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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pike I hope will be a feature next time!

A Meadowlands carp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October is here and Bowood awaits with its pike!

First day of September and I trundled off to peg 7 at Bowood, fishing 9:15 to 12:15. My rationale was as the weather was looking as if it may turn then the fish would start moving into the deeper water. Beginning in my usual way with a 1g Paster float with the bulked shot six inches from a 14 hook to counteract any subsurface weed I started off on corn over the top of three balls of groundbait with a liberal helping of wheat, hemp and micros plus a few grains of corn. It took about twenty minutes for the first indications to appear and a lift of the float signaled a bream of 2-03 coming to the net. Sport was not frantic but was consistent with the odd rudd interspersed amongst a further five bream and a tench of 4lb, plus a further tench lost in the weed. The session ended with a total of 19-14, the 0-14 being made up of 10 rudd however for some reason the photo taken on the phone did not save for some reason! So at home I managed to get a shot of the card I use to record the fish.

It wasn’t until the 6th that I returned to Bowood, unloading the car at the gate half way up what my wife has termed Satan’s Slope I find there is now a lock on the gate. Faced with unpacking the trolley, trying to get things over the fence and then walking down to the lake didn’t appeal as I would have to repeat the process on my way back after the long trudge up the steeply sloping field. (the large tree you see in the centre of the pic is roughly halfway in the first field, from that point it slopes down sharply to the level of the lake)

I decided that discretion was the better part of valour as I knew physically it would take too much out of me as lifting still causes me issues. Faced with returning home or rolling the tackle down Satan’s Slope and fishing the Pondtail – I decided that was manageable.

Having finally set up on peg 1 I was fishing pole out at 10m directly in front but also found the same depth of about 6 feet at an angle to my right alongside some lilies. My rig was a home made Chianti style float taking 0.5g made up of a small bulk just below half depth then 3 droppers to a size 16 on a 0.12mm hook length. I began on double maggot at 9am but after a slowish start I swapped to corn which proved as slow but a better stamp of fish. The line directly in front was not floating my boat, so to speak, and as I had primed the right hand swim with a couple of balls of groundbait and loose fed wheat I went over there with corn and got an immediate response. I occasionally tried maggot but apart from losing a 1lb+ perch at the net the fish tended to be smaller. By the time I packed up at 12 I had managed 32 roach and a small perch , all bar 8 on corn for 5-12. I phoned the estate office on my return to query the lock and after explaining my situation they agreed to not lock the gate as the access point they suggested was a kissing gate that you can not get through with tackle!

It wasn’t until the 15th that I could get out again following a short break to Yorkshire. After a couple of cooler nights I headed for peg 10 for the first time this season through a now unlocked gate!Fishing 9:45 to 12:30 I opted for a 1g Paster in the 9ft of water. Three balls with wheat, hemp and a few grains of corn were introduced, double maggot on the hook and then nothing! Now this led me to hope that bigger fish were already in situ, so on went the corn and after ten minutes I got a rudd! In what turned out to be a disappointing session I had 14 rudd, 7 small skimmers and 3 roach for 2-04. On reflection I think the larger fish are still down in the shallows and I would have been better fishing a peg in the 4-7 area. Still you live and learn!

End of the month sees me at Monkhall at Bridgenorth for a 3 day MFS festival.

Well after my dismal performances at the Glebe it was a case of seeing Gareth and the clan back to China, a visit to a car boot to get rid of some things and finally on the Tuesday a visit to Bowood. When I was away Gareth had gone to Bowood and reported seeing bream moving in peg 4 plus some VERY large carp 20-30lbs, so it was to peg 4 that I headed armed with some micro-pellets to try and tempt any better fish to stay and root around.

I plumbed up at 10m and found a clear patch between the submerged weed where I deposited 3 balls of a groundbait mix comprising of crushed expander, vanilla biscuit, cocoa belgique and Gooster 4X4, along with the equivalent of a 250ml cup of mixed micros, wheat hemp and a large pinch of corn. Starting at 9:15 I fished through to 12:30 using a 1g Paster float with the shot bulked six inches from a size 14 hook.

As usual I put on double maggot and got a rudd first put in, then changed to a single grain of corn, loose feeding a pinch of hemp or wheat or micros every few minutes. T 9:30 the float lifted and a firm strike saw me connect with a bream of 2-06, I have got into the habit of weighing each fish in the landing net before placing in the keepnet and recording the weight either on paper or my phone. The next three hours shot by with seven further bream up to 3-04 a solitary tench of 3-06 and a further fourteen rudd and one roach (the silvers weighed 2-12) for a 28-15 total. No sign of carp! Before leaving I threw in what I had left of the wheat in the hope of keeping the fish in the area.

Next day I returned to peg 4 and fished 9:00 to 12:05 using the same tactics, this time accruing eleven bream to 3-14 for 33-12, a pike of 3-04 taken on the spinning rod after several instances of pike strikes in the four feet swim, plus 25 rudd, 3 roach and a small skimmer for 3-08 giving a 40-08 total. Was I pleased – you bet I was!

Sunday 27th sees me travel up to just outside Eccleshall in Staffordshire to fish Bromley Mill in a match organised by Les Hobson who I share a caravan with at the MFS Woodland View match. Les unfortunately could not attend due to ill health but I sorted out draw cards and weigh sheets for the match. Now you may remember from previous ramblings that this is the place that you have to sit in the water and the carp can come and swim around you, ignoring all baits! Well the day did not start well as when I opened my bag to get my waders on I found my right heel had developed a two inch hole where the seam had some apart. Every time I had to go into the water and get back on my seat the first job was to raise my leg to the horizontal and let the water drain out! You just could not make it up!

The match fared little better with two carp taken in the first hour on the bomb, then a lost carp and three bream at 11m while the shallows were ultra frustrating with at one point 15 carp around by float feeding on anything but my bait! I managed to get a further seven carp but lost 8! With three roach my silvers came to 6-13 the carp 49-03 for a 56lb total and rock bottom once again. One day I will get the hang of this carp thing!

My last visit of the month was back to peg 4 for a session from 8:45 to 12:00 using the same tackle and tactics. Not as prolific as previous visit but three bream of 2-13, 3-04 and 2-07 came to the net before I lost a good fish close in in the weed. I then lost a pike of 5-6lb as it cleared the water by a good two feet as it made a run to my right. A lull then occurred but a tench of 4-05 was a welcome addition and together with six rudd and two roach, all on corn, gave me a total of 13-10 which I was happy with. Interestingly when I tried the spinning rod there was no interest from the pike despite constant strikes at the rudd.

Next month sees a visit up North plus the three dayer at Monkhall.

First of August sees me have a session between 9:45 and 12:15 on the Pondtail peg 1 fishing my usual Chinese 4.5m whip.Feeding a pinch of wheat every cast after an initial ball of groundbait I was soon amassing fish on a regular basis in the 5+ft of water on double maggot, ending the session with a satisfying 9-00 made up of 65 roach and 9 perch.

That was my lot until the following Monday when Gareth joined me for the long trudge up to the Stockpond for a shortish session of 3-5:30. We both fished peg 1 (the big fish peg), me on the waggler with wheat and Gareth on the method trying for a carp. He did indeed hook a carp down in the corner amongst the old staging but the carp managed to secrete the hook in a weedbed after a short fight/ I managed 2-13 of roach (about 30 as I lost count), although I did let Gareth have a go to avoid a blank.

Friday I tried peg 7 on the main lake but left frustrated after 13 rudd, 1 skimmer and 2 roach for 2-04 due to pike moving in and killing the swim. Indeed I did lose a big fish in the weed after a few minutes of the fight, I am still unsure what it was as at various points in the fight I was thinking a large bream, then a pike then a tench – I’ll never know!

Monday sees me up at the Glebe fishery at Peckleton for Herbie’s Invitational Pairs over 2 days which I had been delegated to run! We had conducted a draw for partners during the week on line with the essence of the pairs being the Pros (Open anglers) were teamed up with a Numpty (Club angler) to form the pair, but all the Pros would be on Lakes 5,6 and 7 and the Numpties on Lake 1 on the first day and then swap on the second, so Pros were al;ways fishing against each other as were the Numpties.

So draw done and I end up in Section A peg 7 with Chilli (Andy Winters on peg 8) both margins were plumbed as was a 2+2 line and the 13m line. Bomb and pellet was tried after a couple of casts on the feeder showed no activity and after 30 minutes the rod was back on the rest and I was out at 13m. To cut a long painful story short the margins did not produce for me in the last 2 hours of the 6 hour match although Andy had a great period with putting carp after carp in the net and overtaking me by a large margin. I ended up with 68-00 made up of 31lb of bream and 37-00 of carp for last bin section.

Day 2 sees me fare no better on Lake 7 peg 102 with me being biteless after 2 hours with the wind blowing left to right straight into Andy’s end peg! All you could hear was splashing as he made the most of it.

Once again I was finding the 2+2 line devoid of fish, both margins produced the odd fish but the right hand one was slightly better. My day was like this hour1 BLANK, hour 2 BLANK, hour 3 one carp and 2 small skimmers, hour 4 no change, hour 5 up to 20lb now, then the margins helped! Corn did the business as pellet or paste was ignored, apart from 2 skimmers for 12oz my 57-04 were carp taken mainly in the margins for another last in section. The only thing that cheered me up was the lake had fished hard and the next weights were 62 and 66lb while the “Pro” the previous day had managed 51lb from the peg when the section had fished better. Doing the results saw my partner also being last in section and us being the strongest team, ie holding everyone else up in last position!

Wednesday and the Maggotdrowners match, one when I could focus wholly on the fishing with no duties. Peg 11 was my draw, a peg that had seen 100lb weights come off it on the previous two days. However, that had been when there was a fairly strong wind and now it was mirror like for most of the day with just the odd ripple very occasionally!

To say I struggled would be an understatement with just one carp and a couple of skimmers in the first two hours of the six hour match, the right margin looked great but produced just one carp and a bream, the left margin produced some action towards the end but I had most of my 15lb of skimmers at 13m with only 4 carp for 19lb from the margins, I also lost 3 carp that I felt were foul hooked by the way they fought. My 34-00 left me last in section again, meaning my 3 days were abysmal from a competitive point of view but I was fishing and it left me more determined to crack the vagaries of the Glebe in future. I managed to get home at a reasonable time to find that Gareth had gone for one last hurrah on the Marden before setting off for Heathrow on the Thursday to return to China! He also struggled with a solitary rudd on the last cast!

My next match is a 3 day seeded event for Herbie (yes I am running it) at Monk Hall fishery near Bridgenorth. Bowood beckons for the rest of the month.

A bit late with this as Gareth and family have moved out of their flat and back in with us prior to returning to China mid August. Anyway on to the fishing- Monday 17th sees me at Bowood peg 5 for a morning session. I tackled up in my usual way with 0.16mm rig to a 14 and corn under a homemade slim rugby ball float taking approx 0.5g all bulked at 6inches from the hook. Groundbait with a bit of added ground expander was introduced at 10m along with some wheat and a few kernals of corn. A small skimmer was first to be attracted followed by a few rudd and then a lull in proceedings, indicating either a pike was present or larger fish had moved in, the answer came as the float wobbled and lifted – a strike led to a bream of 4-02 gracing the net. The session past quickly with the final total of 15-12 comprising of further bream of 1-12, 2-06, 2-08 and 2-12 plus two roach, five rudd, 3 skimmers and a blade.

Wednesday sees me back at peg 5 fishing 9:20 to 12:05. Fishing a similar way to the Monday I found the weed had sprouted rapidly and it was difficult to get the bait down to the bottom without lifting it of the fronds of weed holding the weights up – another reason why fishing a bulk shot makes sense in weed!I started slowly and managed two bream of 3-00 and 3-10 by 11:55 interspersed with 9 roach, 3 rudd and a blade. As the clock struck 12 the float lifted and a bream of 3-12 came to the net, I had another put in, just in case, but then packed away with the total ending on 12-08. It seems to be a feature of Bowood that at 12 noon you are likely to get a bite from a decent fish whether in the summer or winter, although it is more likely to be a pike in the colder months! Why this should be? (answers on a postcard please …)

Friday morning I returned to the main lake and raked pegs 1-7 although I left out 2. Knackered I returned to the car and got the whip out and fished peg 1 on the Pondtail for 40 minutes for 278roach and a perch for 2-05. That evening I returned to the main lake (Peg 6)with Gareth hopeful of some action from the newly raked swims. How wrong could I be, in the two hours from 6-8pm I had 10 rudd for 1-08 while Gareth on peg 5 had snuck in a spinning rod and managed a jack second cast of 2-08 along with some rudd.

Due to visits to Yorkshire and other constraints such as helping Gareth to vacant the flat I had only two further outings. The first was to the Pondtail fishing 3:30 to 4:50 on peg1 saw 20 roach and 2 perch be netted for 2-04 on the 4.5m Chinese whip which in itself is a fun way of fishing and de-stressing!The second was a session 3:10 to 5:00 on the main lake at peg 5. Once again no bream just 20 rudd for 2-05 all on corn while Gareth had 12 better rudd for 2-00 and yet again managed to sneak out a jack of 2-08 on the spinning rod!

August sees a three day visit to the Glebe with a MFS Pairs followed by a Maggotdrowners event.

Well the sneaky last visit of June was 6:20 to 8:30pm fishing peg 3 at Bowood with Gareth on 4. It was hard!Fishing corn and feeding groundbait with wheat and corn at the start, thereafter loose feeding wheat I managed a solitary bream of 2-12, a skimmer and a roach for 3-04, Gareth managed to get a tench of 3-04 plus some rudd as well as losing a second tench.

The first proper July visit was on the Wednesday to the Glebe outside Hinckley for a Maggotdrowners match. I was draw on peg 24 and set up a feeder, a pole rig for 11m, one for 5m and one for the margins.I spent too long on the feeder for two carp of around 2-3lb a piece and a couple of skimmers. The day fished oddly with a real lack of activity for long periods in the first half before some more spasmodic action in the second half of the match. The 5m line and the margins did not produce a single fish bar a foul hooked roach which was very odd. All my fish came at 11m to corn with 6mm pellet fired out and the action was a bit like carp, carp, nothing, bream, carp… I ended up with a level 64lb with 17-04 of that made up with silvers. This put me 4th in the 7 peg section beaten by the pegs at the ends but they were paying 4 places so I had a small windfall. Looking at the results after it became apparent that I had drawn down the wrong end of the lake as the bottom 5 weights in the match were from our section!

Friday sees me dragged off to Bowood in the evening by Gareth, this time I took the weed rake as peg 4 was pretty much solid with weed so raked it first while Gareth went on peg 5. Fishing 6:25 to 8:10 there was little sign of activity anywhere on the lake, no pike striking, no fish topping or bubbling anywhere! To say it was hard was an understatement and I finished with 4 rudd on wheat or corn for 0-06while Gareth had a few more on maggot for just over a pound.

Tuesday sees me make the trip to peg 1 at Bowood, fishing 9:30 to 12:30. First put in to the stalk sticking up at 11m to the left of the swim sees the float glide under and a bream of 2-06 come to the net. I was using a light chianti style homemade float with the 0.3g bulked about six inches from the 14 hook. Five minutes later another bite on the corn sees me lose a bream in the swim – this slowed it a bit until I had another of 2-10. That was it from the left had swim, the bites dried up, possibly due to me losing and catching fish but also due to pike strikes that were taking place in the area. Moving to my other previously fed swim directly in front it was about ten minutes before the float shimmied and lifted , a strike saw a bream of 4-08 come meekly to the net – how often does that happen, the larger bream put up less fight than their smaller brethren! Three further bream came to the net at 3-02, 3-04 and 3-00, there was a large gap between the last two bream as I had a pike take a 3oz roach and played it for about five minutes before it let go of the roach! A second pike strike later bit me off, so apart from the bream I had 1 small skimmer, 2 roach and 5 rudd for a combined total of 20-02.

Next evening Gareth and I went for a session on the Pondtail, he wanted to put a pellet out for the bream/carp while fishing the 4m whip so he went on peg 2 and I settled on peg1 just fishing the Chinese whip Chinese style! I put in three handfuls of soft groundbait with a small handful of wheat over the top, thereafter loose fed 5-6 grains of wheat every put in. It took a few minutes but soon I was getting bites from the roach and after having the fifth 3oz+ roach drop of while swinging in I changed by hook from the barbless 16 to what is best described as a micro – micro barbed hook that is not available in this country but I have a stock of them left over from previous dalliances!I use the term micro-micro barbed as you cannot see any barb but the hook retains maggots and fish but unhooks fish as easy as a barbless hook! There are no rules regarding hooks at Bowood so tend to use them here. Anyway we fished from 7-8:30pm and in that time I had 51 roach for 6-07 Gareth fished caster and had 15 roach of a better stamp for over 3lb.

No matches this month so more Bowood trips to come.

This last 17 days since the last part of the blog was published has been a busy one!. Starting not at Bowood but a session at Blacklands on peg 3 at Heron from 9:15 to 12:30.

Priming the swim at 10 with worm and 2 o’clock with micros I started on the worm with a 1g Paster in the 7ft of water.The roach were obliging as were the better skimmers and by swapping between the lines I ended up with 22 roach, 10 bream/larger skimmers, a rudd, a small skimmer, a perch and a tench for about 20-23lb.

June 16th arrives and I head to Bowood with a hop and a skip (I wish!) fishing 9-12 in very hot conditions on peg 1 I had a frustrating time with the weed in the 20 inches of water with bream of 1-06 and 2-08, 4 skimmers and 5 rudd for 5-03 despite seeing better fish moving through the area .

That evening I was joined by younger son Gareth and we headed back to Bowood as he had decided it would just about be worth joining for his remaining time in the UK and a prospective visit in February. Anyway we settled on peg 3 for me and he went on peg 4 fishing 6:45 to 9pm. Feeding two balls of groundbait and loose feeding wheat in the 3-4ft of water I decided to do the opposite of my usual heavy float approach for weed and set up a homemade float taking just 2 number 8 shot that were bulked 5 inches from the size 14 hook. It seemed to work as after 20 minutes the float wobbled and lifted which resulted in a tench of 4-08, this was the start of a better session with two further tench of 4-08 and 3-08 plus bream of 2-08, 2-08 and 5-00 for a 22-08 total. Gareth had 2 bream and 3 tench including one of 6lb.

Saturday was a non-fishing day with my wife’s birthday taking precedent. Sunday evening saw us back on the same pegs fishing this time from 6pm to 8:50. Fishing exactly the same way except this time we had to endure heavy rain for about an hour saw me accumulate bream of 2-15, 1-06 and 1-02 plus tench of 4-08 and 4-08 plus 2 rudd for a 14-12 total Gareth had a more torrid time losing several tench in the thick weed but did manage to sneak one out plus rudd.

Tuesday sees me back at peg 3 fishing 9:30 to 12:30.Fishing as before with a dozen grains of wheat being loose fed every couple of minutes I was kept busy with five bream of 3-00,3-00,3-02,2-12 and 2-08 plus I lost 5 through hook pulls in the weed. These were joined by a tench of 5-06 and another of 3-08 that was foul hooked in the tail and stirred up the swim to such an extent that I only had 3 rudd and a roach after it for a 24-02 total.

Friday sees me travel up to Makins Fishery near Nuneaton for the Pellet Guys Pairs. I had been drawn with a regular at Makins Ian Ward and on the first day I was drawn on peg 23 on the Snake. The name is a bit deceptive as it is not a snake lake but does have an island that peg 23 is right by, in fact I could touch the island with 6m of pole!

I was faced with trying tight to the island, the “track” at 3m or the margins. In the end the margins were the only productive areas but after 3 hours I had a roach and a small skimmer.The margins were showing lots of activity, firstly on the right where there were two major snags- the tree roots and a shrub that was growing unseen below the water. The left hand margin was towards the end full of fish but drop a bait in and they vanished. A very frustrating match saw me lose 9 carp, five were foul hooked and two of the others snagged me in the right margin, I did manage to get a few carp out for 19-11 and last place in the section. My partner fared no better either so it was on to the last day with only pride to fish for.

Day 2 sees me on Lizard peg 36.

Open water today but a lovely looking right margin and a left margin with a ;large swathe of tree roots visible under the water. I set up a rig for 11m, 5m and the margins plus a mugging rig.I began at 5m but soon went out to 11m over the two balls of groundbait and pot of pellets and corn I had deposited at the start. It was not a brilliant start but a couple of skimmers and a carp that I managed to mug with my normal rig helped. I plodded away and although the right hand margin looked great it produced one roach! I managed to put together another mugged carp on my margin rig and three further ones from the left margin but lost 2 in the snags and one hook pull. Three small carp came to the meat at 5m and I ended up with 37-11, not last but definitely down the wrong end of the lake!

Monday sees me back on peg 3 at Bowood – I know it sounds boring fishing the same peg but I prefer to make hay while the sun shines so to speak!Fishing 9:40 to 12:40 I managed bream of 3-04,3-00, 3-00 and 1-06 plus tench of 3-00 and 3-13 plus a small skimmer for a 17-00 total.

Another member had come down and asked me about peg 1, I told him that if there was any colour in the water it was worth fishing but was very shallow. On leaving I saw him fishing on the peg and he had been getting a few bream which set me thinking as usually the bream would have moved further up by now.

Friday I am back and on peg 1, not as coloured as I would like but enough colour to show there were still fish about and if that was not proof enough the black shadows confirmed their presence. I fished 9:40 to 1:10 setting up the usual way and feeding wheat in two areas- one to the left and one directly in front both the same distance out and apart from 2 roach and 2 rudd had a brilliant session with 17 bream up to 4-06 for 51lb all taken on corn. Peg one is a long way off the main bank and rather than carry the fish for a photo took a quick snap and got them back in.

I am off for one last evening session shortly with Gareth to finish off June.

A short part one for June as only two short visits made and Bowood looms on the 16th! The first visit was to Clivey Fishery down at Dilton Marsh as I needed to see Chris Haines who runs the lake and associated tackle shop. Anyway I went light with just the whips and some maggot plus a few expanders. I picked a peg at the far left hand corner from the entrance, away from all the other anglers.

I kept it simple with a 4.5m Chinese whip and a 1g “orange” float with 0.10mm hook length to a 16 and double maggot. I introduced two small golf balls of groundbait and loose fed after that with the maggots. Things were slow to start and it was clear that the carp were getting into the spawning mood with various “thrashings” taking place around the margins.First bite was a skimmer of about 4oz after about half an hour, I then managed to miss the next three bites before several more skimmers , a solitary roach and a carp of about 2lb were landed in the following hour and a bit, I also pulled out of a good fish that did not steam off but merely plodded around, probably not realising it was hooked! I packed up on the two hour mark as I needed to make my way home, satisfied with the 4-5lb of fish after the slow start.

My only other excursion was another short session between 10 and 12 at Burbrook lake- an old Victorian bathing pool run now by Chippenham AC which I was able to access on an exchange ticket. Again I set up with a 4.5m whip in the 7+ft of water but this time with a 1.5g Paster float to 0.10mm hook length and a new style 16 hook I was trying – the eye was set towards the gape of the hook rather than straight or off set. The day was very hot and there was a huge “ball” of roach around the 1-2oz size, numbering several hundred moving around slowly just below the surface, I was amazed also by the number of chub swimming about on top- not big at probably 12oz to 1.5lb size but more than I could count!

Despite the temptation to fish up in the water I set up to fish a n inch or so over depth with the bulk set about two and a half feet away from the hook and 3 no8 droppers below it. I introduce a single ball of soft groundbait and then loose fed over the top with maggot. It took about fifteen minutes to get a bite that was a skimmer (the only one of the day), that was followed by a solitary roach and 16 perch by 11:55. I was just thinking of starting to pack up when there was a slight dip of the float, a lift and I was into something better – a bream of around the 3lb mark. Naturally I gave it an extra five minutes – just in case! It was not to be, so another 2hours on the whip had produced another 5lb weight!

My attention now turns to the 16th and Bowood – my intention is to fish the shallows for the first week or so but the lack of rain may make me rethink!