April arrives and the start of the North Wessex Summer League looms. This year, with Dazza taking a sabbatical,  it has lost it’s identity a bit with five matches being scheduled and it looking more akin to the Winter League in terms of venues with one noticeable exception- the first match at Patneys Woodside Lake. With this in mind I headed out  midweek to have a practice at Patneys as I had heard it had been hard. I decided to fish to the left as you entered and went down to the last peg before the point. The water was a lot clearer than I had previously seen and the rumours of a large number of fish being lost to cormorants over the winter prompted me to settle on two lines. The first at 2 + 3 distance, the second at 13m. A small ball of hard groundbait went in on the short line along with 20 cubes of 4mm meat, a small handful of micros and half a dozen pieces of corn. Three balls plus the same loose offerings went in at 13m and was left for an hour while I started on the closer line. Both lines were loose fed with a few micros and 4-5 cubes of meat every couple of minutes.

Rigs were fairly straight forward, the long rig in 6-7ft of water was 0.16mm Shogun to a 0.14mm Shogun hook length to a 16 911x, this was matched to a 0.5g homemade float similar to a Chianti but with a hollow tip. The close in rig in 3-4ft was again homemade of a similar style taking 0.3g but on 0.14mm to 0.12mm Shogun and an 18 911.

After 5 minute the first fish came to the net- a stockie that had grown to about 12oz taking a piece of 6mm punched meat. This continued for the next hour with regular bites but nothing as like as manic as previous visits. Going out on the long line produced a smaller stamp of fish, so I stuck to the shorter line and after 3 hours having tried various other baits had amassed 30+ small carp to 2lb for about 25lb, no bigger carp showed at all. With that I decided to call it a day and leave before the rain in the distance arrived!

Sunday saw me at Boddington Reservoir for an MFS silvers match.The draw put me on peg 49 and the water level meant I was sitting on the second platform down. I decided to leave the pole in the holdall and set up two 5m whips and a waggler. The first whip was a 5m Chinese variety that was teamed with a Chinese float set with a bulk three feet away from the hook and three no 10 stotz droppers below. The second was a more traditional 5m whip but set up with the same rig. Both rigs were on 0.12mm Shogun and 0.08mm hook length to an 18 911. The waggler was set for 13-20m where it was fairly consistent depth with a similar hook and hook length but with 4 no 8 shot as droppers.

The whistle went and I threw in three hard balls of groundbait and followed that with a pinch of maggot every two minutes. A pouch of casters was dispatched every 5 minutes onto the waggler line. The weather was unusually kind and with the sun beating down it was a match that was soon over with 94 roach for 18-15, all but two taken the the whips. Starting on the Chinese whip I had about 40 fish before swapping to the traditional one as the fish were easier to swing to hand. I found that I needed to add a ball of groundbait whenever the bites slowed. I had an enjoyable day but came nowhere in the match (5th in section of 7 and 10th overall in match), the match was won with a superb 41-08 by Steve May (Andy May’s dad) with a couple of roach around the 2lb mark.

Tuesday saw me off to Isis No 1 pit with the intention of doing something different – trying for a carp and fishing for tench on this notoriously difficult water at this time of year. Carp rod with a hair-rigged boilie was put close in next to an overhanging tree, while a 12ft Avon rod was set up with a waggler to fish a couple of rod lengths out in the crystal clear water. – I blanked! One day I will learn that the water needs to be a lot warmer before they move in close!

Sunday arrived and the start of my Summer League campaign. I somehow had been made captain of the Pewsey 1 team with Brian (The Pewsey Trawler) Shutler, Simon Burden and Alan Gibbs my team members. The draw saw us get the end peg 7, not that gave us an advantage as the sections followed on from each other! I was on A7, in a small bay with B1, Neil Pelgim, Pewsey 2, being at right angles to me in the bay. I decided not to put up a feeder as Neil would be casting where I would be and Peter Gilbert on the point on the opposite side of the lake ultimately cast there also!

I set up the same as my previous visit but decided to feed negatively as the weather had gone cold again and the wind was very cold and strong blowing left to right. On the whistle I potted a dozen pieces of 4mm meat, 4 pieces of corn and 10 4mm pellets on the 13m line along with one small ball of F1 method match and did the same at 6m (2 +3).  With 4mm meat on the hook I spent 30minutes biteless on the short line. I know that the venue gets affected by having numbers on it so decided to forget the short line and concentrate on the 13m line. I began toss potting in 4 cubes of meat, 2 pieces of corn and a few 4mm pellets with 4mm meat on the hook.After an hour the float dipped and a small pasty of 3oz was in the net- at least I was not blanking, but by this time, Paul Rice on peg A6 had about 3 carp of around 2lb on the feeder. Another half hour went by and the float buried and I finally hooked a better fish, playing it carefully on my soft set 10 hollow, the hook inexplicably pulled close in, a mirror of 2-3lb. Cursing I went out again and another half hour saw exactly the same happen, this time a common of 2-3lb. That was it on the meat, I could get no other bites, a change to 4mm expander  saw a bite an hour later, the strike resulted in the elastic been stretched by a much larger fish than the ones previously lost. Heart in my mouth I managed to slowly get back to the top two and play it on the puller kit with a huge sigh of relief I put the net under a ghostie of about 7lb. Feeling much better I went back out and was struggling to hold the pole steady with the wind increasing in velocity. Elsewhere it looked as everyone was struggling, Neil had caught a similar pasty to my self and was not getting any indications.

Neil managed to get a lump then an hour before the end the float dipped and a similar fight saw me net a mirror of about 6lb, again on the expander, my only other bite came 10 minutes before the all out when I hooked a small pasty that came off on the way in. That was it, 6 bites, 3 fish landed 3 lost. News from around the lake was that it had been very hard with several blanks, one of which was Brian on B7, now if he can’t get a bite, there are no fish in front of him. The scales arrived and Neil had won his section with a level 8lb- that one fish plus a 2-3oz pasty. I weighed in 13-10 which was good enough to win the section and was second in the match, Craig Curtis winning with 20lb of feeder fish. Team wise we had done enough to win the day, despite Brian’s blank, Allan and Simon had both come second in their sections.

Wednesday saw me back at Patneys to fish the same peg as wanted to see if I could do anything differently. The weather had changed and was a lot warmer and the wind when it arrived was only a gentle breeze compared to Sunday. I fished exclusively at 13m and expander, the result was 18 carp up to 10lb for about 49lb, 4 foul hookers were lost including one big double mirror . The owner had come around to see how I had got on and was interested in how it had gone, the fish certainly seemed to be favouring that bay, he reminded me that there was an open there on the Saturday, so with nothing planned that weekend I decided to give it a go!

Saturday arrived for only 6 of us to appear at Patneys, worse still was the news from Mark Russ, that the second leg of the Summer League had been moved to May 7th when  was away on holiday- I was not impressed, knowing that any chance if retaining the individual crown had disappeared with that decision.  The draw saw me on peg 3, incredibly the same peg as the Summer League and the Wednesday, I didn’t quite run to it but it was a close thing! I began at 13m but also primed a swim at 13m down to my right about 4-5m out from the bank. Again it was slower than Wednesday and after a couple of hours I had 4 carp in the 2-3 lb range in the net, it then went dead after I lost a fish (possibly foul hooked ) and missed a bite. It was a case of swapping between the lines for the rest of the match with two more similar sized carp coming on the long line and then a solitary carp from down the right with a quarter of an hour to go. This proved to be vital as peg 2 had got a late run of fish and when the scales arrived was leading with 13lb+, I reckoned on having 14lb so when the scales settled on 15-14 I was relieved to have won! The other highlight of the day was the red kite that kept us amused with its soaring antics over the lake.

It wasn’t until the following Friday that I managed to get out again, this time a visit to Pewsey’s lake. I decided to fish the carp end- peg 14 as I wanted to do some method fishing. Two hours in and a selection of little nudges, 3 foot branches and twigs finally saw me land a couple of small carp before losing a lump in the rushes. A switch to the pole saw some nice roach plus a small carp come to the net before I packed in  and went home.

The final Sunday in April saw me at Milkhouse Water on the K&A for a Pewsey club match. Drawing peg 10 meant a long walk past the moored boats before the pegs started and then at least 40m between each peg. I was faced with an interesting swim

I was not keen on the colour of the water but there were enough features in the peg to go at. Three rigs set up, a home made short bodied float for worm down the track, coupled with a no 6 elastic, 0.08mm Shogun hook length to a 20, a BGT Blood for punch and up the shelf with 0,07mm to a 22 on a 3 elastic and a BGT Peatmoor for the far shelf with no2 elastic and 0.06mm Shogun to a 24.

On the whistle I cupped in a small ball of groundbait to a deeper hole I had found on the far shelf to the right and a small golf ball of liquidised on my punch line. Twenty minutes later with no response on the punch, chopped worm was put down the track and a small piece of worm put over the top to no response, in fact every line I tried, everything I tried failed miserably, so after 3 hours without a bite or anything that remotely looked like a bite I did something unusual for me- I packed in and went home. I subsequently found out later that the match was won with 14oz, and only 3oz was needed to frame with lots of blanks. I felt I could have fished that peg for 10 hours and not caught so was ultimately comfortable about my decision to go home.

The Summer League is there (without me) next week, bet it fishes its head off then!

March kicked off with a visit to Bowood, peg 12 and the least said about it the better! No bites no runs , a blank! Two days later I went to Blacklands and fished the bench peg. Usual set up with a worm line and a pellet line 2 metres apart at 8-9m in 7 feet of water. A pleasant change from my trip to Bowood I ended up with 46 skimmers, 28 roach, 12 perch, 1 gudgeon and 1 tench for 25-4, alternating between the lines.

No match at the weekend but Monday saw me back at Bowood, peg 10 (peg 12 was taken) but I managed to get some bits plus a skimmer and a hybrid along with two jacks of 3 and 4lb for 9-8.

Friday saw me at Blacklands peg 6, up from where the tree had been felled. I fished this differently as I wanted to use the day to practice fishing 14m as I had a match at Barston coming up that might require me to fish at distance. With this in mind I set up my usual worm line at 8m and cupped in two big pots of micros at 14m and left them for an hour while I fished the 8m line. Going over the micros I began to catch small skimmers on expanders and ended up with 32 skimmers, 9 roach, 2 tench, 2 gudgeon and a solitary perch for 22-2.  A few muscles I had forgotten about reminded themselves to me over the next day!

Sunday saw an early start for an MFS match at Barston, near Solihull. Barston is one of my favourite venues set alongside a golf course the main lake is home to magnificent carp and bream along with other coarse fish.

This match however was a silvers match so it was the bream that were the real quarry. I drew peg 18 which was on the right hand side of the lake with a relatively short walk. I decided not to set up a feeder but to concentrate on the pole and waggler. I set up three pole rigs, the first a 1.5g heavy rig in case the water started to tow if the wind got up, the second a homemade 0.6g rig for fishing on the bottom and lastly a homemade 0.4g rig with the shotting strung out for fishing on the drop. My waggler was a homemade peacock insert taking 3AAA with just 3x no 8 as droppers to a 20 hook, all hooklengths were 0.08mm Shogun. I was joined on peg 16 by Nigel, the owner of the lake and on my right on peg 19 by Bagga69. On the whistle I fed two lines at 14m, the left hand one with 6 cups of groundbait (a mix of Sonubaits F1 and Breamcrush) laced liberally with dead pinkies, some dead maggots and casters, the right hand line had 3 balls of groundbait plus two pots of micros. I began on the waggler, firing casters out to 20m picking up some small roach in the first hour before trying the pole lines which were dead! Back out on the waggler and a couple of skimmers plus some more roach came to the net before back over the pole lines for two small fish then nothing. This continued all match with only those two fish coming from the pole line, the rest all taken on the waggler. At the end I weighed in 11-2, Nigel 5-8 and Bagga 8-8 but the other three in our section fared better with peg 13 weighing in 22-10, peg 15 11-10 and peg 22 40-4 (yes forty pound)! That is how it goes sometimes!

It wasn’t until the following Friday when I could get out next and with Bowood now closed it was Blacklands peg 11, to the right of the jetty, that saw me set up  Usual set up but I set up a heavier elastic as one of my rigs was going to be placed towards the jetty. Indeed I decided to make my worm line by the jetty and my pellet line directly in front of me at 9m. The worm line tend s to last for about two hours then dies and I switch to the pellet line. Today I was going to re-feed the worm line with cheese once it had died! I was hoping for some of the big perch to put in an appearance but I only had 3 small perch, the worm line produced a carp of 4-0, another that was lost under the jetty, some skimmers and two small tench, switching to the pellet line saw more skimmers another tench of 2lb and two proper bream of 3lb and 4lb. The switch back to the cheese saw a run of skimmers. In total I ended up with the two bream, the carp, three tench, 3 perch, 15 roach and 49 skimmers for 35lb.

Sunday saw another MFS match, this time on the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth. Initially I drew peg 1 only to get to the canal to find that a redraw was necessary due to some people  writing down the wrong pegs on the board and it affected everyone! The next draw saw me draw peg 9 which I was told was slap bang in the middle of the area where there were 4 blanks in the same match last year!. I set up 3 rigs- one for the near side and far side, a worm rig on no 8 elastic as there were better bream, chub and carp in the stretch plus a rig for down the track.

I started the match on the punch and had 6 roach one after the other before I missed a bite and that was that- nothing. In the meantime while I had been cupping in my feed the guy on my right had cast out a method feeder, put his rod down and immediately picked it up again with what was his only bite in the match from a bream of 2-8, he had nothing else on feeder or pole!. I switched to my worm line after feedng some choppie and first put in had a small perch, then nothing! In desperation I went across and first put in had a gudgeon, second put in had a small roach that came off on the way back and that was it- my match, in terms of catching,  was over! Four  hours of no bites later, for any of us the middle saw these results-

Peg 6 DNW, Peg 7 0-8, Peg 8 0-12, Peg 9(me) 0-11, peg 10 2-8 (that 1 bream), peg 11 1-6 (two fish a roach and skimmer)

Peg 4 won the match with worm across, first put in carp (5lb), second put in chub(4lb), third put in lost carp, no more bites for rest of match. Peg 1 which I had drawn initially was second with 5lb of gudgeon!

Wednesday saw me back at Blacklands to remind me what a bite looked like! I decided to fish at the back of the island, a peg I do not usually put in matches as there is only a limited amount of water to aim at compared to the rest of the pegs.  It didn’t affect the fish with 21-3 comprising of 29 skimmers including one of 2-12, 7 roach including one exactly 1lb, 3 tench to 2-0 and one gudgeon. Surprisingly no perch made an appearance!

Sunday saw me back at Blacklands, running a silvers match. Last peg left in the hat put me on peg 3, the other side of the bush from the bench peg. The Pewsey Trawler, aka Brian Shutler, was on peg 2 to my right and Chaz Short on my left on peg 4. I began in usual manner and started well with 10lb in the net in the first hour, but things then slowed down and I ended with a crick in my neck watching the trawler live up to the name and win the match with 38-9, Marc Kay on 12 was second with 34-6 and Fred Parker third with 28-14 from peg 10. I ended up with 22-9 including a 3lb bream and 4 roach over the pound. Chaz weighed in 12-5, Jamie on peg 5 15-2, Steve on peg 6 5-9, Peg 7 Mick weighed 23-4 with next peg Chris Rushton 22-12 and Jamie’s brother Kelvin weighed in 10-1 off peg 11. Some great silvers fishing but that will be it now until October for Blacklands as the warm weather will fill the campsite and the lakes will be full of holidaymakers after the carp.

That was it for March as a family visit to Yorkshire saw out the rest of the month. April sees Boddington and the start of the North Wessex Summer League.

With the match looming the following Sunday I made my way to Bowood and managed to get on Peg 12, half hour before the same angler arrived to find me there (me looking smug!)

, we exchanged pleasantries and he trudged off up to the top field and the bay. The water was not too coloured but not crystal clear either so I was hopeful of some action. Pike rod out with a joey and three large cups of loose with micros and casters mixed in deposited at 10m in the 8 foot of water I awaited a response. After an hour the pellet waggler I use as a pike float bobbed then went walk about, a strike resulted in a jack of 3-12. No sign on the pole. Another hour past and the same scenario with the pike rod resulted in a jack of 4-4. Still nothing on the pole. A further hour and the float lifted on the pole and resulted in a small roach- at least I had caught something on the pole I thought. A further half hour past when the float buried and the resulting strike was met with a very solid resistance, carefully steering the fish bankwards on a 4-6 hollow and 0.08 Shogun to a 20 I finally managed to get the net under a tench of 4-8. RESULT!

Nothing further happened but I added another pot of loose and waited. About 1:30pm the other angler came past saying he had had a small jack I told him I what I had had and after a brief chat he trudged off back to the car in the far distance. As I watched him trudge up the hill, my float went again and a solid resistance heralded the arrival of another tinca, this time 3-11. Another pot of loose was deposited and 25minutes later, after a spirited fight a tench of 5-9 lay in the net a personal best for Bowood. My last pot of groundbait and a further wait of 40 minutes and the action for the day was concluded with a further tinca of 4-12.  Not a bad outing for a cold February day!

Wednesday saw me back at Blacklands as I wanted to pay the balance for the lake but also finalise the pegging in my mind. To this end i decided to go around the back end of the island and fish what would become peg 8. The day would not be a quiet one as there were two guys who were chopping down two willows and then cutting up and shredding the felled trees. (see the link!!!) Timber!

The depth was again about 6 feet and I primed two swims, a worm and caster one at 10 o’clock and a micro one at 2 o’clock. Despite the cold day and distractions the fishing was once again good with many more skimmers than roach, more than 50 to be precise, a perch of 1-2 and a bream of 3lb. The bream fell to the cheese again fished over the micro line. With over 30lb caught I packed up and hoped that Sunday would be similar for the match.

So to the match, there was only one peg I really didn’t fancy- peg 12 which was between the Toilet block and a little jetty, with one peg left in the hat for me – you guessed it- peg 12. I felt I was not going to be able to frame from the peg partly because the trawler that is Brian Shutler had drawn peg 10 – the peg I was fishing when he came to see me, Marc Kay was in between him and me and Chris Rushton was on peg 5, two good anglers in good areas. Plumbing up I found there was a slope from the jetty back towards me and I set up my worm line at the base of the slope at about 9m and my micros to my left about 2m further away. The match started and both I and Cliff Reynolds were soon into fish. The first hour passed quickly with a lot of banter, most aimed at Gary Williams on peg 2 (the bench peg) as he kept hooking large fish both on the pole and the whip and losing them with resultant trashed rigs. He was sure they were carp but I suspected some of them may have been the large perch. After an hour and a half I hooked a large fish that tore off and Gary said “I ‘ve sent  them over to you!”. His face was a picture when the fish was a perch of 2-14.

The worm line was dying and I had been catching roach with only one hybrid, I needed skimmers if I was going to compete. The third and fourth hour was a disaster with hardly anything being put in the net while Marc was steadily catching fish every put in as was Brian. Chris Rushton had had a torrid start losing several rigs on a snag which eventually turned out to be a large branch that had escaped from the tree felling. But he had recovered and was putting together a good run of fish including a foulhooked bream of 3lb. A short burst of 6 skimmers in the last half hour end my match.

Quickly packing up I started the weigh in, Cliff on peg 1 had seen his peg die after the first hour, 4-4, Gary on 2 had managed to put 10-4 on the scales while Mick on peg 3 had 9-2, Nigel Russell next on peg 4 had 13-3, Chris on 5 weighed in 21-14.5 despite his torrid start, On to the opposite bank to me, Daz on peg 6 13-14, Peg 7 Chaz 7-11, peg 8 Jamie with a nice bag of 15-4, Andy on peg 9 had 13-3, the trawler had 28-10, Marc ran him close with 27-9 and I ended up with 14-6. A nice friendly match which saw plenty of bites.

That saw the end of February, March is looking busy with another match on at Blacklands, plus a couple of MFS matches.

I decided to have a break from Bowood and headed off to Blacklands but this time Heron Lake, where Gareth had caught through the ice last month. I rolled up at the same peg and lazily set up one rig to fish the 6 foot or so of water at 9m. Using one of my homemade floats taking 0.4g, coupled with 0.10mm mainline and 0.08mm Shogun hooklength to a 20, I set it up with the bulk about 18 inches above the hook with two no10 droppers spaced out below. I opted to prime two swims about 2m apart, the left hand one was given half a large pot of chopped worm with a few casters and a sprinkling of micros, whilst the right hand one was fed with the same volume of micros and a few casters. Both swims would be fed by catapult every couple of minutes with 5-6 casters.

Bites were not long in coming on the worm line and a run of roach in the 4-6oz bracket were interrupted by a roach over a pound (I had left the scales in the car). Not long later my no 6 elastic was given a stretch by a whopping perch that had me scurrying back to the car for the scales. When the needle settled it showed 3-1, a great start. The day continued and later I had another good roach, but smaller than the first, this was weighed and went exactly 1lb. When I packed up I estimated I had had 30lb made up of 20 roach, 20 skimmers (best 1lb) and 36 perch, including another of 1-4. A solitary carp of 4-8 also featured from the micro line on caster!

From the sun in the photos the weather turned to rain and it was on the Wednesday I went back to Bowood (peg 12!) hoping the coloured water, sorry chocolate, might prompt some fish to feed although I did not expect any pike. I was right about the pike  and managed to sneak out one small bream of 2-4plus a load of roach and skimmers for a 7-8 total. One unseen lump was also lost as nearing the net, grrrr.

Friday saw me back with the temperature back down to 1C. The chocolate had turned to tap water in just a couple of days and this time the only action were from two jacks of 6-12 and 5-4, not a single bite on the pole!

Sunday came around and off to Pewsey Lake for a club match. Peg 12 saw me down the right end again, but I am going to have to put in some serious time to get to grips with this lake. No carp on the method or waggler- remember last match! I ended up with a clutch of roach for 1-8- just enough action to keep the interest but annoying in that I lost a very good fish towards the end of the match that may well have been a bream.Tactics were similar to previous matches and not much different from the others fishing. Must try harder me thinks!

Tuesday and back to Bowood to find the tap water had become even clearer and worse still someone else was there fishing AND in peg 12!!!! I decided to give the other angler room as although the pegs are well spaced I went on peg 10 which was 40-50 yards distant.T water here is about 18-24 inches shallower but I set up the pole and cupped in three pots of loose groundbait with some casters. No bites an hour later when the pike float bobs and a run develops, pole shipped back quickly I managed to hit and land a pike of 12-04. Nothing else happened for another hour or so when another run on the pike rod was inexplicably missed. That was the end of the action, the guy on 12 had 1 jack plus 3 other runs which didn’t result in secure hook ups.

The final escapade in this session was back to Blacklands and Heron Lake, this time fishing on the Toilet Block bank at the point of the island. I could reach the point of the island with the pole but as I was after the “silvers” I ignored the obvious feature and plumbing up decided on 9m. Tackle was a homemade float with a chianti style body but a hollow tip, taking 0.45g. This was teamed up to 0.12mm Shogun and 0.10mm Shogun hook length. Bulk was set about two foot from hook with one no 9 and one no 10 dropper to a 20. Groundbait is banned so I began like the previous visit with chopped worm and casters a with a sprinkling of micros in front of me and micros and caster to my right. Both lines to be fed with casters but the micro line would also get alternate helpings of micros.

The first difference I found was that there were more roach about than had been the case before when perch were the dominant species. I had two that I weighed  1-4 and 1-2.

To cut a long story short I had the best part of 30lb by the time I was visited by Brian Shutler who had come to recce the venue for a match I had organised in a weeks time. I had also tried cheese as a third line but could not get a bite just over the cheese, but as soon as I had gone over the micro line I had been getting skimmers on cheese. While Brian was there I put some cheese on and had a bream of 3lb plus some skimmers, I also had a perch of about a pound and a quarter on the worm while he was there. In total when I packed up I reckoned I had caught 39lb made up of 40 bream/skimmers, 36 roach and 18 perch. (I tend to keep a mental record of the fish as I go along with the weight being added up in ounces fish by fish)

Hope the match fishes as well as this! I may do a feature on fishing the cheese in the future.

So into 2017 we go, why break a habit of a lifetime so Bowood peg 12 was my first visit of the year. We were in the middle of a cold spell still and I broke the ice out to 10m fairly easily and managed to clear a reasonable area.

Three hours later and no bites or runs in the gin clear water I went home having bagged my first blank of the year on my first outing! It wasn’t until the Friday that I could venture back to peg 12. This time the ice was considerably thicker- over 1/2 inch and I managed to clear a much smaller channel than previously out to 9m. The water was still gin clear and I did not expect to get anything but after a couple of hours the pike float zipped off and I had an exhilarating fight under the ice with a jack of 6-12.  Still nothing doing on the pole. The jack turned out to be the only action of the day.

Sunday saw me back at Pewsey Lake for a club match. I was asked to draw the Golden Pegs and drew out 13 and 3. I drew 13, a good area plus one of the GPs.  I began on the pellet feeder for an hour while priming to swims at 11m- caster at 10 o’clock and micros at 2 o’clock. I only had the odd knock on the pellet feeder and pegs 14 and 15 in the bay had both caught several proper carp. Further to my left I had Brian Shutler and beyond him Gary Williams who was catching chub and carp on the waggler. The pole lines were slow and my tactics were obviously way out as pegs 14 and 15 continued catching while Brian on my left began to get a run of fish on the 11m line and the waggler across. Basically I was battered on all sides with my final net of 3 small carp for 4-1 and a couple of roach for 0-6  making me slightly better than peg 3 who blanked! The curse of the Golden Peg! Lessons learned for the future with the waggler now must be included in my tactics.

The following Tuesday I decided to have a couple of hours on the river as Bowood was still recovering from the ice melting partially! I headed to the bottom weir at  Sutton Benger on the Bristol Avon and decided to long trot with a centre-pin and 15 foot  MAP rod. I enjoyed a pleasant couple of hours catching roach and dace which was a change and made me think about next season and targets.

Sunday saw me on the canal at Ladies Bridge for a club match. I drew peg 2 in the wides and with the water a horrible colour plus the bank being very slippy and muddy with the rain we had been having plus the rain still falling I decided to set up a light feeder and the waggler that could cover all eventualities. To cut a long story short I blanked although I was happy with the way I fished and it was universally hard going. I didn’t wait for the weigh in as I had to drive up to Heathrow in preparation for collecting my son, Gareth, who was visiting from China.

Jet lag put to one side I took Gareth on the Thursday to Blacklandlakes which was the venue for an MFS match I was running on the Sunday. We got there to find what would be peg 12 covered in cat ice for a few metres out, so we settled on pegs 9 and 10. Gareth was into fish before I had tackled up and we continued catching throughout the day without catching anything spectacular, I ended up with36 skimmers, 9 roach and 6 perch for about 10lb with Gareth catching a similar number and weight but having more roach than skimmers. Worm again seemed to be the best bait.

Sunday arrived and Gareth went to fish Heron lake next to Stans lake, the venue of the match. The weather had turned colder and the lake was iced up except for an area around pegs 1 and 2. I spent some time breaking the ice at each peg so that it would be easier for people to clear their swims and Gareth went to clear his on Heron. Before the start I went down to see Gareth and was surprised to find that the ice was thicker- over 1/2inch and he had managed to clear out a space to 4m. I took over and managed to clear a swim for him out to 6m where he had 6feet of water.

As to be expected with twelve people on the lake clearing the swims it was harder than expected and I drew peg 12, opposite peg 1 and managed to clear an area out to 9m plus a channel to my right into a patch of clear water. The match went slowly at first then picked up with a succession of small fish on the 9m line, but as the ice began to melt this line died and I had to go into the swim on my right and on hooking fish stick my pole under the ice and steer the fish back with the pole going through the channel. I lost a couple of skimmers and had a quiet spell but ended up with 4-12 for third in section and 5th overall. A hard day unfortunately for the people who had traveled to fish, but the comment at the end was they would come back when the weather was better. After the pay out was complete I went to see Gareth as he still had not packed up so I suspected he was having a better day than us and that proved to be the case. He had taken a number of skimmers over the pound plus a perch of 1 1/2ld and numerous small perch and good quality roach. He enjoyed himself at least.

One last visit to Benger before Gareth departed and we had a decent selection of roach to 11oz, bleak, perch, chublets and perch. I again fished the rod and pin and Gareth started on the whip but moved onto the straight lead over the whip line. Thursday saw Gareth return to China, leaving temperature was 4C I think and it was 25C in Hong Kong when his flight landed!

Sunday saw peg 12 at Bowood have it’s usual visitor and again the clear water resulted in no bites on the pole but the day was saved by a pike of 14lb together with a jack of 3lb.

That pike represented a personal best at Bowood (for pike landed- I am still having nightmares over the lost crocodile!).

The last day of January saw me back at peg 12 but this time without the usual gear. The weather had turned from the cold and ice to days and days of rain. The water was chocolate and the underfoot conditions were awful so I was doubly glad that  I had decided to go with just the seat bag, a pike rod and the banana!(You need to see previous blogs-Chinese Takeaway- to see the banana!)

I had decided not to fish the Chinese floats but had set up a 5g BGT Blue with an olivette set about 2 foot from the hook and 2 droppers. I was not hopeful of any pike with the chocolate masquerading as water but put out a herring tail just in case. After an hour on the banana and no bites I noticed the odd fish top on the five metre line so i broke the banana down and used 8 sections which took me out to the 5m line and set up a small waggler with a bulk of 6 x no 8 and two no 8 droppers to a 20. Maggot on the hook and in the next two hours I had 21 small fish for a little over2 and1/2 lbs. At which point with it still raining and the sky going darker I decided to pack up and head home, getting back just as it started to rain a lot harder!

February sees me returning to Pewsey lake for the last club match prior to a busy March and April.

The last weeks of the year always throw up a few interesting sessions interspersed with family commitments, 2016 was no different!

My last match of the year was on Pewsey’s lake and despite a cold lead in to the match the lake was unfrozen and didn’t look too bad. I drew peg 5 which was one of the few pegs I had fished before so was looking forward to plenty of small fish action – wrong! I wasted an hour on the pellet feeder with no response at all then moved on to my silver lines- 10 and 2 o’clock at 11m. I was expecting a slow response but I was met with no response at all. Eventually I had a run of 3 fish then nothing, an hour later two more fish, then another three and that was it! Eight fish for 0-5-8 and last in the match!

It was not until the following Friday when I could get out again- Bowood-yes peg 12, I keep persisting as I know bait is going in and may hold fish!The water was beginning to lose its colour and and it was taking lateral movement of the bait to prompt bites on the pole. The session ended with 30 fish for 2-8 plus a welcome jack of 5-8 on the pike rod.

Back to Bowood on the Sunday and it was a tale of lost fish, a tench of 3-4lb when the hook pulled as it completed a swimmers roll at the net, something large on the pole (possibly a pike), a lost pike on the pike rod when the hooks pulled half way in. I began packing the pole up with 2lb of small fish in the net when there was a run on the pike rod, this time I managed to hit the fish okay and was met with a more solid resistance than a jack. Finally a 13lb fish came to the net to save the day!

Buoyed by this I returned on the Tuesday only to get 101 small fish for 6lb and miss two runs on the pike rod!!! Next day I went back to Blacklands to check out the depths in preparation for the MFS match in January. I fished on the opposite bank to previously near the small island and set up at 10m with a worm and caster approach and micro-pellet and caster next to the island. The island was one to be avoided in the silver only match as although I caught a few skimmers there I also had a carp of about 2.5lb and lost another. Indeed my main line away from the island suffered quiet spells when I think carp moved through. I ended up with about 12-15lb of silvers consisting of 54 perch, 9 roach and 16 skimmers.

Christmas then interrupted proceedings and it wasn’t until the last Saturday of the year that I ventured out- back to peg 12. The weather had been cold and the bird bath was frozen solid for the previous few days so this time I had my ice-breaker with me- needless to say I didn’t need it! The ice stopped at about peg 8. Setting up in the usual way I cut back on the feed as the water had lost it’s colour and I feared the worst. An hour later and no bites I decided a cup of coffee was in order, when that didn’t bring the expected bite I knew it was going to one of those days. Half hour later and a run on the mackerel resulted in a jack of 3-12. Half hour later another run resulted in hitting a bigger fish but the hooks pulled after a couple of minutes. Still no bites on the pole! Things went quiet when the float went under-and I missed it! Feeling more alert now I concentrated hard and twenty minutes later a slight lift resulted in a small roach! Ten minutes later the pike rod went again and this time I managed to hit what felt like a decent fish, after a few runs I had it in the net 13-12 and that was my last catch of 2016- not a bad one to end on though!