat in front of me, with the majority of the ripple pushing into the far bank, so thought the waggler would work. It didn’t. Once again I caught a few, but the fish just weren’t interested in feeding properly and they seem to be backing off any feed.

The rest of the match was just going through the motions, nicking fish here and there. Even my short meat line failed to produce anything of substance, whilst Adam Palmer on p56 had a strong 90mins fishing short pulling him from nowhere to nearly winning the section.

So I weighed a poor 98lb and not had my best match, losing focus. I should have caught more and not wasted so much time messing about with shallow rigs. That said, I at least consolidated my thoughts on a few things and the fact I should stick to my strengths rather than follow the crowd!

1st: Callum Dicks 277lb 4oz (90 HG)

2nd: Trigger 236lb 8oz (78 HG)

3rd: Eddie Green 233lb 0oz (87 HG)

4th: Ben Evendown 205lb 14oz (88 HG)

5th: Nick Chedzoy 176lb 8oz (89 HG)

6th: Dan Squire 171lb 6oz (48 HV)

Section A: Ash Tomkins 170lb 8oz (35 HV)

Section B: Matt Redman 170lb 8oz (52 HV)

Section C: Simon Stacey 160lb 6oz (84 HG)

Silvers 1st: Rocky 15lb 0oz (82 HG)

Silvers 2nd: Pete Ziemniak 6lb 12oz (38 HV)