October arrives and hopes of pike and bream at Bowood come to the fore. The bream have been conspicuous by their absence this year with tench being the main action to date. Still I trudged off to peg 12, now I know I am boring fishing the same peg but my rationale is that it is the deepest peg in the area and if I consistently fish it the fish will get used to finding food there and remain close by. As I have said before Bowood is little fished and it is rare to see another angler so setting up a peg with regular bait makes sense.

Three balls of groundbait laced with a sprinkling of micros and a few casters are deposited at 11m, and pike rod cast with a mackerel tail just to the right and at 13m, I shipped out with double maggot and 2 minutes later the float dips and a roach of 13 ounces arrives in my net. I hoped that was to be the start of a good day but that was my one and only bite on the pole despite going down to 0.10mm and a 20. There was one piece of action at mid day when the pike float lifted and disappeared  resulting in a pike of 9-2 and that was it for the day.

That was it until the week-end when we had round 2 of the North Wessex at Clanfield. I don’t mind Clanfield although it is very peggy as you can drive and park directly behind your peg, which on this occasion was A7 or peg 21 which was on the straight immediately after a long sweeping bend that formed a cattle drink. Plumbing up showed that there was a deep hole just to my right upstream that sloped up to about 8-9 feet in front of me at 11m with a fairly consistent depth right across the river. Anyway I set up a worm rig, a light rig (1g) and a slightly heavier one of 1.5g, with the intention of starting light and moving to the heavier one if needed. The match starts and two hours later I have about 4ozs in the net and really struggling, with nothing showing, to make matters worse as end peg i didn’t have a clue how the rest of the section was doing but suspected that the first pegs would be catching as they were in a hot area. My fortunes changed slightly as the cows arrived for a drink creating plumes of muddy water coming through my peg plus streaks on my car from the licking the cows were giving it! I began to pick up pairs of eyes gudgeon, so stuck the heavier rig on to get the bait down quicker and settled down to try and scratch as best I could. The match ends and I manage to weigh in 2-6 of the eyes but as I suspected the top pegs all had 4lb plus leaving me with a miserly 2points for my efforts.

After Sunday I needed some encouragement so I headed for Pondtail peg 2 for a 3hour session on the Chinese whip, fishing double maggot I managed 160 roach and 2 perch for a weight of 10-2.

Pintail 1 was the next visit and again on the whip, this time just a short 2hr session saw 105 roach and 3 perch for a level 6lb. Peg 12 was calling so that Monday i headed down and set up as per usual with pike rod out with a mackerel tail and pole at 11m. I have probably omitted to mention my pike set up for some time so as a recap it consists of a 2.5lb three piece carp rod allied to a Shakespeare Omni X loaded with 12lb line, my terminal tackle consists of one of my pellet wagglers taking 5g on a sliding set up, with usual barbless trebles (this was to change !). The day began slowly with 6 roach and a small hybrid for 2-6 but the pike saved the day with three coming to the net, the first 10-0 to the mackerel tail, the next a jack of 3lb again to a tail and finally an 11-4 to a red smelt. The day decided me that I had enough of trebles getting caught in the net so I decided to ditch the trebles and that week made up some single hook traces to 20lb wire.

Friday sees me back at peg 12 with single hook traces, this time the smaller fish were playing ball and on double maggot I had 17 roach (biggest 12oz), 15 rudd 1 perch, a skimmer of 1-8 plus 3 small blades  which added to a solitary jack of 4-3 gave me a 9-8 total.

Sunday saw me at Lechlade for the third round of the Winter League. The organisers had managed to get us parking in the field next to the riverside car-park which would save us splashing out £5 on parking fees, but it backfired a bit as the entrance path back to the riverside park had been sealed off so it meant a lot longer than the normal long  walk to the river. Anyway I ended up drawing C5, my usual 150m stretch of river- I always seem to get the same area over the years!- in the small paddock just over the stream bridge. I had 10 foot of water at 11m and about 3foot on the 5m line with a handy looking bush in the water on my side 5m downstream. To cut a long story short the bush and inside line were both a waste of time with no sign of fish and I spent the majority of the match at 11m holding back hard and then running through before holding back again which accounted,  all bar 6 waggler caught fish,  for 31 roach, 16dace, 2 skimmers, 2 perch, 1 gudgeon, 1 little chub and 9 bleak for 5-13 and third in section. The two who beat me caught on the whip at 5m for 6-15 and 6-12.

Tuesday and peg 12 called – I keep throwing in wheat and pellet when I leave in the hope that the bream will find it and settle but once again I had a solitary small skimmer and 27 roach for 4-6 on the maggot plus a pike of 6-4.

Friday sees me stop being so boring and walk around the far side to peg 22 which is almost opposite 12!! I had forgotten how shallow it was on this side with about 3.5feet of water at 11m. As I was setting up another angler arrived with a couple of pike rods and set up on peg 12!

I adopted a cautious approach as the wind was cold (the left side of my face was cold but my right side burning with the winter sun!) two pots of loose groundbait with a pinch of wheat, micros and maggots was introduced with a pinch of maggots fed at regular intervals. It didn’t go to plan as 10 small roach and a perch for 9ounces was my reward (plus a couple that came off). Just after taking the pictures, as i was packing up my top kit, the pike float lifted and shot off, a strike, the clutch grumbled and the pike was on, flashing in the water, it was a fish of 8-9lb when the single hook pulled out. I think I need to ensure the clutch doesn’t stop me getting a good hook hold in future!The guy on 12 had not had anything when I left a few minutes later.

September arrives and it is with expectation of the bream turning on that I went to peg 12 at Bowood. The day began with a 1oz skimmer/blade \and that was it as far as the bream were concerned, 8 rudd and 32 roach saw the session out at 3-12. No sign of any bigger fish. To compensate for my disappointment, two days later I did the long walk to Stock Pool and sat on peg 2. Once again slow to start I had the roach and small pasty carp in fits and starts initially on maggot but then on wheat before the larger fish moved in and 7 carp ended up in the net (in order of capture 2-10, 2-6, 7-11, 1-14, 4-12, 2-4) which along with the smaller fish gave a total of exactly 26lbs. Tactics for both sessions had been the same as previously.

I then had a couple of sessions on Pondtail that are recorded elsewhere before having another session on Pondtail 2 this time with 102 roach on the Chinese whip for 6-1 but also being snapped by a large fish, possibly a carp. Back to 12 and this time with the pike gear in tow. Getting the roach going stimulated the pike and two samples of 7-0 and 9-7 followed. I have found that getting the correct size of bait is paramount to getting a run, if it is too small or too big it is ignored; a 6-8inch bait seems to be best. In between the pike I also had a tench of 2-6, 16 roach, 3 skimmers, 2 rudd and a perch for a 22-14 total.

Bowood then had to take a back seat as family commitments took me north and a week in Hornsea with the mother-in-law on holiday. The good thing about Hornsea is that 10 minutes away is Westlands , a commercial fishery with a good tackle shop and this is where I would be heading for some short afternoon sessions.

First visit was on the Saturday but with a majority of lakes taken with matches I ended up on Canal about half way along. Gareth had taken back the telescopic rod to China on his last visit, so I took the plunge and bought one from China a 3.6m (12ft) 99% carbon version costing a total of £9.37 delivered to my door! I set this up with an inline method feeder and baiting with a Bait-Tec Juice pellet cast the feeder tight against the far bank. Setting up the float rod as well I fed the middle withe micros and down both edged with 4mm pellets. The afternoon was one of those frustrating ones where you know the fish are there but not having it, one small pasty from the feeder line, one small skimmer and perch from the micro line saw me turn my attentions to the edges.

Once again it was slow but swirls told me the fish were around, most activity was on the right edge so I decided to concentrate my efforts there. The bailiff came around for the day ticket money and commented that there may well be barbel where I was fishing. Any way I had a few small carp and one of 4lb before hooking a good fish that I had on for over five minutes, slowly going to the left and right and across the lake, I had it in netting range on more than one occasion but could not get it’s head up; finally it made off one more time to the left and we parted company! That was the last of the action! I did not go on Sunday as it was booked up with matches.

Monday saw me return and after a while saw me settle for Middle lake, the furthermost corner with the wind (such that is was) blowing into the corner. Again both rods set up but I only fished with one at a time.

Beginning on the float I began fishing directly in front while also feeding the corner to my left. A couple of small carp followed before I decided to go down to my left, a couple of better fish to 4-6 came before I took the gamble and put the float rod up the bank and swung the method on top of the same line, a further 16 carp came to banded pellet (The Juice), biggest being 6-14. The Chinese rod coped admirably with them and had a really nice action, as well as being incredibly slim. The session saw me end with 20 carp for 68-8 (I weighed each fish and jotted down the weight on paper).

Next afternoon saw me back at Middle but this time in the opposite corner (peg 26?).

I decided to concentrate on the waggler for most of the session but did have a few fish at the end on the feeder. Loose feeding 4mm pellet and using corn and banded pellet I had a succession of carp and F1, missing a lot and bumping fish, despite this I managed 12 carp/F1 and 2 skimmers for a 35-13 total, so you can see the fish were of a similar stamp to previously, the best being 4-14. However it made for an enjoyable session with not many slack times.

My last session was made on Little Tench, the far corner peg on the roadside. I adopted a similar approach with most of the time fishing the waggler with just short bursts on the feeder. Corn and banded pellet saw a run of fish come to the net but they were significantly smaller with 27 carp and 2 roach weighing in at 44-14. A busy final session but enjoyable despite the very windy conditions.

Back home and the first round of the North Wessex Winter League arrives at Sutton Benger! I tend not to take my match kit to Benger, opting instead to take my Bowood tackle as the walks can be totally savage and the soil is very cloying clay. So to the draw and I drew B6, upstream of the top weir, driving down the lane to the river I parked up in the car park took 4 paces across the track and there was my peg- a real savage walk! This peg is feast or famine usually, with the chance of chub (usually later in year though) and big perch.

I set up the usual feeder, waggler, worm rig and light rig, cupped in 4 balls of groundbait laced with about 50 casters and 20 grains of wheat and went out to 10m (where the flow was) with double maggot on a 20 to 0.10mm below a 0.5g Blues float in the 6 feet of water. Third run through I had a roach of 3oz and a succession of smaller roach followed until I hooked a better fish, a roach of about 10 oz, that I guided in past the remnants of the stalks only for it to make a dart to my left into the pad of lilies and the hook to pull! A second better fish was lost to a hook pull , this time further out, leaving me unhappy to say the least. As usual after 75 minutes the bites tailed off and dried up- time to introduce the worm at the end of the lilies, only nothing happened- nado-nothing. On to the waggler and by feeding two different areas and swapping between them I was able to put the odd fish into the net. More chopped worm introduced over the groundbait produced a couple of small perch plus one of 8-10ozs followed by a small chub of 6oz. By the time the whistle went I thought I had about 3lb in the net. I realistically thought I was fishing for 5th in section as the weir peg flier was in our section plus 3 other very good pegs in the first field. When I came to weigh in Mick Rozier on B1 was leading with 6lb+- a big chub and some decent perch with Frank Humphries next on 4-5, I watched as the scales settled at 4-3 (those roach cost me!), the weir didn’t produce leaving me third. Not too bad a start.

Mid week after some painting around the house I headed for 12 at Bowood with pike rod and on a glorious autumn day without a cloud in the sky and warm sunshine I did not get a bite nor run in three hours. In fact I did not see a sign of any fish apart from three separate occasions when a pair of eyes dimpled the surface. I packed up and walked back to Pondtail where I had 3 hours on the pole for a change – 100 roach, 1 perch and 1 gudgeon- yes fish other than roach. Best fish was 1-7. in a total of 7-9.

If you have read some of my other posts you will know that I have experimented with some Chinese tackle – not the stuff built in China for the UK market but the tackle the Chinese use. Earlier this week I fished Pondtail Pool on the Bowood Estate, for the first time, with a waggler and had 125 roach, including two at 1-08 in just over 2 hours for 12lb. Taking into account the larger roach this meant the fish were averaging slightly over an ounce.This led to me deciding to try fishing it with a 5m Chinese whip and float for a couple of short sessions of 2 hours. There are only two platforms on Pondtail and they are at the start of the lake with a long expanse beyond the platforms that you cannot fish. So I decided to fish both pegs in the same way.

A Chinese whip is way different to what we are used to , both in terms of size and balance. You can see from the pictures that they are incredibly slim and are multiple short telescopic sections. There is a ring on the screw in butt cap because these whips are used on their “commercial” for carassio or F1s with larger carp also present; they clip a length of string to the butt in the event of hooking a “lump” and allow it to tow the whip if needed and then hand line the whip back once the initial runs are complete. (I was not going to do that!) Balance was also totally different with it feeling top heavy- again it is usually used in conjunction with a small rest rather than being constantly held. These whips are often advertised with them picking up two full coke bottles to show how much it will bend!!!

The rig I was using was made up of 0.12mm Tornado to a 0.10mm Shogun hooklength and a size 18 B611. The rig is set up on a foam spool that fits into a neat box  and  rubber stops either side of a brass float adapter into which you push the float stem keeps it all nice and neat.  I was using a bog standard cheap Chinese float as you can see in the top right hand pic, I think I paid about £2 for 10 floats and that included delivery from China! The bottom right is a pic of some of my match quality floats from China.  The float I used took 2BB and 3 no 8, the BBs were placed under the float and the three no 8s were spread so that I could take advantage of the long tip on the float and spot bites at every level of its fall through the water.

The first attempt was on the first peg and I started by introducing a small ball of soft groundbait and catapulted 20 or so maggots every other put in, with a further small ball added every 15 mins or so.Double maggot  was the only bait I tried, I bumped one good fish and ended up with 85 roach for 8-08, so they were of a better stamp than on peg 2 with most fish coming in the last 18 inches of the 5 feet of water. I also lost a fair few by using a barbless hook.

Peg 2 was next and I had amended the tackle by using a micro barbed hook.

You can see the minimal tackle I used (making use of my lad’s stool as he is in China!) Fishing the same way I had a similar experience except I lost a good bit of time as a strange cloud came down from the weir and slowed things down. I had 90 roach in the time and they were of a similar size to my first visit with the waggler, weighing in at 7lb but that included one of 1-07.

But I also hooked a far bigger fish that was fighting like the roach before the hook pulled- it was significantly bigger than the largest I had caught there – I think I may need to target the water a bit more in future. Interestingly I fed maggots but on the waggler it was caster but the result was the same in terms of average size. The one thing I did try this time was some artificial corn that I bought from China, I had used it on the carp on the Stock Pool with success while feeding pellet, it was again successful with a couple of slightly larger roach falling to it.

The whip was very forgiving and performed as well as could be expected, the floats I have used elsewhere such as Boddington for the roach and they are very sensitive. Most of my reels are now Chinese and cost less than £10 but perform well and in fact are better than some of the more expensive “brands” that have a good reputation. Interestingly in 3 visits to Pondtail I have had 300 roach and no other species!

August arrives and we were making hay while the sun shone so to speak, having the days out and the late afternoons down at Bowood. Returning for a 3 hour evening session Gareth again opted for 11 while I went on 12. Same rigs and feeding with a pot of worm going in after each tench saw fish of 3-14, 3-4, 4-12 and 3-12 plus a solitary rudd grace the net, two further tench were lost. Gareth had a tench of 3-1, lost another plus two roach.

Next day saw us go earlier than usual as we had family plans in the evening, peg 11 was taken so Gareth suggested going up to the next field, so we ended up on 13 and 14 (me). Gareth was soon busy catching the roach and rudd that seemed to be everywhere and I had several plus one small 4oz skimmer (at last, a skimmer) plus a solitary tench of 3-12. Friday saw us back in the evening and I was on 11 and Gareth on 12 for a slow evening session which only resulted in a skimmer of 1-4 and 4 roach (at least another skimmer has been caught!) and a lost tench was my only joy with Gareth having a couple of tench and bits.

I was on the Riverfest at Clanfield the next day and as usual my drawing hand produced the usual no hope peg – Peg 54 or permanent peg 87. 4 perch, 8 bleak, 1 tiny chub and 4 roach for 1-10 was my total for the match – par for that peg! The next day we went up to Yorkshire returning my mother-in-law after her stay with us.Gareth managed to talk his way into us taking some pellet and corn up with us in case we fancied a few hours at Birkwood, just down the road. (I have two travel rods and a bag of kit permanently in the car!) Anyway we ended up at Birkwood for a couple of hours on the oldest lake (can’t remember it’s name) on peg 11. We tackled up in the same peg, sitting on the ground and feeding the margins to the left (me) and right (reed fringed -Gareth). Single corn got response from the resident roach but I did manage to lose two carp, one a plodder that looked about 8-9lb but the hook pulled and the other went on a screaming run and snapped me on a snag. Gareth had a load of roach and managed to lose 4 carp in the rushes!

Birkwood is closed on a Monday so on the Tuesday we went for a short session late morning before we had to set off home in the afternoon.This time we went down the far end of the lake on the opposite bank and fished for an hour catching roach and Gareth had one carp before the grass that must have been cut the day before was blown into our corner by the wind and made presenting a bait impossible. We moved to the far end opposite where we had first fished and Gareth was having joy catching small carp and roach while I changed to a running bomb for 4 roach. However, when it was time to start packing up, I volunteered to sort out Garth’s rod while he carried on fishing with mine. No sooner than I gave him the rod when the tip slammed round with a carp- just my luck!

Back to Bowood and we plumped for a change – me on 9 and Gareth on 10. I had a bigger skimmer of 1-15 and two smaller ones and 6 roach but no tench although it was fizzing with bubbles, while Gareth managed a skimmer of 2-0 and tench of 4-6 plus his customary roach and rudd. Perhaps the bream are at last beginning to show!

Next day we were back on the usual pegs for a disappointing session- 4 skimmers and 12 roach for me on 12 with Gareth getting a solitary tench of 3-0 along with a few nice roach

.That day we had received an e-mail from the estate manager reminding members that the Stock Pool and Pondtail Pool were weed free and available (I think he had been receiving a lot of complaints over the heavy weed!). We decided to give the usual side a rest and try the Stock Pool- a place I had never fished, nor realised was available! It is a long walk – 1340 paces (sad that I counted, I know)- but we set off for our customary 3 hour evening session. There are only 2 pegs so I sat on the closest (peg 1) and Gareth took the far one (peg 2).I was unsure what was in the lake and had debated whether to scale down but Gareth said to stick the same and see what happens. I began by putting in two balls of groundbait and a pot of chopped worm with micros. It was a slow start with a couple of roach before I hooked a fish which turned out to be a carp which promptly snagged be on a post I had not noticed. On closer inspection there was a line of submerged rotting posts in the water at 5m, I was fishing at 11.5m so I now had to think about how to play the fish in future.Fishing worm on the hook it was apparent that it was a sit and wait job, but eventually I had carp of 3-12, 3-12, 7-6, 4-11, 3-0, 5-2, 5-4 which with my two roach gave me a 33-0 total.Gareth had 11 carp (biggest 5-14) but mostly of a smaller stamp to weigh in 33-13 plus about 10 roach.

The next day saw us back on the same pegs, this time I had carp of 3-12, 5-4, 4-12, 4-8, 5-8 and 0-4! plus roach for a 24-12 total, Gareth had a lot of pasty carp plus ones of 2-4, 1-0, 2-3, 5-0, and 3-15. It was appearing that the bigger fish were on peg 1. Gareth final chance to go to Bowood arrived and back to the Stock Pool for a short  afternoon session. This time he was on peg 1 and I went on peg2. Fishing shorter this time -8m, I encountered the same as Garth with lots of small hand sized carp but I did manage to get out ones of 3-10, 6-1 plus a crucian of 2-2 for a 14-0 total Gareth ended with 18-11 with 5 carp, 0-8,3-12, 5-12, 3-11 and 5-0.

Having safely seen Gareth back off to China it was the end of the week before I ventured back to peg 1 on the Stock Pool. Walking down I felt I was making a mistake as we had had the first rain of the summer and there looked to be a tinge in the water and I fancied that the bream may show on the usual pegs, but I continued. After a slowish start I had  some of the smaller carp of 2-3,,2-2, 4-14, 1-12 and a fish of 2-15 that looked like a crucian on unhooking it but I remain unsure- no sign of barbules on unhooking, lateral line count was okay but it just didn’t look right, may have been an odd brown goldfish or F1, although I didn’t think there were any in Bowood.25 roach and 9 pasties gave me a 17-12 total

Two days later I was back on peg 12 in the morning with a nice colour on the water I was hopeful of a good day. Beginning with 3 balls of groundbait and a pot of micros with a few grains of corn I had some small roach before a skimmer of half pound appeared. Next cast I had a roach of 3 oz that was almost ripped in two as a pike made a water erupting dive for it. Further small roach came but the next time I hooked one of about 3ozs the pike took it. Now pike are not everyone’s cup of tea and they are a pain in matches when they don’t count but I quite enjoy the fight on the pole when pleasure fishing. After about 5 minutes I managed to fit a pike of 7-8 into my landing net!

I then decided to introduce some worm into the swim, this resulted in tench moving in with 5 finishing in my net – 3-3,4-8, 4-10,4-10,4-2. Together with my roach and pike that gave a 30-1 total.

Two days later I was back on 12 again with the water now coloured so the bottom was no longer visible. Starting the same way I had a small roach first put in then a bigger roach taken by a pike which eventually succumbed to the net at 7-4. Skimmers of 1-12, 1-8 and 4 others under a pound followed plus a tench of 4-8 for a 19-0 total. The bream are beginning to move in so I hope September will be good.

Finally the last match in the Summer League arrived. Back to Clanfield with a weather forecast of wind and heavy rain! The one good thing is that you can drive and park directly behind your peg. The team were mid table, too far off the top to affect the leaders and well away from the bottom, but our other side was in third only a couple of points adrift. As I got to my peg, B6, permanent peg 41 the rain started and got worse and worse during the match with only a couple of short respites when it lowered in intensity. The peg was deep- about 12 feet at 9m sloped up away and towards me, so the only flat area I could find was at 9m so that was to be my attack line with 6 balls of groundbait laced with a handful of caster cupped in on the whistle. I was using a homemade wire stemmed 4g float with an olivette set 18 inch from the hook with 2 no 8 droppers. I also set up a feeder and waggler plus another top kit for fishing along the inside slope at 5m. I had decided to make this my hemp line, feeding a few grains every put in with wheat every 3rd put in – this was tried but no bites on tares or elderberry, a bush was at the peg and overhanging the water up stream of me.

To cut a miserable story short, I had 14 roach, 10 perch, 21 gudgeon, 3 dace and a little skimmer for 3-4 and second in section.Everything was soaked including me as I discovered that I needed to reproof my Goretex (as you may recall, I don’t fish with a brolly!). I was literally dripping wet and every layer of my clothing was wringing wet. I had to put an old towel on the drivers seat on the way home and as I write this my wallet is in the airing cupboard drying out. No- I didn’t go back for the results and end of league barbecue. I reckon I have about 4 days of drying out to do on my kit, but that’s fishing for you!

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.