Mid week with the last days of June saw me return to Bowood armed with my weed rake, I cleared 3 pegs – 5,8 and 12. Before and after can be seen below.

As previously experienced, raking a swim kills it for that day and this was no different – another blank. I had now sorted out in my mind what was needed;

the clarity of the water meant that a pole over the shallow pegs was a no-no but the weed meant that any tench hooked on rod and line would have to be dragged through weed and therefore lost, in all probability. The solution was to fish the deeper water although this was not the norm at this time of year. So that Friday evening saw me arrive at peg 12 which was just a mass of green weed, I knew the bottom was clear so this was just surface weed, ten minutes later after slowly easing the weed towards me and into the margins I had a clear channel up to 11.5 m (  I would need to do this on all subsequent trips as the wind blew more weed in to cover the peg).

Two balls of groundbait laced with micros and a few pieces of corn went into the swim to kick start it. Did I say kick start, after an hour an no signs I introduced some chopped worm with micros and corn and half a worm on the hook , ten minutes later fizzing started and 5 minutes later a tench of 3-4 lay in the net, the first of the season- always a welcome sight.

A top-up of worm saw another tench hooked, but this time lost in the weed and the evening finished with one further tench of 5-8. This would be my lot for a couple of weeks as I had to go north to take the mother-in-law on holiday.

Holidays in Brid mean I get the chance to go of in the late afternoon to Rosedale Fishery at Hunmanby near Filey. My first session saw me on peg 2 where fishing the waggler I had 25 roach, 1 skimmer and 4 small tench for 7-14, all on the corn. I had two further sessions, both on peg 39. The first saw me finish with 10 roach, 3 skimmers, 2 tench and 1 rudd for 4-10 but also carp of 5lb, 3lb and 3x 2lb for 14-0 and a total of 18-10, again all on waggler and corn. The last session was possibly the most interesting as I had 3 roach, 3 skimmers and 3 tench for 4-10 (again!) but this time I noticed carp literally at my side in the pads. Now peg 39 has a large willow overhanging on the left of the peg with pads going out to a rod length or so, but under the willow it was pad free but had evil looking brambles in the margins instead. Using the telescopic feeder rod with 0.25mm hooklength to a 14 with 3 BBs 18inches above the hook, I lowered my double corn offering into the clear area the size of a dinner plate 6 feet from the platform. You could see the tails as the carp rooted around for the micros I was feeding constantly, the line tightened and I was in, an angry carp raced through the pads, but by keeping the tip in the water and following the carp through the pads I was able to eventually land a 3lber. Back in and this time a carp shot off under the tree before the hook pulled. Next in and with tails swirling around the line tightens and a better fish heads through the pads, 5 minutes later and I have an angry 12lber in the net.  I went on to hook 5 further fish, losing all of them, 3 to hook pulls, one shedding the hook into a 12foot branch under the brambles(I had to pull for a break on that one as the branch was coming so far out then stuck!)and the final one snagging me under the tree in the “clear water”, managed to get that back though! An exciting evening and although some may question the sense of fishing such a snag pit, playing fish by keeping the tip low or in the water helps greatly in overcoming the potential pitfalls as shown by not snapping on any fish.

Finally back home and Bowood peg 12 for an evening session, after clearing the weed I dispensed with the groundbait and started with a pot of chopped worm , micros and a few pieces of corn. Fifteen minutes in and the float lifted to provide my keep-net with a small tench of 2-14. I should explain my set up, due to the weed and shoals of rudd and roach I was using an 0.8g float with 4 x no4 set 12 inches from the hook and 3x no9 stotz 6 inches from the size 14 hook. Line was 0.18mm to 0.16mm hooklength, both Shogun. My aim was to get the bait down quick but have a very positive indication for lift bites that you invariably get with tench. My pole I use for Bowood is an old 13m Maver Metallica, some ridicule Maver poles as being prone to breakages but I have to say that the Metallica is the strongest pole I’ve ever used(so good  I have 2) and I’ve yet to break a section (I hope I haven’t tempted fate with that!), elastic is KND Green.

Anyway, I digress, the method I was settling on was hook a fish- feed worm- wait for bite; this seemed to work as I had further tench of 3-8 and 4-10 while losing 4 in the weed, a small roach and rudd also joined the tench in the net. Buoyed by this success, I returned the next evening for another 2.5 hour session and fishing the same way on peg 12 I had 3 rudd plus tench of 3-8, 4-4, 1-15, 4-10, 3-14, 6-2 (a PB) and 4-10 plus lost 3 others in the weed. A night to savour!

The following week I had two further evening session both on peg 12 but not as successful with the hot, sunny evenings having an effect The first saw one tench of 4-8, 2 rudd and a roach with two lost tench, including one that must have found a sharp snag as the elastic snapped and on inspection looked as if it had been cut rather than frayed. The following evening followed a similar pattern with a solitary tench of 3-0, 8 rudd, 3 roach and a perch with a further 2 tench lost in the weed.

With the next round of the Summer League at the weekend, I went to Sutton Benger down stream for a session. I struggled up through the field with huge cracks in the ground (the trolley went in up to its axle on several occasions. I wanted to fish the hard pegs and I walked past the fliers by the trees and had a look at peg 130- it didn’t look fishable with pads sub surface across the entire river. I trundled on further and settled into peg 127 which had clear water. There was little if any flow and what there was showed up at 2+2 range. Two balls of groundbait went in, one hard with 20 maggots in, the other slightly softer so it broke up at mid-water in the 8 feet I had. Loose feeding hemp and wheat I found fishing a white and red maggot produced most bites and from better fish, ending up with 1.5 to 2lb of small roach, perch, bleak, chub and gudgeon. The only other excitement was a big dog chubb that serenely cruised downstream disdainfully ignoring my attempts to mug it, and my keep-net being attacked by a pike of about 5lb!!

Friday saw me back at Bowood, peg 12 again for tench of 4-8 and 2-6, none lost this time plus a couple of rudd. Then the weather changes- we have rain so the visit to Benger on Sunday becomes a horrible march through cloying mud to my peg D1, down stream where I practiced. When I arrived I could not believe the pegging – the peg I had rejected on Wednesday for being unfishable was my home for the match! I plumbed up as best I could and found a tiny hole at 11m and a clear area on my 2+2 line between two banks of pads. So two pole rigs set up, one light and one heavy for worm, plus a waggler set 3 feet deep. Starting the same way as Wednesday but putting caster in the groundbait as well as maggots I started to catch tiny roach, chub and bleak short, while feeding hemp, after an hour this died, nothing on the 11m line and the rest of the match was spent scratching on the waggler and the light rig with worm. I ended up 4th in section out of 7 which I was chuffed with, especially as when others saw my pe4g they congratulated me for getting what I did out of there.

My youngest, Gareth, had now arrived for a couple of weeks from China and he had bought a Bowood ticket as he was planning on coming over in the new year also. So Monday saw us down at Bowood in the evening, Gareth went on 12 and I fished 11. I had to fish at 10m as there was a bank of weed at 11m. Fishing the same way with a bank of very dark clouds and heavy winds, that had pushed the weed down the bottom of the lake, saw me get 2 tench of 3-14 and 3-8, losing a further 2 plus 6 nice roach. Gareth on 12 had a tench of 4-4 and lost one plus loads of roach.

Final day of July and 6pm saw us on the pegs, this time Gareth fancied 11 and I went on 12. Tench of 3-1, 5-3 and 3-8 with no losses plus some 6 roach and 4 rudd saw me end the month in pleasant manner, while  Gareth had tench of 3-14 and 4-5 plus lost 2 further tench in weed as well as some good roach.

No sign of bream yet at Bowood, not even skimmers, which is very odd. August beckons and a few more evening sessions before my next match- the Riverfest at Clanfield, followed by the final Summer League on the same venue.

June kicks off with the annual match at Peatmoor Lagoon, Swindon for the Three Counties against Peatmoor. I always try to fish this match as a past Secretary of Peatmoor and one of the adults who used to run the Three Counties junior team, but this year it was going to be harder than usual as there had been some spawning fatalities amongst the bream and the fish were still in spawning mode!

I arrived at the draw to see the usual familiar faces and drew peg 13 which was the old peg 17, hidden away in the trees – not brilliant by any means but at least I would have some shade! I kicked off the match by cupping out 3 balls of groundbait ( a mix of three different types) laced with a sprinkling of casters on to the 11m line and went on to the feeder, casting about 35m out. I had a few quick casts to get some bait down ,then red maggot on the 18 hook  saw a couple of small roach and a couple of skimmers before it died. On to the pole line and was surprised when nothing happened, I was expecting a few roach to show interest, eventually I managed to scratch out a few more small fish and by alternating between the feeder and pole lines ended up with 2-5-8 for 3rd, beaten by  2-8 and 2-11 weights – a very poor day, indeed I did not have a bite for the last 2 hours.

The end of June was going to be busy with the MatchFishing Scene HillBilly Pairs over two days at the Glebe followed by the NW Summer League at Withrington Farm on the following day. With this in mind, my next venture out was to Withy for a bit of carp bashing! Peg 87 on the inner snake was my choice (the following day I discovered we had be only given the outer snake!) and it was evident that the carp had other things on their mind as they were still cruising around pairing up in the sunny conditions. I tackled the peg in my usual fashion for Withy – swim one was at 13m on the far shelf, pinging pellet and corn on the hook, groundbait went in at 5m for the skimmers with loose fed caster over the top and both margins fed one with corn and micros, the other with 6mm pellet and meat. It proved to be a hard day again by Withy standards with 33lb comprising of 10 skimmers (none from the 5m line), 3 roach, 1 crucian and 4 carp (6,6,3 and2), 6 further carp were lost- mainly foul hookers.

I returned the following week and this time fished peg 5 on the outer snake- the start of Cyanide Straight. The pattern was very similar with 20 skimmers, 2 roach and 1 rudd for 15-12 and 5 carp for 27-4, making 43lb. The carp went 5,2,12-4,3,5, most fish came from to corn from the left hand margin which was slightly shallower than the right.

I have had a season away from Bowood and although I enjoyed the change and the fishing at Blacklands, I did miss Bowood, especially the opportunity to go after the pike in winter, so this year with the encouragement of my better half I joined Bowood again. I decided to avoid the opening week-end of the season guessing it may be busy and head off on the Tuesday. The beauty of Bowood is that it takes me 3mins from getting into the car to getting out at Bowood! I arrived to find two other cars in residence and managed to park up in the shade of the oak tree and refamiliarise myself with the walk down top the lake. I arrived to find the first 5 pegs unfishable with the heavy weed- this was a blow as I had not brought the rake and I suspected these pegs would be the most productive at this time of year as they are shallow. I settled on peg 7 and looked into the gin clear water – so clear I could see the bottom at 13m in 5 feet of water! I knew it would be a struggle but after 4 hours and not so much as a bite on any bait, even maggot hand lined under the platform could not save me! The prodigal angler returned and was given a Bowood moody welcome!

The Friday saw me arrive at the Glebe, just outside Hinckley, where we were on lakes 1,4,5,6,7 and 9. ,I was in charge of the results and draw and as per normal we would draw for pairs and the first out would fish pools 1 and 4 while the second out would be on pools 5,6,7,9. The following day you fished the other sections to where you had fished on Day 1. I was drawn out first and peg 25 on Pool1  was to be my home for the day.

I set up a feeder ( you have to use a 20inch hook length on the feeder at the Glebe), a 13m pole line for on the bottom but with strung out shot, a 5m rig and a margin rig. Hook lengths were 0.20mm Shogun, with a size 12 on the margin  rig, a 14 on the 5m line and a16 on the long line. All the floats were homemade, with the 13m line having a snub nosed bristle. Elastics went from Grey Hydro on the 13m line as I have found that I land more than on a heavier elastic for some reason, a 12 hollow and a red hydro on the margins, all set loose. The carp were again cruising and the sun was out and hot, starting at 13m after 30mins, after priming the other swims and having had some casts across for no response I had my first fish- a bream.

Indeed it was all bream at first before losing several carp that I believe had just swam into the line and got it wrapped around their fins. A frustrating day as I lost 10-15 carp, most foul hookers but was snapped on three occasions  by large fish, twice from the right hand margin where they went directly under the overhanging bush and into roots and once in clear water, possibly hitting a snag? After losing the two fish under the bush I concentrated on the other margin and  managed to weigh in 26-8 of bream and 43-4 of carp for 69-12 and last in section, everyone else in the section had over 100lb!

Onto day 2 and out comes peg 103 on pool 7 setting up the same as before, the feeder was consigned to the bank after 30 mins with no sign, the long pole line was not much better but at last I managed a bream of about 2lb on the hour mark. The pool was fishing hard, apart from the ends and a frustrating day saw me put 4 bream on the scales for 8-6 and 5 carp for 23-10, giving a round 32lb, beating peg 102 but no-one else in the section.

Pairs competition we finished 14th out of the 24 pairs mainly thanks to my partner having a first a second place.

The next day back to Withy for the second round of the Summer League. Out of the bag comes B5, permanent peg 36. The weather was very hot, indeed the car was showing 32C at the end of the match, and the carp were still cruising with other things on their minds. Starting across on a black hydro with a homemade float on 0.18mm Shogun to a 16 hook and corn I hit my first bite after 25minutes of pinging pellets only for the fish to come off half way across. An hour later with no futrher bites across or on the 5m line I decide that I had to scratch for a rudd in the margins as others had caught small fish and I needed to weigh something in for the team. So using my 5m rig which had a 18 hook on and double maggot I began trying to put small rudd in the net from my left margin, after putting about 10 small fish into the net I once again swapped between the far side and the 5m line but no signs of life other than the fizzing on my 5m line (BUT NO BITES!). I decided to stick with the small fish as no other angler was getting much in the section, so I decided to save the right margin and just concentrate on the left before trying later for carp in the right. More small rudd followed, then a small skimmer and better rudd, then nothing, just as I was thinking it was time to put a heavier rig on, the float buried and a lift was met with the solid resistance of a good fish, after a few heart stopping moments I finally had a carp of 5-6lb lying in my net.

A move to the heavier rig saw now response and a ball of paste in the right margin resulted in a foul hooker that pulled out eventually. Back to the lighter rig and another foul hooker lost. With thirty minutes to go I managed to hook another good fish that shot off to the far bank, 5 minutes later (although it felt a lot longer) I had a lump in the net, around 9-10lb, hooked in the middle of its side, I had been able to see my maggots in its side so was playing it as gingerly as I could!

No further action and at the weigh in I had exactly 17-0, 1-10 of rudd and the two carp went 15-6, enough for a section win. The team came 4th on the day so we now move to Sutton Benger on the Avon for the next round. Bowood awaits in between!

It was the first week of May that I managed to get out to Patneys and plonked myself down at the first peg on the right hand bank. This is usually hard going but I wanted to try several things including feeding maggot. Bottom line was that the maggot was slow and it needed the introduction of a few cubes of 4mm meat before I began getting regular bites at 13m, a strung out rig not as effective surprisingly as a bulked one. I ended up with 16 small carp, 6 skimmers, 3 roach and 3 rudd plus lost 6 carp. Total was a shade over 20lb.

The following Wednesday was the Fisho at Larford and I picked out peg 65 on speci which was in the general area I wanted to be in and I had Les from MFS two pegs away on 67 which I had fished several times before. The weather ultimately had the last laugh as it had been warm but we had had a cold night with some cold rain going in that made it more difficult. I ended up tipping back about 10lb of skimmers and did not get a sniff of a carp on the method, pellet waggler or down the edge! Very disappointing.

Following week went back to Patneys and fished a peg in the bay on the right hand side. Again used normal tactics of 4mm meat with a toss-pot of meat, micros and a plug of groundbait every put in. 13 carp and 2 skimmers for about 15-16lb was the result but again lost 4 smaller carp and one lump for no apparent reason.

That week-end signaled the start of the North Wessex Summer League with the first round on the K&A canal at Pewsey. I ended up at Bristows on C4, a wide area with tall trees on the near and far bank. I set up a 11 foot waggler, an old Silstar Ian Heaps rod, with the intention of fishing caster across, the a short rig for the inside deeper water and another at 11m. The real problem started just before the all in, it was a clear sunny day and the fantastic patch of fish holding shade that was in front of me was now almost gone, indeed after the first hour when the shade disappeared and I was “cooking” the fish disappeared and I only had 2 fish in the last 3 and a half hours. The section went like this C1(shade) 1-9, C2(shade) 1-7, C3 (shade) 0-09, C4 (me) 0-14, C5(no shade) 0-01, C6 (no shade) 0-01, C15 (shade)0-15. So I was 4th in section, not a great start to the league but better than it could have been!

The next week was used to sort tackle and prepare bait for the three day MFS Frenzee festival at Woodland View near Droitwich. I had been tasked with sorting the results and all the draw / weighing sheets so with computer and boards in tow I made my way to the fishery on Sunday, I was surprised to see parts of the lane leading down to the fishery flooded- obviously some very heavy overnight rain!

We were on Arles pool on the first day and due to a couple of last minute drop-outs we were down to 24, 4 sections of 6. I had the last peg which was 31, just at the top of the slope by the cafe. I had never fished Arles before but knew that it contained a variety of fish and mindful of the heavy overnight rain they had had, plus the forecast thunder storms I opted for a catch everything approach.

Tackle was set up accordingly, a pellet feeder for the island opposite, an 11m line with a 0.5g home made float to 0.16mm Shogun and a 16 hook, a 5m line set up in a similar manner and a margin rig on 0.20mm to a 16, again a homemade “greenie” style float but with a nitrol stem and 0.5g capacity. I had intended to video the match but when I tried to start the camera it kept turning off so I packed it away-miffed!

I decided to put a small dollop of chopped worm and caster plus some micros on the 5m line and feed via a toss-pot the same every put in. The 11m line was fed with a handful of micros a similar amount of 4mm pellet and just a few casters. The left margin was going to be fed with 3-4 grains of corn throughout the match and the right margin that was the deeper of the two, was having a half pot of 4mm plus a sprinkling of corn.

The match started, lines fed, I started on the 5mm line as I was not sure the feeder line would work- everyone else seemed to go out on the feeder. I stuck a head of a dendrabena on and dropped in over my baited 5m mark. Within 5 second the float had buried and my grey hydro was stretching out to the island before it came rushing back at me- not the best start!I got my head down and began to catch skimmers and the odd F1 on the worm. It didn’t look as if anyone else was getting much on the feeder so I decided to ignore the feeder and just plug away at the 5m line while topping up the 11m line as a back up. The odd carp turned up on the 5m line and in the last hour I had a few down the left hand margin to complete a pleasant match with only 10 seconds of rain despite the ominous rumbling of thunder all day. The weigh in showed that it had indeed been hard in the section with the best weight before I weighed in being the first peg with 33-2, there was only one other double figure weight with the lowest being 10oz, a real struggle. I weighed in the silvers first which went 19-4 and my carp pulled the scales down to 30-12 giving me a round 50-0 and an unexpected section win. Indeed I was only beaten in weight by the bagging machine that is Pete Bailey and Les H who won their respective sections, so I was lying 3rd after Day 1.

Day 2 saw us on Ghost (2 sections), Hay and Barley (1 section each). This time I was left with Barley 3. I set up the same rigs as Day 1 and had decided to approach it in the same way although the weather was warming up. Annoyingly the camera seemed to work back at the hotel, and I set it up again but this time although it looked to be working I only had 30 seconds of footage! I was not happy!

Beginning the match in the same way at 5m, I waited and waited and waited but nothing on the 5m line. There were carp cruising and crashing in the reeds opposite but I reckoned they had other things on their mind than feeding so tried the 11m line. This yielded a steady string of skimmers and F1s plus the very occasional carp, after three hours I began looking at the margins and picked up fish from both edges but mostly from the left edge, initially on corn but then on meat. The match closed with me weighing in 24-8 of silvers and 31-4 of carp for a 55-12 total. Weighing in the section I was 3 and a half pound adrift of Les H who was in my section and we were all soundly beaten by the expander king Baz Wrexham who weighed in 129-8, 47lb of which were silvers. I could not buy a bite on expander on all three days! Pete Bailey won his section on Hay with 110-6 while there was a tie on Ghost with Rolly and Ruddyroach both weighing in 110-8. So day 2 ended with me 3rd in section and 4th overall.

The final day arrives and as with most MFS Festivals the draw is done differently – the first 6 on the leader board are placed in one section, the next six in a section and so on. This gives everyone the chance to fish for something on the last day and the overall standings can be turned around. Now I am not used to being in such exalted company, I was expecting to be in the third or fourth group, so it was with a certain trepidation that I took my place on peg 58 Back Deans, joining Pete Bailey, Rolly, Les H, Baz and Ruddyroach.

I thought I would carry on with the approach I had begun with but on this occasion I had ditched the grey hydro for a NG Black and a strung out approach on one rig. Starting the match in the same way I fed and then put in (see what happened next!)

This was followed by a string of skimmers on the 5m line and the odd fish at 11m. A couple of smaller carp appeared on the 5m line but with 2 hours to go I went down the margins with meat, ending up just fishing the left hand one as the right was no good. A series of carp followed but I pulled out of a couple of foul hookers and lost a lump that snapped the dacron on the connector! Made mental note to check all connectors in future! The all out came which meant that the constant splashing to my left from Pete Bailey emptying the lake stopped! My silvers went 27-12 and carp 38-10 giving me the devil’s total of 66-6. The bottom end of the lake had not fished well with Les H and Rolly struggling, Baz Wrexham on my right had got the expanders working again and weighed in 73-2, while the splashing from Pete’s swim saw a magnificent 225-10 put on the scales. Best weight from Front Deans was Noddy on peg 4 with 119-0. The results got sorted and I was 3rd in section and 5th on the day meaning I came a surprising 4th overall, losing out to Baz on weight. Noddy came in second and Pete Bailey’s perfect score of 18 points saw him win the festival in style.

June sees round 2 of the Summer League at Witherington Farm and the MFS 2 day HillBilly Floats Pairs at the Glebe.

I managed to get out to Patneys one more time before April arrived and decided to have some practice on the bomb with the Viaduct Fishomania coming up. So bomb rods only (to prevent any change of heart!) I settled down on the right hand side two pegs past the island and for once set up a brolly as the forecast was dire with wind and rain and for once they were right! I began by pinging out 3-4 8mm pellets every 3-4 minutes and experimented with a new type of free running connector for the bomb that I had got from China. After the first cup of coffee to warm me up, I began to get some indications, with little nudges and the odd liner, before finally after an hour I hooked into a small carp of about a pound on a 8mm drilled pellet (spicy sausage flavour), a further half hour passed before a fish of about 2lb took a wafter. I had another of around 3 pound before I decided I had had enough of the wind and rain that was getting worse plus my coffee was finished, so I went home happy with the new connector.

Viaduct arrived and after a dry spell we had heavy overnight rain that was to put a dampener on proceedings as it turned out. I drew peg 60 which is on the right hand side of Lodge lake, right by the turning for match lake. This was the peg I had drawn in my first Fisho match many moons ago, so I knew it held plenty of skimmers and the odd carp, I set myself a target of 50lb as the peg would not frame in the main match. I had illustrious company either side with Dave Swan on 59 and Tony Curd on 61, so at least I would be able to pick up some pointers for the future from the way they broached it. I am realistic in knowing that I stand little if any chance of winning the match and qualifying for the final and treat the day as a “cheap” form of coaching, by picking up on what the others are doing. Having said that, I only apply for the venues where I feel that if I draw the right peg and fish to my ability I will have a “chance”, albeit a small one!

The three of us primed a pole swim, mine at 11m, Tony at 16m, Dave at 6m at the edge of the overhanging willow. My practice was not needed as apart from a couple of nudges no bites were forthcoming on the lead so after an hour I switched to the pole, no indications then a bite! A skimmer of about 12oz, basically after 3 hours I had had 3 bites from three skimmers, Dave had hooked three carp and lost all three in the snags under the tree and had decided to pack up and go  after 2 and a half hours, I made a decision then which was most unlike me to pack up, the pegs opposite were catching carp and there was no way I could do anything in the section, as I began to pack up so did Tony! He had fared slightly better with one carp and a few more skimmers. A disappointing day in all regards, especially as the news had filtered through that after 3 hours someone on Campbell already had 24 carp!

So next time I could get out was the following weekend with a Match fishing scene match at Boddington. This was a silvers only match and was one that everyone looked forward to as the match last year was won with 40lb of roach. I had taken over the running of the match as the original organiser had a family issue and couldn’t make it. I drew peg 52 which was towards the end of the length and I had Gooner and Toplights for company. The match did not go as expected with only 12lb needed to win it, top two weights from both end pegs. I ended up with 22 roach, 11 on the pole at 9m and 11 on the waggler at 20m, for 4-8, that put me 4th in section, Gooner tipped back and Toplights had 2-15. Another disappointing day.

I then had to travel north to take the mother in law on holiday to Bridlington.  For various reasons I only had chance of three short sessions. The first was after my original venue turned out to have stopped day-tickets and a visit to the south end found a sign for a fishery. Driving down and over three fields I finally came upon the water, gin clear, weedy but about 7 foot deep.

After giving it a couple of hours with a freezing wind in my face and no bites or signs of life I packed up.

I decided to return to Rosedale at Humanby, as I knew that at least there was the chance of a few bites. So next afternoon I plonked myself down on peg 38 and fishing the float had 11 skimmers, 11 roach, all on corn plus lost a carp for about 7.5lb.

Two days later I was back and this time fished Peg 4 but decided to have an hour on the method before fishing the margins with beefed up float tackle ie 0.18mm hooklength! A carp of 5lb and a skimmer of about a pound obliged on the method before the switch to the margins where I had a string of bites on corn, but as always at Rosedale they were very difficult to hit on the waggler, but I landed several reasonable roach but no sign of carp. It was interesting that on my two visits it rained- quite heavily, and I remarked to the bailiff that I had now fished Rosedale 8 times and it had rained for 7 of them!

Events meant that the fishing was curtailed and it was not until returning home that I could get out again-more than a week later. I headed to Patneys and for once the weather behaved and I could fish in a tee-shirt! I was planning on going down on my favorite peg but as I got to the lake the bearing on my barrow wheel popped out! I decided to stay at the top end of the lake and fish the first peg. I had decided to try a slightly different approach today and on plumbing up decided on 2 lines at 13m, about 2m apart. The left hand one was kick started with a ball of groundbait, a handful of micros, and about 20 4mm cubes of meat. The other was given a pot of micros with a similar number of pieces of meat. I then loose fed maggot over the top of the groundbait line and micros over the other with the odd couple of cubes of meat.

I had about 5 feet of water and starting on double maggot had 3 skimmers and 3 roach and a rudd before I hooked a small carp of about 10-12 oz. I found that I could not get a bite over the right hand line until I introduced groundbait. I had a pleasant session with 16 carp, albeit small, biggest 2lb, 6 skimmers (averaging 10-12oz), three roach and 3 rudd, losing 6 carp in total, including one better specimen. All the carp after the first came to a single 4mm piece of meat, as did the skimmers. I ended the day just about 20lb in total.

Next up Fisho at Larford and a three day MFS festival at Woodland View.

More than a week goes by and no fishing, partly down to the weather and partly other commitments but finally I venture out to Blacklands to find it mostly covered in thin ice but melting. I plump for peg 10 and feed sparingly with one swim in open water and another against the edge of the ice. The feed to start with was a bit of chopped worm with a few micros on both lines. A sluggish start, understandable with the conditions , but eventually some bites started and I ended with 17 roach, 5 skimmers and 7 perch, but should have been a lot better as I lost a good fish, probably a half asleep carp that plodded around before snagging me on the overflow, plus I inexplicably bumped 10-15 fish and still can’t work out why!

Three days later I returned to find the ice gone and my worms still on the garage floor at home! A good time to focus on other baits I thought! So it was peg 11 today fishing at 10m with 3 areas fed in a line – to the left a half pot of micros, directly in front a handful of micros and to the right a half pot of wheat. Each area was about 3-4 feet away from the next. Two rigs set up – a standard homemade diamond pattern with bulk down and a second bulk of 3xno10 stotz at the hooklength join, the other rig a 0.4g chianti style, again homemade with strung out shot. Both rigs were on 0.12mm mainline with 0,10mm hooklength and 18 hook. Starting on the middle line, I planned to leave the left line “cook” for at least an hour before trying it, I began to get some roach and after an hour with about 10 fish I changed to the right line with double wheat on the hook and was immediately into a better stamp of fish. Indeed the fish had settled on the wheat and apart from a brief dalliance on the left hand line, most of the time was spent on the wheat line with me swapping between the rigs – both produced, the bigger roach were in the upper layers and were taking on the drop but the skimmers were also waiting on the bottom for the wheat! I ended up with 31 roach, 20 skimmers (best two were 2-2 and 1-12), 6 gudgeon, 3 perch and a tench of 1-12.

All the fish apart from the initial ten roach and 4-5 roach and skimmers were taken on the wheat, approx 21lb. Who says wheat only catches roach in the warm weather!

Two days later and I fancied a change so headed off to Patneys, where I was hoping that I may find the odd carp awaking from their icy slumbers! I headed to the usual bay peg as at least I knew there would be fish in the area.

Fishing 13m with a rig similar to that at Blacklands but with 0.16mm mainline and 0.12mm hooklength to an 18, I started by feeding3 balls of groundbait plus a handful of pellet with a dozen maggots and then fed a pinch of micros via the catapult every 5minutes or so. Maggot on the hook got me a roach and 3 small perch, expanders collared 2 small skimmers in the first hour, at which point I decided to stop pussy-footing around and cupped in a dozen 4mm cubes of meat and put a cube on the hook. I began feeding the micros as before via the catapult but now added a small homemade toss-pot to my top kit and introduced 3-4 cubes of meat with a pinch of micros, all held in place by a plug of groundbait each time I shipped out. After 10minutes I had my first bite, a carp of 2-6, the next three hours went as follows (all carp)- 1-14, 0-8, 1-8, 3-8, 1-0,  5-10, 0-8, 3-8, 0-8, 6-0, giving a total with the silver fish of 27-11. Not hectic fishing but pleasant after the wintry weather.

Back to Blacklands but this time I fished Stans Lake for a change as the heavy rain of the previous days had caused the stream to back up and gush into Heron with muddy water. Setting up at the base of the slope behind the BBQ area. Stans is shallow, about 3 feet, and I opted to fish a Chianti style homemade float of 0.3g to a 0.10mm hooklength and my usual 18 at 10m, in the same style as Heron, ie two swims, worm to the right and pellet to my left. As usual on Stans there was the period were things went dead- mainly I suspect carp pushing the smaller fish out of the swim, but had a pleasant day with 26 skimmers, 5 roach, including ones of 15oz and 12oz, 2 perch, 1 gudgeon and a carp of 4-1 which tested my no 5 elastic! A total of around 12 and a half pounds.

That Friday I returned as I was running a match at Blacklands that Sunday and wanted to check on peg 4 as we had not fished it for a bit. Set up was the standard one for Blacklands with the two rigs set up and a similar approach yielded 24roach to 12oz, 33 skimmers and two perch for a total of 20-14, most of the roach coming to wheat. More importantly I discovered that the heavy rainfall that had created the overflow into Heron on my previous visit had dislodged the willow snag that was between pegs 4 and 5 and it was now most definitely in peg 4!!

The weather gods must hate me as a sharp fall in temperature plus a heavy snowfall on Saturday night meant I had to cancel the match as people were unable to get there! A lot of ringing around ensued and I managed to get the match re-booked for the following Saturday (all being well!). By Wednesday when I returned to Blacklands, the snow had gone and I decided to fish peg 7- the narrowest peg on the lake. I fish this differently from most as I ignore the obvious areas against the island and instead fish at 7m “down the track”, again making use of 3 lines of attack.

While fishing it didn’t feel it was fishing well but at the end I had just under 21lb comprising of 24 skimmers (best 2-15), 23 roach, including one of exactly a pound, 12 perch and 1 tench of 1-14. More than half the fish were caught on wheat, including two of the perch!

Match day arrives and I find myself on peg 2, a large fish bumped on third put in slowed it down for me with only 6 fish in first hour with my usual approach. Moving to the pellet was equally slow and I basically had to get my head down and scratch out what I could, the problem was the fish were of a smaller stamp than usual (I suspect to the cold water going in overnight with the rain), by the end I had 28 roach, 32 skimmers and 2 perch for 13-7 for 3rd in section and fifth overall. Fred on peg 1 had a similar number of fish but his were slightly bigger and more skimmers weighed in 18-10 while Jamie on peg 3 had the same problem as me with small fish and not so many skimmers for 8-8. The match was won off peg 6 by Ali Foreshaw with 22-12 , mainly taken on the whip and maggot, a lot of fish but with the odd exception, small.

April beckons with a Fishomania match at Viaduct and roach at Boddingtons to look forward to.

With Gareth safely back in China I went to Blacklands on the Monday to find it covered with a sheet of ice and my ice breaker at home! Pegs 4,5 and 6 were partly clear but I decided to go on peg 1, fortunately the ice was thin and was broken with a pole cup and landing net.

I set up with just the one rig, a homemade diamond style float taking 0.6g on 0.12mm Tornado with an 15cm 0.08 Shogun hooklength to a 20. I had a bulk shot 2 feet from the hook, a number 8 just 6 inches below that and

then two number 10 stotz at the hooklength loop.  This is a pattern I had been experimenting with and it seemed to work very well to date. I began cautiously with micros on the left of the peg and worm on the right but less than I would normally introduce at the start. Two hours later and not a bite, plus the ice was rapidly thawing and the ice water seemed to be having a detrimental effect but then suddenly as if a tap was turned on I had a bite every put in on worm – one perch and 36 roach later I packed up, undecided why the “tap” had been put on…Was it a change in atmospheric pressure or…

Saturday saw the next in the series of matches I had arranged at Blacklands. Just 8 taking part this time with some other events locally clashing, this became 7 with a no-show. I drew (or rather Dazza did for me) peg 8. I set up the usual rigs – the diamond and a chianti style for on the drop. This time I had decided on 4 lines, the first at 11m to my left was to be my worm line, a pellet line straight in front of me  at 11m, another pellet line 11m to my right almost 6m out from the bank and a caster line a metre off the island.At the start I put in my usual  decent dollop of choppie , and a big handful of pellet cupped on to both lines, a cup containing about 200 casters was put on my island line. Starting on the worm was a steady start before moving onto the pellet lines, rotating between then and occasionally trying the caster line to plunder some better roach I ended up with 28 roach, 36 skimmers, 2 perch and a gudgeon, at the weigh in the scales went to 20-10, I have to use two weighs as the scales I have go to 20lb and always weigh in last. After this when I was gathering my net I found I had missed a roach – 10oz to be precise much to Dazza’s amusement, so my real weight was 21-4, still not enough to change my position. Must remember in future to thoroughly check the net and spread it out tidily!! The weights went as follows

Peg 2    23-11                              Peg 8   20-10 (21-4)

Peg 3    16-06                                Peg 10 15-01

Peg 5     11-10                              Peg 12   21-09

Peg 6    11-05

Thanks to Dazza for the pics of some of the catches

The following week I returned but decided to fish the other lake- Stan’s. Now this is a very different prospect with a consistent depth of about 3-3.5ft and despite the cold weather I fancied it for a change. Setting up on the right hand bank with the building behind me I set up a chianti style float to 0.08mm hooklength and a 20, kicking off with the usual worm to the right and pellet to the left approach  IO had a very pleasant session with 9 perch, 8 roach to 12oz, 56 skimmers to 3-3 and a solitary carp that gave me the runaround on my no.5 elastic with no puller!

The silvers came to 20-08 giving a total of 25-06 with the carp- a pleasant if cold outing.

Two days later I decided to give the river a go and see if I could get one of the pike that cause so many problems on matches. The top weir at Benger was my choice, but with the temperatures showing -2C I was not over hopeful. I had traveled light and put a float out with a joey for the pike and a maggot feeder with a small piece of worm on a 0.08mm to a 20 and chopped worm in the feeder as my other rod, mainly to keep my interest! After 10 minutes I had a bite on the feeder that I missed and that was that for two hours. I decided to pack the rods away and resorted to getting my 5 piece Shakespeare travel match rod that always goes everywhere with me in the car along with my emergency tackle and give the backwater a go for an hour.

Tackling up, I found about 5 feet of water and catapulting out some maggots I immediately began to get bites and had 3 small fish- a dace and two chub before it went dead- possibly a pike! Twenty minutes later after feeding the cheeky robin that landed on my rod I gave it best and went home! March beckons and a final match at Blacklands

Christmas passes and just as the New Year kicks in fishing is put on hold while another family emergency is dealt with- this time a son with flu. Not so serious but due to his ongoing medical condition any dehydration can put him back in hospital and seriously ill, a few nights in Brum of me sleeping on the floor and my magical chicken cawl and we were back home.

Blacklands was calling- I needed some fish to catch, so finally I was setting up on peg 10 on Heron Lake. I have amended the pegging for the matches so we do the draw at the end of the toilet block (bottom left hand corner of the diagram below) and the bench peg is now peg 12. This way I can have two fairly even sections.

Peg 10 has the jetty on the right and is slightly deeper on the left of the peg. I only set up one rig – an ugly duckling of 1g with 0.08mm hook-length to an 18. These floats look very odd but if you shot them correctly are incredibly sensitive.

Anyway I started the predictable way with the worm to the left while feeding micros directly in front at 10m, I ignored the jetty as I thought there would be a carp or two in residence! As usual a good hour on the worm before having to move over the micros on expander brought 31 skimmers, 9 roach and 10 perch for 16-6. Not hectic but a welcome day out after the break.

Managed to get out later the same week, this time I fished in between two and three (just to be perverse) same approach same tackle (I am getting boring and in a rut I think, or is it “if it ain’t broke…) 8 perch, 24 skimmers and 26 roach later, plus an hour out to help the groundsman get some branches out that had snapped off in the high winds/storms that week, I was VERY happy. The reason one of the roach I weighed went 1-13!

It was noticeable that no large perch had been showing. The following week I returned to fish peg 7 which is the narrowest peg on the lake at just about 11m.Starting the usual way but with a more traditional diamond shaped float I had caught 1 perch ( 1 oz) after an hour but then the next 3 hours passed quickly on the expander with 33 skimmers (largest 3lb), and 6 roach for 16-7. I bumped another big skimmer after catching the first one otherwise it may have been even better!

Saturday arrived and I was running a Match-fishing Scene match at Blacklands. With people coming from Chester, Oxford as well as the locals I was hoping it was going to fish up to scratch. I arrived at 8am to peg out and was met with icy driving rain coming into the jetty bank. The preceding days had seen a lot of rain but the temperature had now dropped to just above freezing – it was not pleasant! I was last to draw with one no show and had peg 12, the bench, so at least the rain would not be in my face. To cut a horror story short I had 3 skimmers, 13 roach, 6 perch and a gudgeon, most in the first hour and last half hour, for 4-3. My pegging proved correct as the weights went like this

Peg 1          DNW                                               Peg 7     6-0 (incl 3lb bream)

Peg 2          18-14                                                Peg 8  DNW (packed up after 2hours)

Peg 3          22-9                                                   Peg 9 DNW(packed up just after peg 8)

Peg 4         19-8                                                    Peg 10   not drawn

Peg 5          18-7                                                   Peg 11  5-11

Peg 6          10-3                                                   Peg 12   4-3

The anglers on pegs 8 and 9 suffered horribly in the wind and icy rain and could not feel their fingers when packing up. During the match we had an overflow from the stream behind the back with 7-10 and plumes of muddy rain water were deposited in the lake, in fact I only caught in the last half hour when the plume reached me! Fortunately Steve May (yes Andy May’s dad), the winner, was the one who had come down from Cheshire, but said he wore out his wiper blades on the journey back as the weather was so bad!

My Goretex did not survive the driving rain for the first time ever and I got very wet as I do not fish with a brolly! The next week was spent drying out my Goretex, cleaning it in the bath with the shower, then washing it, drying it and reproofing it.

A tentative return to Blacklands came at the end of the week along with newly reproofed jacket and over trousers. Peg 4 was my destination but a very slow session saw 12 roach, 17 skimmers and 5 perch rudely interrupted by a tench of a pound and a quarter for a weight of 12-2.

The weekend saw me up at Heathrow to collect younger son Gareth who was flying in from China for a short visit. I had arranged a match for the following weekend with his visit in mind! Wednesday saw us visit Blacklands and Gareth on 7 and me on 8. Fishing 10m with the usual diamond rig saw me get 16-4 of silvers – 18 roach, 20 skimmers(best 2-12), 1 perch and 1 gudgeon. In addition I had a scrappy 4-10 common carp that made my no 5 elastic stretch somewhat to Gareth’s amusement, giving a total of 20-14, Gareth had a similar silver net.

February arrives and the day before the match saw us go to Patneys and fish the left had side of the island. The ground was very boggy with the rain we had been having but fortunately it was a clear, dry day. A slow start for me,despite starting on 0.08mm and an 18, Gareth had a perch on the maggot while I tried pellet. It was not until I put a 4mm piece of meat on that I had a bite after an hour, ending up with 12 small carp (biggest 4lb) for between 12 and 15lb. Gareth was getting the odd carp but then latched on to a better sample of 7-12.

As is typical the following day- it was raining for the match, fortunately it was not heavy and it lifted after an hour into the match but returned for the last hour and the weigh in. I had several drop outs leading up to the match and only 8 were fishing but I had 9 lots of money to pay out. So I used two sections as usual and the section winners would pick up along with the best placed second place. Gareth drew peg 6 and I drew peg 10. I began by having three lines, worm on the left, pellet directly in front and also 1m from the end of the jetty. Line was 0.08 to an 18, with my diamond float from practice, a 0.4g chianti style for on the drop (in case it was hard) and a 0.6g egg style . It began slow an I feared the worst as I put 3 small roach in the net in the first hour. A change to the pellet saw a couple of small skimmers but nothing great. I then took a decision and put a pot of micros on the worm line, a further pots on the other lines and got my head down with an expander swapping between my two initial pellet lines. I began to steadily put skimmers in the net and then in the last hour swapped between the worm line and middle line to end up with 27 roach, 1 perch. 38 skimmers for 17-8. The weights went as so:

Peg1     10-11                                  Peg8        18-1

Peg 3     25-0                                    Peg 9       13-5

Peg 5      11-5                                  Peg 10      17-8

Peg 6      19-0                                  Peg 12      8-15

So I was beaten by 9 oz for the section and Gareth beat me for the best placed second!

We had one more outing before Gareth returned to China and we fancied a bit of piking on the K&A at Bedwyn.  Arriving at Church stretch the water was gin clear, the air was cold, sun shining and the boats were taking up most of the tow path, so we settled for a spot just up from the bridge, floats with smelt and sardine were dispatched to likely looking areas along both nearside and far bank margins and we waited. and waited… After two hours and not a sign of a fish either on a pole that I had put out with chopped worm or drop shotting (I tell a lie , I did see a 1oz perch follow the lure but turned away) we decided to move down to another stretch at Roadside (Froxfield). Here we were greeted with green-grey colored water with lots of grass cuttings! A further hour or so plus two empty flasks made our decision to pack up easy. As I said to Gareth – “It’s called fishing, not catching!”

Back from the North a trip to Blacklands was in order to lift my spirits. The bench peg was selected although the weather was cold and not encouraging with a bitter Easterly wind. The day started slowly and never really got going with the skimmers reluctant to feed and most of the fish being small perch- 32 to be precise, 8 roach, 3 gudgeon and 10 skimmers .

Back to Blacklands on the following Wednesday as a practice for the match I was running on the Saturday. I decided to fish the far end at the end of the island (peg 4 in the match) and tried out a couple of things including dyed micros. A far busier session although cold, saw 37 roach, 6 perch and 16 skimmers come to the net, including a bream of 3lb, making a total of just over 15lb in the 4 hours I fished.

Come the Saturday we had  a real drop in temperature with it being -2C when I arrived and the temperature not getting beyond 3C all day.  I drew last and was left with peg 4 – the one  I had fished on Wednesday, To my left was the “Trawler”, aka Brian Shutler, and I had some other handy anglers in my section on the bench bank. The match started okay with my approach being the usual one of two lines at 10m and starting on the worm. A quick start with some early roach and perch finding the net before it settled into a routine of catch 2-3 fish then wait for a bite. I couldn’t get the fish settled the same as most others, by half way I thought I was doing okay and beating Brian but the pegs on the other side of the island that I could see were catching well as was Mick Rozier on the Bench.

I had a poor fourth hour when Brian began to really motor and despite starting a new line at 13m could not catch him. I ended with 36 roach, 16 skimmers, 8 perch and a gudgeon for 12-10 and section second and 3rd overall with 12-10. Given the way the conditions were I was pleased with the way the match had fished. See below

Peg 1      Chris Rushton       10-7                         Peg 7 Andy Cranston       17-11

Peg 2       Mick Saunders     11-4                         Peg 8 Peter Gilbert             2-0

Peg 3       Fred Parker           12-5                        Peg 9 Ian Spanswick          9-3

Peg 4      Me                             12-10                     Peg 10 James Carty           DNW

Peg 5      Brian Shutler         17-6                        Peg 11 Mick Rozier           12-8

The following day fate struck again with the news that my wife’s aunt had unexpectedly died so another visit up North was required as she was an executor for the estate. That was it for the period up to Christmas with us not returning home until late on the 27th. The weather in our absence had been dire with rain and snow but it wasn’t till New Years Eve that I managed to get out – Blacklands again for a short session (barely 4 hours). I decided to fish peg 8 but had taken my back up pole for a change as it was forecast to be wet (wrong as usual!) but had forgotten to put in the cup for the cupping kit as it was a different type to my usual cups!!! So improvising I introduced some chopped worm and pellet via bait dropper and toss potted micros and chop every other put in. I decided to try concentrating on just one line to see how that went.

Third fish was a decent roach of 14oz(weighed) but I decided at this point to change from a doubled 4 elastic to a solid 5. This seemed to work much better and I ended up with 37 skimmers, 15 perch and 8 roach for 13-12. I found worm caused a lot of missable bites but would produce bigger fish, while expander provided a quicker response but a small stamp of fish.

I have a series of three matches coming up that I am running at Blacklands, one in January and 2 in February.

This will be a very short update on what has turned out to be a bad month with the death of my father-in-law up in Yorkshire on the 15th curtailing any opportunities to get out on the bank.

The month began badly with the penultimate round of the North Wessex Winter League taking place at Radcot on the Thames. Now Radcot is my least favorite venue on the Thames as it is so peggy and affected by the weather. This match was to prove this in abundance. I drew the last downstream section F2 which gave me the board also. I had a straight featureless peg with a depth of about 9-10 feet at 13m with a bitter wind off my left shoulder. I set up a waggler, a feeder and two pole rigs – one with a 5g Blues  float to have some control and a lighter 2g Paster both had a20 to 0.08mm hook-length. I started cautiously and cupped in 3 balls of groundbait with a few casters on 13m and began drip feeding maggot at 5m just over the shelf. 20 minutes later I lifted the float to reset it and found a small dace hanging on – at least I had not blanked I thought! Two hours later and biteless I caught a pair of eyes- so small I was unsure what it was! Then in the last hour and a half I managed to snare 3 small chub. Nothing on feeder, nor waggler. The section went like this F1 6oz, me 1-5, F3 18lb (5 bites on feeder 5 chub from the front of the only large tree in the water in sight), F4 14lb (4 bites from the rear of the same tree 3 chub and a huge perch), F5 end peg in the match 10lb of small fish on waggler. I hate Radcot!

The match turned out better team wise as we finished second on the day and cut Radcot’s lead to 2points with one match to go.

The only other visit I made was on the following Monday whenI managed to talk my friend Pete Sarahs into coming out to Blacklands with me. I put him on the Bench peg and I fished the peg on the right of him, almost in ythe corner. Anyway we had a good day with Pete catching about 15lb and I ended up with 25-14 including a carp of 3-10.

That was it for the month as I had to pull out of the final Winter League match on the canal at Pewsey, which to Radcot’s credit they won with Pewsey finishing second on the day and in the league overall.

Hopefully December will be kinder and I’ll have some photos/videos to include.