After the Country Fair over the week-end I decided to leave the pole at home and set off with a feeder and waggler rod up to peg 19 (the first peg after the island) on the Tuesday. I started on the open end feeder at 40m at 07:40 and after an hour and a half had 2 skimmers on maggot having missed lots of bites from small roach, during this time I had been catapulting out wheat and hemp out to my waggler line at about 20m. So from 09:10 to 12:00 when I packed up I stuck to the waggler but decided to just fish corn on the hook. What transpired was a very pleasant session with my 3AAA homemade sarkandas reed insert waggler performing nicely and produced 30 rudd, 3 roach and 11 skimmers all on corn for a 6-12 total. Nothing big but plenty of action to keep me busy.

Friday sees me back with the pole to peg 8 which had a nice colour to it. I fished from 08:30 to 12:00, a homemade short rugby ball float with my usual bulk about 6 inches from the 16 hook to the 0.16mm Tornado hook-length. Starting on maggot, over my four balls of wheat, corn and hemp laced groundbait, I was surprised not to get the immediate rudd which is usually a positive sign that the bigger fish were already present. I changed to corn straight away and after a short wait the float lifted and a small skimmer came to the net. The action was steady thereafter with 4 rudd, 3 roach a further skimmer and 7 bream being landed. I lost two big bream plus had a double figure pike on for 5-6 minutes before the hook pulled (not a pike strike, just the pike taking the corn!). This gave me a 20-06 total.

As you can see I weigh the fish as I catch them in the unscrewed landing net and jot down the weight on a scrap of card in my box.

Unusually for me I went to peg 6 on the Sunday (and wished I hadn’t!), fishing 09:00 to 11:45 I had 6 micro rudd on the maggot for 4 ounces. I had 3 proper bites on the corn, one I missed and bumped the other two, however the float was never still as the peg seemed full of micro rudd that were constantly worrying the corn between erupting from the surface and scattering as the pike homed in on them!

Undeterred I was back next day on peg 17 (first peg at back of island in short narrow arm). This was a bit of a shame as the weed was almost impossible to get through but I stuck it out from 08:40 to 10-40 in which time I had a solitary bream of 2-08 and 2 rudd, when I did manage to get through the weed micro rudd put in an appearance and worried the corn into the weed! I decided that I would pack up and move down to the Pondtail peg 2 for an hour (11:00 to 12:00) this was a change fishing the pole at 10m rather than the whip (didn’t have them with me!) I had 16 roach, a perch and a skimmer for a level 2lb on wheat.

Wednesday sees me back at peg 6 fishing 09:00 to 12:00 usual tackle but no fish of size showed, I had sport with 45rudd and 3 roach for 2-11 whilst fending of at times 20 wasps that seemed to decide it was their platform! Friday sees me take the long walk up to the stock pond to fish the big fish peg (peg 1). Setting up to fish 13m where there was a flattish area I introduced 3 balls of groundbait, and fed 2mm pellet and hemp with corn on the size 16 hook, using the same short float as the main lake but altering the shot so I had the bulk set at 2 feet from the hook with 2 no 8 droppers about nine inches apart. I was hoping for carp for a change but apart from a 6lber that acme right up to the platform to have a root around for a couple of seconds that was it, I ended up with 22 roach for 2-04. The Stock Pond is the one place where you often see two kingfishers in tandem and today was no exception which made up for the lack of carp.

The other item of note from the Friday was the estate had now cut paths down to the pegs, some of which were hidden by the undergrowth previously and I was happy to see that the very first peg after the Stock Pond( peg 15) was now not only visible but fishable, this was one peg I had never fished so Sunday (yes another Sunday) I made my way up to the end of the arm, cursing that I had left my phone at home as I wanted to take a picture of the peg (I will visit at some point and do so!).

Anyway plumbing up I had barely 14 inches anywhere in the peg; I decided on two areas, the first directly in front at 10m where I put a solitary ball of groundbait some 2mm pellet, hemp and wheat plus a few samples of corn; the other was to my left where the arm narrows to a reed lined channel leading to the overflow from the Stock pond. I picked a point at 10m where I introduced hemp, pellet and a few grains of corn. I decided to use my usual rig, so that I had a good 2m+ of line above the float- this would allow me to keep the pole away from the baited area. I was not expecting very much and was surprised when a roach of an ounce took my double maggot offering shortly after starting. A couple more roach followed before a far better fish that headed of to the main lake before the elastic controlled it and shortly after I was slipping the net under a bream of 3-08 (typical of me not to have my phone!), the swim went quiet after that so I alternated the two swims with no sign of any action in the left hand one. More small roach and some rudd followed making it an enjoyable session but I kept trying the left swim, finally putting on corn and swinging the rig slightly past the feed area where I had been loose feeding pellet and hemp, the float buried and the elastic headed towards the Stock Pond and the banks of reeds, eventually I managed to draw the fish back up to me and slipped the net under a tench of exactly 4lb! Together with the 20 small roach and 6 rudd this gave me a 8-08 total.

Tuesday, the last but one day of August sees me try peg 5 for an hour and a half between 09:00 and 10:30 for 3 tiny rudd and 2 roach for 3oz,at which point I moved up to peg 10, my first visit of the season! I fished 10:45 to 12:05 and despite the weed still being a bit of a problem in the 8feet of water I enjoyed plenty of bites and ended with 26 rudd, 5 roach and 5 skimmers for 3-08.

Summer is over, September brings a two day pairs match at the Glebe and a move towards the deeper water I think!

Following a chat with another Bowood angler who reckoned he was getting most fish (bream/tench before I was arriving, I set myself the task of trying an early approach again. Peg 8 was my selected swim and the first of 4 balls of groundbait laced with corn, wheat and hemp was deposited at 06:25. I dispensed with the usual approach of starting with maggot and went straight out on corn. Tackle was the homemade rugby ball float taking 0.8g that was set as a bulk six inches above the size 16 hook to 0.16mm Shogun line. It was not until 07:00 when the float rose that I contacted my first fish, a bream of 3-04, another of 3-08 followed by tench of 3-03 and 3-13 up to 09:00. I was adding a further ball of groundbait every 40minutes or so plus regular pinches of loose fed wheat and hemp.Between 9:00 and 11:30 it went a bit mad with further bream of 2-04, 4-12 and 4-00 plus tench of 2-08, 4-02, 3-00 and 3-09. The sun then began to get hotter and I only added one skimmer, two roach and 2 rudd by the time I packed in at 12:00

I think the jury is still out as to whether the early start is worth it, but 39-03 is not to be sneezed at even if most came after 9am- could this be due to the main groundbait being put in earlier- I’ll never know!

Next day I decided to have a couple of hours on the Pondtail on the 5m whip. Starting at 2pm and finishing at 4pm I had the no 2 orange float on with a sixteen hook to 0.10mm and a 0.12mm mainline. Shotting was a bulk two feet from the hook with a no10 and no 9 stotz as droppers; I put in three golf ball sized balls of groundbait and loose fed wheat and hemp (pinch at a time) every other put in. I had an enjoyable session with 29 roach, 3 being netters and a solitary perch that also needed the net for a level 4lb. I should have had more but bumped several good fish before deciding to change the hook, which solved the problem.

Friday sees me back at peg 8 but at my usual time. It was very slow and apart from a lost tench I only had 4 rudd, 3 roach and a blade to show for my efforts, so I decided to be silly and just fish the top two for ten minutes – not changing the rig or anything. In those ten minutes I managed to put 30 rudd in the net, I was quite pleased as I have in the past on various venues had timed sessions of an hour when I have had 180 fish, so although a short session the rhythm needed was still in my muscle bank so to speak.

The week-end was avoided and Monday sees me at peg 7 for a change, starting at 9:00 and finishing at 12:10. I used a homemade 1g pencil float with a 2mm bristle for a change but the shotting was the same. I did start on maggot and had a small rudd first put in so changed to the corn. After half an hour a few bubbles appeared and the float lifted, a strike was met with a very scrappy fight from a tench of 2-04. From 10am to 11:30 I then had a procession of mainly smaller bream 2-06, 2-04. 4-04, 2-12 and 2-04 with just a skimmer, a further rudd and a solitary roach thereafter for a 17-02 total.

Wednesday sees me back on the Pondtail starting fishing at 7:40 until 9:20 to avoid the hot temperatures that had returned. Interestingly I did not get any bites after 9am. Anyway fishing the 5m whip with the same set up as previously, I started on maggot which was a bit slow so changed to double wheat. First cast with double wheat the float buries and I strike into a better fish that had me playing it carefully and guided it to the net – a roach of 1-11!

Next cast I hit another but as I was eating a sausage roll in celebration I managed to lose it with the hook pulling but not before I had seen it in the clear water. That effectively killed the swim so ended the session with 14 roach and a perch for 4-06.

I returned back to the Pondtail on Friday fishing 7:20 to 9:00 as the temperatures were soaring. No massive roach this time but 11 roach and 2 perch for 2-05, but I did hook a large fish, probably one of the carp that I had on for some time before it managed to snap the hook-length in the lilies on my right. Bowood was hosting the annual Country Fair on the Saturday and Sunday so there was a procession of lorries, cans, horseboxes and cars going past me on the bridge. Indeed I am sure that affected the fishing as once they started the fishing got harder.

Sunday I had a go at the Pondtail with the whip again on peg 1 from 7:20 to 9:00 when it was getting too hot. I had 11 roach and 4 perch for 2-04 but most came before 8am, from 8am until I packed up at 9 there must have been 100+ vehicles go past – the trailers/horseboxes/vans were getting ready for the 10am start and subsequent packing away!

No matches this month but once we get into the cooler weather I’ll be back on the main lake and will have a go on the stock pond plus peg 17 for a change!

I decided to get peg 6 out of my system on the Friday and armed with my trusty weed rake arrived at 8:15, Managed two throws to 10m before the unthinkable happened on the third throw, the rope came back minus the rake. Somehow the knot had come apart! Putting my anguish to one side I fished from 8:45 until 12:15, usual set up and despite sticking with corn for the majority of the time ended up with 31 rudd for 5-04 mainly due to a cracking rudd of 1-10, a PB for Bowood. I did lose a foul hooked pike also.

So on to Sunday and the penultimate round of the Summer League on the Thames at Clanfield. I have not been doing very well this season but with the temperature due to peak at 29C I was grateful to draw peg C2, permanent peg 62 which offered some shade for a large part of the day plus the bonus that you can park behind your peg at Clanfield. I did not get my phone out for pics – I was too focused on what I needed to do. I had a large overhanging tree along side an old sluice opposite while the main flow was a couple of rods short of this. Plumbing up I had about six feet or so of water at 11m and I put 4 balls of groundbait laced with casters, wheat and hemp at the start and went over it with a 1g Grey with a 0.10mm hook-length to an 18 with double maggot. I immediately was into tiny bleak and dace, then gudgeon, all the while I was loose feeding maggots every few minutes across towards the flow priming it for the second hour of the match when I was expecting the pole line to slow.

After an hour although I was still catching the odd fish I was getting pestered by unhittable bites which I guessed where crayfish, I went across on the waggler, third cast I had a small chublet and began to pick up the odd small fish before hitting a better fish which turned out to be a chub of about 10-12 ounces, two casts later disaster strikes – a cast catches a hither to unseen branch and although I managed to pull the rig out of the tree it catapulted back and lodged in the large reed bed on my bank to the left that was inaccessible and I lost the lot. Reaching to my bag to get my tube of wagglers I discovered to my horror that they were not there! I had left them in my other bag back at home, so that was the end of the waggler, back on the pole I had a very quiet middle period apart from the ghost bites when I hit one and found myself connected to a jack pike – which did not count in the match, and subsequently lost close in. I plodded away and ended up with 15 dace, 11 bleak, 5 chub(lets), 5 roach, 23 gudgeon and a perch for 2-8-8 and this beat just 3 others in the section.

Licking my wounds, I missed Bowood on the next two very hot days and tried on the Wednesday, this time going on peg 4 (peg 6 was taken!), fishing from 8:45 to 12:15 I took a different approach and started with a homemade float taking just 2 no 8 and had a few small rudd on maggot to start before switching to corn for the rest of the time. I had one bream of 3-05 plus 8 rudd for a 3-10 total! The guy on 6 had a few bream and a couple of tench fishing two rods a float and a feeder.

I gave Bowood a miss for the rest of the week preparing for my visit to Bromley Mill near Eccleshall, Staffs. Setting off at half past 5 I arrived just before 8, 45 minutes early for the draw. Bromley Mill is a one off fishery- very shallow and the carp will swim right up to your box as you need to sit in the water to be able to position your keepnets. Anyway I drew peg 18 which was on the opposite bank to where I wanted to be but was a shortish walk although I had the scales!

To cut a long story short I had one carp on the method and then switched to the pole at 10m, all the time feeding the margins to my left and right with hemp, wheat, pellet and corn which saw frustratingly lots of carp come in but not take any bait seemingly rooting around for the bloodworm! I did hook one carp from the left margin but lost it. I had all my fish from the 10m line and ended up with 9 carp hooked, 5 landed plus 11-06 of bream and roach for a 37-11 total and 11th out of the twelve fishing. Les who organised it thanked me for coming so far but said I had drawn possibly the worst peg!

Back to Bowood on Tuesday but this time on the opposite bank and peg 23, fishing 9-15 to 12:45.Plumbing up at 11m it was very weedy but I found a gap that I could fish into. Only about 4 feet deep I started the usual way with 3 balls of groundbait and the obligatory wheat, hemp and corn. Starting on maggot I had to wait a little before the rudd arrived and after a few switched to corn. It was hard going but by switching baits I managed to get 21 rudd, 2 roach and a solitary bream of 2-06 for a 3-08 total.

Next day sees me back at peg 6 fishing 9:00 to 12:20. Beginning in the usual way I had no response to maggot which filled me with hope as it is usually a sign that the larger fish are already present. Corn went on the hook and by 10:00 I had bream of 3-06, 4-04 and 3-01 in the net, it then went quiet after I missed a bite and I may have messed it up by potting a top up ball of groundbait as I only had a roach, two rudd and five skimmers thereafter for a level 12-00 weight.

Friday sees me back at peg 6 (getting into a rut again!) fishing 8:45 to 12:30. There were 2 anglers fishing further up on pegs 8 and 10 and it turned out that the one on 8 who was also fishing a pole had 14 bream by the time they left at 12, most of which were caught before I got there. This seems to be more common now at Bowood, the bream seem to be feeding early on whereas in past seasons early starts were a waste of time, must try again in the coming month! Anyway back to peg 6 fishing my usual heavier rig I cupped in 4 balls of groundbait with the usual corn, wheat and hemp, stuck a maggot on and almost immediately as there was no response put corn on. Within five minutes the float lifted a a bream of 2-10 was in the net! Further bream of 4-09, 2-12, 1-14 and 2-06 followed all without the float going under.

At this point it may be worth explaining my shotting pattern as at first glance it looks very crude! Due to the weed and in particular the elodea type weed that grows I needed a pattern that would get me through the weed (and rudd although this part didn’t work!) or at least show when the bait was caught on a weed stalk, to this end all the shot are placed as a bunch 4-6 inches from the hook. The depth is then plumbed so that the bulk is only an inch or two off bottom, this has two effects, firstly it is a lift rig as the larger fish will be affecting the bulk if they take the bait in their usual head down grazing manner and then righting themselves; secondly it acts a a very short pivot, the fish can not move far before the bulk is affected, even a turn of the head after taking the bait will indicate a bite.

So back to the fishing, the session ended up with a tench of 4-06 and 1 roach a 1 rudd for an 18-15 total.

I use an old boss trolley for Bowood but one of the tyres had developed a slow puncture and it had been getting progressively worse, investigating previously it was right on the valve, not repairable but despite pumping up just before leaving home, within 100m it was dead flat, so coming back to the car was hard and it certainly made my knees incredibly sore, so much so that I did not think I could manage the long walks at Radcot on Sunday with my normal match kit. The new inter tube would not arrive in time so I made a conscious decision that as we were not threatening the league in any way and had been told to just fish for ourselves, I would take the rucksack seat, keepnet bag, bucket with bait and my Chinese three rod holder that also had tackle pockets for floats, hooks and shot.

Sunday arrived and driving past Radcot on the way to the draw I was shocked to see that the field in which we usually park was completely filled with tents! At the draw it transpired that Radcot downstream was a no-no due to lack of access and that there would be a section at Kelmscott and everyone else would park at Grafton lock and there would be a section above the lock and two below, D section would be a horrendous walk! Fortunately I was drawn at Kelmscott and although faced with a Bowood length walk up to the stock pond at least it was flat. My peg was about 30-40m below the pill box.

As it turned out I spent the match sitting on my keepnet bag on the bank rather than the chair. I had set up a waggler on my 13 foot Lazer Extreme match rod, a 6xno4 stick on a 14 foot Lazer Tornado and a block end feeder on a Lazer Extreme Leger. Now many will not have come across this make but the rods are a legacy from my Buygoodtackle days when the strap line was “If we won’t use it, we won’t sell it!” Hence most of my tackle is now at least 14 years old and much of my non-BGT tackle much older!

Back to the match, the flow was towards the far side but I decided to do as I did at Clanfield and start on the nearside before going across. To this end I introduced 4 balls of groundbait and loose fed just hemp and wheat on the stick line while catapulting maggots across every 5 minutes or so. Third run through with the stick in the nine feet of water brought a small chublet and from then on it was a bite every few runs through, mainly small bleak or chublets but also a net roach and 6oz chub. After an hour, as expected it began to tail off so a switch to the waggler was in order (still feeding the stick line). I discovered that if I cast in the main flow I did not get a bite whereas if i cast just beyond I would get one, albeit from small chublets or bleak. I continued to pick off small fish until I inexplicably hooked an underwater bramble that was not there for the previous 50 casts! This resulted in my rig being retrieved but the homemade waggler stem was snapped so a new float was attached. With an hour to go I hooked a better fish that turned out to be a chub of about 1.25lb that was safely netted, by the all out I had 32 bleak, 22 chub/lets, 6 roach, 3 perch and a solitary gudgeon for 5-07. With half the section weighed I was lying second but decided to make my way home to watch the Lionesses!

No matches now until September but August awaits with the prospect of a couple of early morning starts!