Well I managed to sneak an hour on the Pondtail before the end of July between 9:30 and 10:30 by which time it was too hot for me (I prefer the cold!). Don’t think the fish were enjoying it either as 8 roach and 4 perch for 1-04 on maggot was my lot.

The hot weather continued and it was the Sunday when I went to Boddington for a silvers match I had been invited on by Darren Edgell. The match was pegged on the dam wall but I had not known that and had parked in the usual car park so had to trudge all along the wall to the far side with the kit for the draw which left me on the end peg- peg 5. I had left the whips at home and had taken my Bowood pole and a waggler rod so I decided on a short line, another at about 8m and a waggler line at about 20m, feeding maggot on all three lines with the occasional pouch of wheat. I had set up a rig taking 0.8g bulked a couple of feet from the hook with two droppers to a 16 hook on 0.10mm, plus a BGT2 wire stem in 0.5 fished shirt button style again to a 0.10mm hooklength and 16 hook. The match was a bit stop start, the short line produced a few fish but very slow so I spent most time on the 8m line which was frustrating as I would catch 3 or 4 fish then it would go quiet and Darren who was drawn next to me on peg 6 would catch, I reckoned the shoal was moving back and forth to avoid the attention of pike as every so often there would be a plume of bubbles as the pike cleared it’s gills after a strike. In the quiet periods I eventually turned to the waggler with a slow sinking set up and picked up the odd roach out there. By the end I had amassed 100 roach and 7 perch for 12-12 with most of the fish being smaller than the usual stamp at Boddington. This left me 9th out of the 12 anglers taking part with the majority of the better weights being down the other end of the match length!

The weather was just not conducive to me going fishing so it wasn’t until the Friday that I ventured to Bowood fishing peg 6 from 9:30 to 12:00 The weather had had an effect on the water as the weed growth had sprouted like topsy and I was having difficulty getting a bait down to the bottom. Using my usual tactics and rig with the bulk moved right down to the hook length it was hard going but a bream of 3lb, 3 skimmers,3 roach and 26 rudd for a 6-04 total kept me busy.

A visit to Yorkshire then took out the time until Wednesday14th when I returned to Bowood with the weed rake. I decided to fish peg 10 as that was likely to be less affected by weed but raked pegs 6, 7 and 8 for the future, peg 5 was left as it was very dense! The raking meant I only fished from 10-12 and it was not brilliant with problems always being able to find the clear patches and just 9 rudd and 5 skimmers for 1-13.

Friday 16th sees me travel up to the Glebe for a Maggotdrowers match. I drew well for a change peg 75 on lake 4- the last peg on the lake.However,apart from a short 15minute period the wind was starting at the middle of the lake and blowing down to the other end leaving me with a mirror like surface to fish in the bright sun.

Peg 75 left margin, in front, right margin shown above. I set up 4 rigs a mugging rig (that in the end didn’t get used!), a margin rig with 0.20mm line to a 14 (the left margin being deeper than the right by about 5 inches), a paste rig for the 5m line angled to the right and a bottom rig for the 11m line. I also set up a light bomb rather than a feeder. Due to the bright and very hot conditions I opted to put two balls of groundbait laced with micros and acorn on the 11m mark, one ball with some micros on the paste line, the left margin received a ball plus micos, 4mm and corn while the right margin had a full cup of hemp with a few grains of corn.

Starting on the bomb I cast out towards the aerator with first corn and then 8mm pellet, while firing 6mm out, a couple of plucks from probably roach saw me put the rod up the bank after 20 minutes and look to the 11m line which at this point was fizzing. The float remained motionless! Finally it went under and a 1lb skimmer was in the net. Shipping out I saw a carp cruising over the fizzing area so dropped the corn in front of it, down it went and the float went as well! Soon a carp of 6lb was in the carp net but that was it on the 11m line. The paste line was next and a couple of missed bites and twitches on the float eventually saw a porpoising bream come to the net and that was it! By now I decided to go down the deeper left margin that I had been feeding since the off with loose fed micros alternating with 4mms. After a short time the float went and another bream was netted, in fact it was bream mainly with the odd carp from the left margin with the odd fish coming from the right when resting the left. The highlight was a lump of 12lb from the right margin I ended with losing 4 carp in total, two hook pulls and two that snapped me that I feel were foul-hooked. The scales showed I had 38-08 of bream and 51-00 of carp for a 89-08 total. The peg next tipped back and didn’t weigh in, then 49lb then where the wind started to ripple the surface 125lb, then 95lb then 112lb.

August now is quiet so more Bowood with one trip to Witherington to meet up with sidestreambob.