22/02/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 6lb 9oz

Catch - 6 Carp/F1, 3 Skimmers, 2 Rudd, 2 Perch, 2 Gudgeon, 1 Roach

Weather - Rainy, became increasingly colder

Match - Open (17 fished) - 13rd overall

I decided to fish this Thursday’s open in preparation for Sundays teams of 3, as I haven’t fished the lake for 8 years. 

Driving to the venue along the motorway, the heavens opened and I was 30 seconds behind a car that decided to test the integrity of the central barrier.

As I was trying to get a feel for the lake I wasn’t too concerned where I drew and peg 2 was OK, although the other end of the lake has been the better end recently. Due to the amount of rain that had fallen there was a fair bit of water coming down the inlet, which meant there was quite a bit of tow swirling around in front of me.

On the all-in I started tight across to the point of the island, fishing a 4mm expander, toss potting a nugget of crushed expander and 2mm Uzit p-nut pellet. After 20mins I had 2 skimmers, but felt a heavier bait was required in the ‘flow’ and switched to fishing 6mm meat. This produced a 1lb carp and a 2lb F1 by the end of the first hour.

The 2^nd hour was a real struggle. The rain had started up again I was getting ‘bites’ across, which were either small fish nipping at the bait or bigger fish swimming through the line. It was becoming increasingly frustrating.

I tried fishing down the track with dead maggot, but only caught a couple of small silvers and the tow was increasing due to the additional rain.

Next, I tried down my left margin where I had fed micros and dead maggot, where I had a little run of fish, but everything was small including the 3 carp at 2oz a piece!

I had also been feeding micros and meat by the pallet of p1, which produced 1 carp late on, but I missed too many bites, not just down the margin but across by the island as well due to poor presentation in the swirling water.

1.    33-  6 – Les Harper – p6

2.    32-12 – Mark Wooldridge – p12

3.    18-14 – Phil Auger – p11

4.    18-  7 – Allan Oram – p23

5.    17-  0 – Dave Rugman – p17

19/02/24 - Shiplate - West Pool

Weight - 115lb 12oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)

Catch - 22 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 1 Roach

Weather - Heavy overnight rain. Mostly cloudy and mild.

Match - Open (13 fished) - 2nd overall, 1st on lake.

I always enjoy my visits to Shiplate and its good that more opens are being organised thanks to Dom Sullivan.

Todays match was spread over Hawthorns and West Pool, and I drew p12 on West Pool. After some very heavy overnight rain, there was a lot of standing water around and the lakes were certainly full, and I wasn’t sure how this would affect the fishing. As it happened, I thought the lakes fished quite well, probably as it was still quite mild.

I started fishing tight to the far bank, toss potting 7mm meat dyed with U-Zit bubblegum yellow and 2mm U-Zit P-Nut pellet. After 15mins I had 2 carp in the net and then it went a bit funny, losing the next 2 fish which I thought were both hooked properly.

To give the swim a rest, I tried a 14.5m swim slightly to my right where I had fed micros and 4s, fishing a 4mm expander. This produced a few small skimmers and a carp. A switch to a banded 4 immediately produced another carp, but no more followed.

I had also been feeding meat at 3+2 to my right at the bottom of the near shelf and caught another carp, as well as some better sized skimmers.

As the match progressed the far bank proved to be the best. By cutting out the micros and toss potting 8 bites of meat, I had a few liners, but never suffered from any foul hookers. Whenever I felt this line needed a rest, I would drop in on the near meat line or the pellet line where I had been pinging pellet. Both back up lines produced, with the meat line being the best, producing bigger fish, plus a few better sized skimmers.

With an hour to go I thought I might catch down my margin late, which was the same depth as the far bank. In hindsight, this was a mistake, as I didn’t catch, and I neglected the 3+2 line. I suspect that this may have cost me a couple of fish.

That said, I had a lovely day’s fishing winning West Pool and coming 2^nd overall.

1.    124-  0 – Mark Poppleton – p13 (Hawthorns)

2.    115-12 – Ken Rayner – p12 (West Pool)

3.      76-  8 – Steve Smith – p2 (West Pool)

4.      66-  4 – Andy Fry – p14 (West Pool)

5.      60-12 – Dom Sullivan – p11 (Hawthorns)

11/02/24 - Harescombe - Meadow Lake

Weight - 4lb 12oz

Catch - 1 Carp, 16 Roach

Weather - Bright start, cloudy and cool later

Match - Teams of 3 (36 anglers) - 10th out of 12 in section

Today was the 2^nd round of the Teams of 3, having missed the first round due to the re-arranged last round of the Ivy House Winter League. I had selected to fish Meadow Lake, whilst Jason Crump would be on Field and Laurie Laing on Match Lake.

After Friday’s practice match, I was looking forward to returning, although with 12 on the lake, it was always going to be tricky, however the draw put me on p9, the same peg Laurie blanked from in the first round and a poor area of the lake.

Fortunately, the recent rain had coloured up the lake, so it wasn’t as clear as Friday and I was hopeful of at least catching to avoid a blank. As the priority was to at least catch I set up a 0.4g chimp with .10 bottom and 5 elastic to fish at 13m over a 50:50 mix of U-Zit Black Bubblegum and crushed expander with a few 2mm p-nut micros.

On the all-in I tried the lead and meat cast ¾ across to the far bank, but with no indications after 25mins, I switched to the 13m line and soon caught small roach on single maggot. I tried expander and double maggot to improve the quality of fish, but couldn’t catch anything other than roach.

After 2hrs, I had noticed most anglers had at least 1 carp and since I couldn’t catch anything other roach, I needed a carp of my own.

I had been pinging corn and 4mm p-nut pellet ¾ across towards the far bank and did catch a 3lber on double corn, which sadly was smaller than the average stamp.

I also feed meat at 3+2 hoping the carp would turn up late like they did on Friday.

I also tried the margin, initially with maggot just hoping to a get a bite without success and soon switched to feeding meat again without success. The angler to my right on the end peg had netted a couple of carp along the end bank and there were a few carp showing themselves, but they weren’t straying far from the end bank. So, with an hour to go, I tried to force the peg, big potting groundbait, corn and micros down the margin, I also catapulted several pouches of 4mm pellet across the lead line.

As for the meat I just kept trickling in the meat over the short line, but never had a bite from anywhere.

The top 3 weights came off the dam wall end and the angler to my right came 4^th 31lb (4 carp). As for me I only beat the 2 anglers immediately to my left and had my carp been 1.5lb heavier I could have gained another 2 spaces, but in reality, I was up against it.

1.    74-  9 – Luke Seabrook – P3 Meadow

2.    51-  5 – Andrew Black – p10 Field

3.    50-10 – CJ – P4 Meadow

4.    44-  5 – Ricky Mills – P9 Field

5.    43-  0 – Allan Oram – p2 Meadow

6.    42-  8 – Cliff Dutton – p11 Field

09/02/24 - Harescombe - Meadow Lake

Weight - 52lb 3oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Skimmer

Weather - Mostly showers, some heavy and breezy at times.

Match - Open (7 fished) - 2nd overall

As I was due to fish the Teams of 3, I jumped on today’s open on Meadow Lake to get a feel for the lake as it’s been 8 years since I last fished here.

There were only the 7 of us and my draw put me on the left bank, just past the willow tree. Plumbing up revealed the lake quickly deepened off to my right and towards the middle to about 8ft.

On the all in a ball of U-zit black bubblegum & crushed expander mixed 50:50 with 2mm p-nut pellet was fed at 11m in 6ft of water.  I also fed 10 cubes of 7mm meat dyed with yellow bubblegum with 2mm pellet under the willow to my right in 5ft of water.

I spent the first 45mins on the lead trying different areas of the swim with bread or meat, but never had a bite.

A quick look over the meat line didn’t produce, so I concentrated
on the 11m line. Fishing with a 0.5g SM chimp and maggot which produced a couple of roach, before catching a small carp, but I was getting ragged by the roach. A switch to 4mm expander meant I had to wait for a bite, but it produced a 2lb tench and then a 2lb skimmer.

Looking around the whole lake it was fishing hard with only a few carp being caught and I hoped my meat line would produce a few fish late. As it turned out the last 2hrs was quite good, just toss potting 6 bits of meat plus a few micros. Fishing a 0.3g Ackoo carrat, I initially

had to wait for a bite, but in the last 30mins I had to cut out the micros as I was getting liners and bites were coming much quicker.

As a back line I had been pinging corn & 4mm pellet to my left in the shallower end of the lake, without success.

Come the end it was between myself and Steve Venn on the opposite bank as we had the same number of carp, but ultimately, he had a couple of proper lumps which swung the result his way. So, 2^nd for me, which I was pleased with and gave me a few ideas for Sunday.

As for the venue it’s set in lovely surroundings and I’m looking forward to the teams of 3 and I’ve also booked myself onto the summer series.

1.    65-  7 – Steve Venn – p1

2.    52-  3 – Ken Rayner – p3

3.    36-13 – Carl Mulford – p4

04/02/2024 - Hillview - Canal 2

Weight - 60lb 14oz (26lb 6oz - silvers)

Catch - 20 Carp/F1, 36 Ide, 7 Perch, 4 Tench, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Cloudy and breezy

Match - Tackle Den (24 fished) - 12th overall and 3rd in section

There were 24 booked in for this match and we were spread over canals 2, 3 and 4. Not being familiar with the canals, I was told canals 3 & 4 were the best and to draw an end peg. Well, I failed on both counts, drawing p57 (3 off the end) on canal 2. However, the payout was the same for each canal, except for the overall winner who would get an extra tenner.

Once I got to my peg and looking at the way the wind was blowing, I felt I would be at the wrong end of the lake.

Fortunately, I had a small reed bed opposite me at 13m which was only 2ft deep and nearly 3ft at 2+2. I started off dobbin bread across, catching 2 carp, but missed a few bites which I felt were from silvers and soon caught an ide. I knew ide had been stocked into the Heron and Moorhen lakes, but not the canals. As a result, I persisted a little too long dobbin bread, thinking I needed to catch carp or F1. However, it didn’t feel right so decided to start tapping in maggot and soon started catching ide.

Whenever it went quiet, I would go back to dobbing bread for a few more carp, but they seemed reluctant to take maggot as it become obvious the majority of carp were at other end of the lake, as I could see quite a few fish being landed.

As a backup line, I had been feeding maggot down my left-hand margin, but this only produced a couple of small silvers. I had also been feeding micros on a 2+2 line, hoping a few carp would settle over it as Dom to my right had caught a couple of decent carp short on pellet. When I switched to my short line fishing a 4mm expander, this only produced a few more ide, plus some small tench, which was a disappointing return. I decided to convert this line to maggot for later in the match, which produced more ide but in hindsight wish I had kept it as a pellet as I felt there was more chance of pulling in more carp.

The far line was proving to be the most productive. During one 30min spell after resting the line I had started pinging maggot across and caught very quickly, getting a bite as soon as the float settled – lovely fishing.

As my left-hand margin wasn’t producing as expected I decided to feed micros by the p56 pallet, fishing a 4mm expander. This quickly produced 3 reasonable carp and I thought I would have a strong finish to the match, but the last 90mins was a little disappointing as I had to keep rotating lines to keep putting fish in the net.

An enjoyable day, with plenty of bites. In hindsight, had I realised there were so many ide in the lakes, I would have been better prepared. That said there was a 30lb & 40lb either side of me and the winner of each canal came from the windward end, so I was just at the wrong end.

1.    111-  7 – Steve Venn – p72 (canal 3)

2.    105-  3 – John Pearce – p83 (canal 4)

3.      97-14 – Matt Greaves – p95 (canal 4)

4.      86-13 – Andrew Black – p93 (canal 4)

5.      86-  2 – Jason Crump – p68 (canal 2)

6.      83-  6 – Pete Phillips – p81 (canal 3) 

28/01/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 29lb 14oz

Catch - 19 Carp, 10 F1

Weather - Sunny with cloudy periods. Breezy start, calm later

Match - Winter League rd 6 (48 fished) - 4th in section

The final round of the Winter League and my turn for the good pegs on Heron. P22 wasn’t the best, with an average of 5.4pts coming off the peg in the previous 5 rounds, as you are competing with the pegs opposite and p21.

Starting on the lead and bread produced 3 Carp and a F1 in the first 45mins, but I could see Jamie Durrup and Jamie Dixey both catching well on p10 & p11, so I was already up against it.

Switching to the pole at 16m (using a short 4) was difficult due to a side wind that was proving awkward, and I ended up using a bump bar. Feeding a small nugget of crushed expander and maggot, bites were difficult to come by and the fish I did catch were of a smaller stamp. I also lost a couple of fish as I struggled to get decent presentation.

As I felt I was starting to fall behind Jason Hunt to my right on p21, I tried the maggot feeder cast to the island and wished I had tried it sooner putting together a little run of fish before the action died off.

Back on the pole, the wind was starting to die down in the last 90mins and I started catching some better stamp of fish. In the last hour the wind had dropped sufficiently for me to go to the full 16m, using a long 4, where it was very slightly shallower. So far, I had been using a 0.3g maggot rig, with a bulk and 2 droppers, but with the lighter wind a switch to 4x12 rig with spread shotting was much better and I caught some better fish towards the end of the match on single maggot.

It was nip & tuck between myself and Jason, and fortunately my late run of fish meant I beat him by 3lb, but as expected p10 & p11 claimed 1^st (55-14) and 2^nd (38-8) in section and I finished 4^th missing out on 3^rd by 2lb.

To be honest this match was probably a reflection of how my league went. I finished 21^st overall, which was disappointing after finishing 2^nd and 6^th in previous years. However, when I look at my draw’s I had no real flyers, and you need a bit of luck, particularly with the calibre of anglers fishing this league.

The table below shows my draws over the 6 rounds, with my results in green.

Peg	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6
Kingfisher - p37	5	7	2	7	2	4
Old Match Lake - p3	1	6	6	4	7	5
Heron - p17	8	7	4	8	2	5
Moorhen - p31	7	7	5	1	7	3
Willow - p20	2	6	3	8	3	7
Heron - p22	7	8	3	3	6	4

 Top 6 on the day

1.    133-  3 – John Morgan – p46 (Kingfisher)

2.      57-10 – Matt Hamilton – p10 (Old Match Lake)

3.      55-14 – Jamie Durrup – p10 (Heron)

4.      53-14 – Joff Rogers – p2 (Heron)

5.      41-12 – Steve Waters – p13 (Heron)

6.      41-  8 – Simon Duke – p19 (Willow)

27/01/24 - Shearwater

Finally I got my car back from Volvo, only took them 6 weeks to replace an auxiliary battery!
 
I made a late decision to fish Shearwater, selecting a peg on the road bank, opposite the lawns. I took just the one rod, fishing a XR Banjo feeder at 60m, loaded with Uzit green Thatchers, micros, P-nut 4s.
 
After baiting up with 4 feeder fulls of bait, I had 5 Bream in the first hour. After that I had a couple of quiet spells and finished with 16 Bream up to 4-12 for 51lb, only losing the one fish. Using the new Uzit worm and pineapple clouds around my 6mm wafters, with the worm cloud being the best today.
 
It made a pleasant change, catching some nice fish and I think the first frost for over a week, plus bright calm conditions meant the fishing proved difficult and I didn’t see a single carp being landed.