Monday 16th arrives and for a change I head off to the Pondtail peg 1 fishing 2:40 to 4:28pm with the 4.5m Chinese whip and favorite “orange” float.

I kicked off with a nugget of groundbait from the left overs from Saturday’s match that I had sealed in a freezer bag and stored in the fridge. Double maggot was the bait and by loose feeding a few casters (left overs again) each put in and a nugget every so often I had an enjoyable session ending with 40 roach for 4-08. I was happy as I had set myself the target of 40 fish in two hours, so target met!

Returning on the Wednesday to the Pondtail I fished 9:20 to 11:40 and set myself a target of fifty fish in two hours, again fishing the whip and same rig and same bait. Well I ended up with 51 roach and 7 perch for 4-12 but not sure if I managed the fifty by the two hour mark as I forgot to look!

Friday arrives and we have been hit with heavy rain for a couple of days. The change in the Pondtail is dramatic (I never even considered the main lake due to the weather), the water has turned chocolate and is flowing.

I thought I may not be able to get on a platform let alone catch, but fortunately the water stopped a couple of inches short of the top of the platforms. I opted for peg 2 as I knew there would be a big back eddy on peg 1 as I had experienced it in the past. I settled on the same approach but with little hope of catching. Fishing from 10:30 to 1:00 it was not easy but I surprised myself and managed to get 17 roach and 3 perch for 1-13.

Monday sees me return to the main lake and peg 10, fishing 10 to 12:30. The pike rod was dispatched to the right and about 30 m away with the customary sardine on the two single hook homemade trace. The pole is set up at 10m and following an initial feed of 3 balls of groundbait with casters (the same ones!) and some micros and corn I start on double maggot while loose feeding a few pieces of wheat every few minutes. A couple of small blades and a roach end up in the net before the rudd arrived. At this point the pike float bobs and disappears, my first run of the new season, a strike meets a solid resistance and a pike about 6-7lb eventually surfaces about 10m out in front of me and the hook pulls out!

So back to the rudd which were very small with several dropping off as if they were just holding on to the maggot. About midday which seems to be the witching hour at Bowood, the pike float, now about 20m out and slightly to me right zips off. Metaphorically crossing my fingers I strike and the pike is on this time it gets into the net despite its best efforts to tangle me in the encroaching rushes by the platform. The first of the season weighs in at 9-04.

I ended up with 15 rudd, 3 blades and 5 roach that came to 1-06 so a 10-10 total. Highlight of the day was a swooping visit from one of the resident birds of prey (could have been a buzzard?)

More rain but it brightens a bit on Wednesday and for some strange unfathomable reason (or a bout of madness) I decide after lunch to go for an hour or so to the Marden in the town, or to be more accurate as it leaves the town. The water runs parallel at one point alongside the blocked off Calne Canal (Wilts/Berks as was!), now I made the silly decision to walk down the canal and join the Marden at the end – suffice to say I now have my SAS jungle training badge! Anyway I eventually managed to get to the river and tried a few areas with small slacks to no avail having taken just a landing net, rucksack seat, foldable bucket with maggots and worms and my Shakespeare Mach 1 bomb rod. Making my way back I dropped into my first swim and this time dropped a piece of worm just in the main flow. A knock took my interest but nothing materialised until I wound in to find the knock had been a bullhead that had managed to hook itself! A blank saved and my first bullhead for over 30 years .

I have mentioned that midday appears to be the witching hour and it continues to be so as another regular fishing the first swim after the island (peg20) hooked and landed one of 8lb (I think) while at exactly 12 (the bell was chiming) I had a run and hit a fish only for it to release the bait, or so I thought! On inspection I found that the top hook was missing but the wire and sleeve were intact! I still cannot see how the pike managed that magic trick.

Last visit of the month was back to peg 10 for a 9:15 to 12:15 session. However the water had now risen to virtually the top of the platform and was a horrible chocolate colour. The pike rod was dispatched with a sardine but with no real hope of a run. Now I for some reason decided to change my approach and the medium elastic that I had been using was left in the holdall and I got out my light number 4 elastic and put on a rig tied with 0.10mm hooklength and an 18 barbless. It was hard to say the least with 6 blades and 4 roach coming for a princely sum of 0-06! I did however lose two better fish, probably skimmers when the hook pulled close in. I must have been dazed as I had a period with no interest at all in bait despite previous attention from small blades and roach, that should have set the alarm bells ringing as it is usually a sign that bigger fish or a pike is in residence. Needless to say I had a slow bite and when I struck I thought it was a good fish and it then went solid and I began to think I had hooked the bottom only now the bottom was moving! The number 4 elastic was no match for this fish and although it went on one “walk-about” generally it was slow and ponderous. I played the fish for 4-5 minutes and got it in close, in that I was down to my top kit and the stonfo attachment was visible within netting range, when the hook pulled. The fish probably never realised it was hooked!

Storm Ciaran awaits us so Bowood may be even more full and chocolate!

October arrives and my thoughts begin to turn to pike, so Tuesday 3rd sees me at Bowood complete with pike gear. Peg 10 my favourite is taken by another regular also after pike so I decide to take a look at peg 8 but on getting on the platform it felt VERY spongy and with gaps in the boarding where it had rotted I made the decision to go on peg 9 which is still a decent distance of 10 but I did ask if it was okay first.

Pike rod depth adjusted and sardine attached to the two single barbless hook set up, at 9:15 I launched, rather more like lobbed, the sardine out to around 20m and began setting up the pole. I opted to continue with my heavier approach with the 1g bulk six inches from the 14 hook. A small rudd first put in sees me change to corn and it was a case of waiting for the bites, which were generally Polaris like lifts. I had 4 blades, 3 roach and 12 rudd for 3-14, however most of that weight was taken up by a beautiful rudd of 1-10. Pike – not a sniff!

The Friday arrives and I head off to Meadowlands Fishery just outside Coventry as I was organising a silvers match there on the 14th. Arriving just before 9am I had a word with the bailiff and confirmed the match was taking place, he said that they had lost some bookings as the clubs that had booked in suddenly folded! I bought a bag of micros as I wanted to try and see if I could get the bream feeding over micros. I had a drive around the whole lake making a mental note of what pegs had been suggested should be left out plus how that fitted in with a potential 24 taking part in the match. I decided to settle on peg 16 which had the wind blowing straight in at me and parked up behind the peg. I set up three rigs, the first on a 6-8 elastic was a light 0.2g float (the Peatmoor) to 0.12mm and 0.10mm hook-length with a 16, this was for a 2+2 line,. The second was a rig I had made up specially for the venue with 0.14mm to 0.12mm hook-length and a 16, this was coupled with a soft 6-10 elastic and was going to be my main approach with a bulk 12inches from the hook and a single number 8 dropper. The final rig was a Chianti style float taking 0.3g with strung out no 8 and 9 shot but with similar line and hook to my main rig, again coupled with a soft 8 elastic.

I began fishing just after 10am and planned to finish by 2:30 at the latest, in fact I finished at 1:45 as the weather was getting worse and the carp were a pain but more of that later. I put 3 balls of Sonubaits F1 sweet dark mixed 50-50 with Sonubaits Method Match laced with chopped worm and casters plus a few pieces of corn on the 10m line directly in front in approx 3.5ft to 4ft of water. I then put approx 100ml of wetted micros at 10m but at an angle (10 o’clock), this was my trial line to see if the carp would settle on that or would the bream. Some casters and wheat were thrown on the 2+2 line although I was not placing much faith in this line!

The day went quickly and I ended up with 22 bream/skimmers, seven roach, 8 perch and a gudgeon of my target fish for around 16lb. Carp appeared and I had 36lb+ plus lost two. The biggest landed was a battle scarred one of at least 10lb that was so ugly my camera stayed in my pocket!

The bulk of the fish came from directly in front, the angled line with micros produced only roach to maggot or expander, the short line produced a perch and a carp, after which I stopped fishing there! Best bait on the day was worm, but I caught on maggot, caster, corn and expander!

Sunday sees a rare excursion at the weekend to Bowood, I had the whole lake to myself and went on peg 10. Fishing like the last visit from 9:15 to 11:45 (I’d accepted it was one of those days by then!) it was a struggle with two half ounce rudd, one of about 5oz, another of 6oz a skimmer of 11oz and that was it, a 1-07 total!

Not to be deterred I was back on Tuesday but decided on a change and headed along the opposite bank to peg 23. This side is shallower closer in and means to get a depth of water around 6ft you need to fish at 13m. A similar set up to the opposite bank sees me manage 24 rudd and 6 roach on corn for a level 5lb but the star was another cracking rudd of 1-07. No pike again, need to have some consistent cooler weather I think.

Saturday 14th arrives and I’m back at Meadowlands having left at silly o’clock to get there at 8am for a 9am draw! The weather had not been kind to us as there had been very heavy rain on Friday plus the coldest night for some time which I hoped (wrongly) would calm the carp down and allow the bream to feed.

Money sorted and draw done I was sat at peg 24 ready to start by 9:45 for an 11am start!

I had set up 3 similar rigs to my previous visit but this time could only find 2.5ft of water! Feeding in a similar way at the all-in I began to get worried when after 10 minutes on maggot I was still waiting for a fish, a switch to worm head brought me a few bites but managed to drop off the first 3 fish hooked at which point I swapped to my lighter rig (0.12 to 0.10mm) I began to get a few fish on my main line but kept getting disturbed by carp. To cut a long story short I weighed in 13-10 of silvers, mainly small skimmers, but landed over 36lb of carp, the best being 8-9lb and lost a further 5 that snapped me. The peg on my right fished longer at 13m but then fished short for the last hour as he was also plagued by carp as were most, he ended up with 27-13 and was second overall to a weight of 33-13. The peg on my left had 10-05, in fact the top three weights were the pegs to my right 20, 21 and 23. Still it was a nice day’s fishing.

Pike I hope will be a feature next time!

A Meadowlands carp

Tuesday 19th sees me head to the Pondtail for a session on peg 2 from 9 to 11:15 but this time fishing a waggler. I had bought a 10ft Frenzee FXT+ match on spec when it was on offer at just £20 and Gareth and I had used it to trot a waggler down the Marden and also on the Stock Pond which it handled both scenarios admirably so I had grabbed it for today’s session as it was already set up (as is the case with all my rods),

Fishing about 3-4 rod lengths out into approx 6-7ft of water, I started on double maggot on the 16 hook and was soon into fish responding to the nuggets of groundbait and wheat I was feeding. After 21 roach, four perch and two gudgeon I switched to corn and although the bites were slower in coming the stamp of fish improved with a further 14 roach being added to the net for a 5-06 total.

With the three day MFSReborn Festival coming up, I decided to head for Monkhall Fishery just outside Bridgnorth on the Friday. I paid my peg fee and bought some pellet while having a chat with the manager and confirming the arrangements for the festival.I headed up to Buzzard pool and opted for peg 8 at the far end with the wind blowing directly in my face. There was only one other angler there on about peg 13. I fished from 10am to 2:15and decided to concentrate on two lines/methods. The first was to fish paste at 2+2 range and the second was to fish the right hand margin but trying a different feeding approach to the one I usually adopt. The paste line was tackled with 0.16mm line to a 14 using a homemade 0.6g rugby ball style float. Groundbait is not allowed nor is feeding paste but you are able to fish paste which tends to be self feeding anyway! So each put in I added a pinch of softened 4mm pellets and after the third put in I had my first indications that resulted in a carp of 4-5lb.

The manager had said that people tend to underestimate the fish and it is common for anglers to be over the 60lb net limit, this certainly rang true as that first carp looked about 2-3lb but when lifted the weight of the fish showed it to be almost double what it appeared,

I continued on the paste for about an hour and a half getting plenty of indications and fish before trying the margin, toss-potting in a small nugget of over dampened micros each put in with corn on the 14 hook again to 0.16mm line and a small homemade 0.5g BGT1 style float. The wind was proving a little awkward as it was blowing a lot of reed stems into the bank but I persevered but although I was getting bites and fish it was not as good as the paste line with too many fish foul hooked.

For the last hour I went back on the paste line and apart from a rogue barbel I had mainly carp up to 8-9lb and the odd F1 up to 2lb. I clicked 77lb which I was happy with given I tried various things during the stay in order to see what was most productive or indeed worked.

The time in between was used sorting out my tackle and preparing for the visit. I had booked an annex in Oldbury for the stay as it was on the right side of Bridgnorth and was about 15-20 mins a way from the venue. Wednesday arrived and having collected the money and gone through the details of the festival I got the draw underway. I tend as organiser to take the last peg and in this case it put me on Buzzard peg 5 which I was quite happy with, especially as it is the one lake that you can park behind your peg and today we would be facing storm Agnes!

As expected we had light rain at times during a cold gloomy and windy day. I fished the same as previously and although it was a lot harder and the margins did not work for me I managed 52-10 off the paste line and 4th in the 5 peg section. At this point I should mention that apart from the usual section and overall pools money available there was a very generous sponsorship of £500 made by one of our members Andy Winters and this was going to be split into 5x £100 to be fished for in five seeded groups of four. Now as I was in the lowest group it was a positive result to come 4th! Also I had on one side of me Fishomania Finalist Wayne Kearney and on the other the bagging machine that is Chris Martin! The wooden structure you can see in the picture on the left holds landing nets and keepnets – you must use the fishery provided ones and not bring any nets on to the site.

Day 2 sees me draw Swallow peg 10 with the weather still overcast but dry and less wind! Fishing the paste for three hours and the margin for two sees me put a mixed bag of carp and F1s on the scales for 80-08 and another 4pts, once again I was flanked by Chris Martin and this time Al Rutherford, another bagging machine!

The final day arrives and the pressure is on as I need to sort all the results asap at the end and then payout the 34 brown envelopes! As we had Buzzard and Hawk on days 1 and 3 with Swallow and Owl on day 2, we fish the other pool to the one we fished on day 1 so this time I end up on Hawk 2 with once again Wayne Kearney on my left on peg 1 and Al Rutherford on my right on peg 4! Wayne fished shallow for most of the match apart from the last hour when he turned to the margins and despite going over in three of his nets still weighed in 234LB ! Anyway I know my limitations and fishing shallow is not my forte so predictably I started on the paste line only to struggle with just two fish in the first half hour and no indications. This prompted me to start a new line to my right with just my top kit halfway down the slope fishing worm, this accounted for a few carp and by rotating the two margins plus the top kit line with the odd look on paste I ended up with 83-06, 80lb of which were carp/F1s and the remaining 3-06 made up of two perch, two little skimmers, a small crucian, two small carp and a big ide.

I had arranged for the boards from Buzzard to be brought to me at Hawk and I sat in the car to do the results away from prying eyes and distractions. I then joined the group in the Old Canteen on site and announced the results. The overall winner was James Howarth with a perfect score of 3 points and a total weight 568-10. Surprisingly I managed to win my group of 4 and went home happy at my windfall but disappointed I did not manage to quite get to the ton!

October is here and Bowood awaits with its pike!