Maddening because I did not get out in May until the 23rd due to family commitments in Yorkshire. However I did manage one trip in at the end of April before departing for northern climes. I visited Horton on the K&A canal for a short 2.5hr session just fishing a 4.5m Chinese whip to a 1.5g Paster float. The time passed quickly and following an initial golf ball of groundbait with a few micros in it and loose feeding a pinch of maggot every few minutes I managed to accumulate a bag of 5-06 made up of 4 skimmers, 6 roach,3 gudgeon, 1 rudd, 5 perch and 3 larger skimmers/bream the best weighing 1-15. Good fun on the whip.

Moving swiftly on to the 23rd, I was due to fish a two dayer at Witherington Farm, just outside Salisbury, on the Saturday and Sunday so headed down there for a bit of a practice as I had not been there since the same match last year.Selwood and Barnmoor were closed due to the carp spawning so I ended up on Cottage peg 13, with the lake busy with several anglers fishing 2 rods for carp. I set up a rig for the margins on 0.20mm line to a 12 and a homemade BGT1 style float, and a 10m line with 0.16mm line to a homemade Chianti style float to a 16. Micros were introduced on the 10m line along with 2 balls of fishmeal groundbait and a few grains of sweetcorn, while the margins were given 4mm pellets and some corn. The day started okay with a carp of 4-04 coming to the 10m line within 10minutes but there after it slowed and I found that only micros being introduced would inducer any activity. A carp of 8-12 foul-hooked in the tail provided some heart-pounding action but 4 bream of about 2 to 2.5lb were the only other takers on the 10m line. The margins produced carp of 1-04 and 4-08 plus a further bream, 2 roach/bream hybrids and a golden rudd for a total of about 29-30lb. All the while there had been large crashes and splashes coming from Cottage just behind me.

The top pictures you can see my margin swim, and Cottage.

So to Saturday, Gareth was joining me on the match and on arrival we found the fish on Selwood in full spawning mood while Cottage was calm with signs of feeding fish everywhere (bubbling). I drew peg 2 which is the first picture in the middle row (the rest being of the Inner Snake peg, but more of that later), while Gareth drew peg 13which was near the top left corner of the lake. To cut a long frustrating day short I weighed 12-08, two carp of 1.5lb and 9lb plus 3 skimmers for 2lb, I lost 1 bream and 4 carp, two of which were definitely foul-hooked but I was plagued by liners all day. The fish were in front of me but I could not get them feeding, the rigs were similar to the Tuesday but I did not get anything in the margins. Gareth faired better beating the anglers either side with 25-08.

Back on Sunday and we were on the Inner Snake as Cottage was still in spawning mode. I drew peg 11 which was permanent peg 57. Gareth was just around the bend from me (his peg can be seen above). Again a very frustrating day with a bad cross wind and having to fish 14.5m of pole to the island. I had set up four lines- the 14.5m to the island, one at 10m down the track and the two margins. Rigs were similar to previous as was the feeding although I did start a fifth line directly in front of me at 2+1 range with meat. To cut yet another story short, I lost the first two carp hooked across before getting 3 carp across and a micro rudd, a carp on the meat line, 3 skimmers and two roach on the 10m and nothing from the right margin. I had been getting indications from the left margin that had been loose fed with corn and 4mm pellet and with an hour to go (or so I thought!) put in 5 balls of groundbait with some micros. I left it for 10 minutes before going over it at which point I was told that the match was going to be cut short by 30 minutes! In the remaining 20 minutes I hooked 5 carp and landed 3 of them to end up with 30-08 of carp and 2-00 of silvers for 32-08. Gareth beat me again with 40-08 all at 14.5m with nothing down the margin.

So only three outings in May, June should be better with Bowood starting again on the 16th then a two days Pairs match at Makins outside Nuneaton towards the end of the month.

A glutton for punishment should be the title for this episode but more of that later. Buoyed by the results that Gareth had been getting at Rowde, a section I had never fished, I decided to make my way to bridge 114 which is a very nondescript name for the first lock pound that is beyond the famous Caen flight of locks described by the Canal and River Trust as thus:

“Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane’ by the way), is one of the longest continuous flight of locks in the country – a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over 2 miles with a 1 in 44 gradient for anyone who’s counting!”

Anyway on the Wednesday I parked up and fished 10m from the far end of the pound lock moorings for 2 and a half hours using a 5m whip and a float that many would deem ridiculous for a normal shallow canal at 1.5g (a paster), but as always there is method in my madness! My thinking was that I needed to control the float as there was a heavy tow with boats coming and going through the locks, plus I don’t subscribe to the theory of fishing as light a float as possible!

Now this may be unlike normal canal fishing but Gareth and I have been finding that double maggot has been producing plenty of bites and from a better stamp of fish. Starting off with a little nugget of groundbait and a pinch of maggots I had a busy session with loose feeding keeping the bites coming, ending up with 23 skimmers/blades, 6 rudd, 7 gudgeon, 15 roach and a perch for 4-15.

The next few days were taken up with shopping, collecting Wendy and Zachary from Heathrow and getting the tackle ready for Woodlands View. Traveling up on the morning I almost had a bump when a deer ran straight across me but fortunately managed to avoid it. Once there I got into the swing of getting the monies in and sorting the pegs for the three days with Adrian who runs the fishery. With 21 taking part I had opted to have 3 sections of 5 and one of 6 so as to avoid split sections across lakes. On the first day we were on Hay and Barley and as usual I let everyone draw and had the peg that was left – Hay 12, in the middle of the lake and the start of a 5 peg section.

My preparations had not been thorough enough as when I opened my net bag I found two of my nets and provided a meal for a rodent. With 4 nets required I managed to crumple up the grey net that had huge holes near the top half and put the other net in but planned not to use it for anything other than big carp!

I had targeted 4 swims, one at 11m, a 2+2 line and the margins to left and right. I cupped in some micros and corn at 11m and started on the 2+2 line loose feeding 4mm pellets with 6mm expander on the 16 hook to 0.14mm hook-length. I began well with F1s coming immediately but they backed off and I then went on the 11m line which brought more F1s, basically I could not get the margins working properly and ended up with 4 carp (all around 2lb), 39 F1s, 3 roach, a skimmer, a perch and 2 gudgeon for 52-04 and last in section!

Day 2 sees me on peg 42 on Back Deans, again in the middle of the lake, both my margins were restricted due to the overhanging tree stumps, so at best I had a top kit and half a section to play with.

I had drawn the 6 peg section and to top it all it rained all day. Starting on the short line gave me a couple of F1s then nothing, so out to 11m for a few before trying the margins late on. I had 24F1s, 2 roach and 4 bream plus 4 carp, a 2lber on the 11m line but 3 good fish in the margin on corn. I ended up with 61-12 for 5th in section but one more carp of 6lb would have seen me up to third. I had pulled out of a couple which I don’t think were hooked but got the line caught on a fin.

Final day and we always rotate so those on Back deans would be on Front Deans and vice versa. This time it was fine with sunshine but we had a heavy frost and the temperature was 1C at the draw! I was left with peg 8, another 6 peg section.

Expecting a hard time I planned on the same approach but with chopped worm and casters at 11m, 4mm pellet fed on the 2+2 line and one margin fed with worm the other with micros and corn. Beginning on the short line it was slow as predicted and after a small skimmer and small F1 I went out to the 11m line that I had been feeding a pinch of micros over the worm every couple of minutes. Basically it was a hard and frustrating day ending with 16 F1s and two carp (2lb and 4lb) plus 6 skimmers and 2 roach that went 4lb for a 35-8 total. I was left feeling frustrated as all the fish came from the long line, not a sign of any fish in the margins but others had managed to have a good last hour or so with large carp coming from the margins, this left me last in section, 4lb adrift of the next place. That ended my festival with a rock bottom 21st place, the match finished at 3:30, I was driving off the fishery at 5:05 having done the weigh-in, worked out the results and done all the paying out.

Learning points – check your nets before leaving home!

April has been a very disruptive month so far, on return from Yorkshire we have been hit by a cold bug that has been going around (not Covid) that has been very similar to the sinusitis I get when my hay fever kicks in and has proven difficult to shake off. That together with boiler servicing and radiator replacement has meant that it was not until Tuesday 11th that I was able to get out. Due to the vagaries of the UK visa system Gareth’s wife,Wendy, had to leave the country for her visa to remain valid! So she set off to the US to visit friends along with Zachary, leaving Gareth behind as he would be starting work again before her return. So it was the day after her departure that Gareth, who was on holiday for the week, and I left early and set off for Woodland View near Droitwich as I was due to run a three day festival for MFSReborn at the end of April on the venue.

Arriving shortly after 8am we bought our tickets and pellets (lots as I wanted to have them ready for the first day of the festival so I was not scrambling around) and headed for Back Deans on the advice of Adrian the manager, settling on two adjacent pegs (35 and 36). We both set up a margin rig, one for 2+2 distance and one for the 11m line. I tried different approaches and shotting patterns but ended up with 19 F1s, 7 bream and 1 small carp of 2lb for 33lb-ish. Gareth fished a similar way but managed to find more carp and got his margin working to end up with approx 65lb. We were the only ones there all day, possibly as the projected rain that did arrive put people off!

Thursday saw us set off mid morning to Viaduct in Somerset with the intention of fishing from midday to the late afternoon. Arriving at about 11:30 we were faced with an almost full car park and anglers everywhere. The quietest pool was Lodge with just 4 people on it (2 left after an hour!) so we parked ourselves on 58 and 59. We set up just two rigs – a close in/margin rig and one for 11m. It was slow by any standard and I struggled to get 19 skimmers and two roach for about 7lb whereas Gareth found some carp later on close in and ended up with about 23lb, the biggest carp going 8lb.

Friday sees us at Horton on the K&A canal for a short session using 4m whips. Unfortunately the canal has not yet recovered from the canoe races that take place during April and we struggled despite the area usually being prolific.Gareth managed only two fish, a gudgeon and a perch but missed several bites. I began on a pellet (for the hell of it and I knew there were skimmers there) and had one skimmer of about 6oz and a perch of 12oz on the maggot!

Sunday sees us back on the K&A at the Top Lock at Seend, a short pound that I had not fished before but was hoping for more action as it was not where the canoes had been.Gareth fished the 4m whip and I decided to use a 3m whip, fishing from 10 – 12:30 when the boats started to become more frequent and the canal was like a tidal river on the ebb.

Once again it was a slow start but we began to get a few bites and I ended up with 4 skimmers, 2 gudgeon, a roach and a perch of about 12oz for around 2lb. Gareth had more fish but they were smaller for a similar weight.

Next up is the three day festival at Woodland View that I am charged with running, hopefully I will be able to report some decent sport next time!

The last day of January started with an early morning call that resulted in a six hour journey (thanks to road works and accidents) up to Yorkshire due to a family emergency that led to me staying in Yorkshire for three weeks sorting out various issues with a further visit still to come in March. So when I finally got the opportunity to get on the bank on the 24th of the month I headed to peg 10 at Bowood and fished 9:45 to 12:15. The session started with me getting a sardine out to about 15m on my standard float tackle and starting on the pole at 10m over a single ball of groundbait laced with a little wheat and a pinch of maggots. Bites were not forthcoming until twenty minutes in the sardine attracted a jack of 2-14 which totally mangled the bait to such an extent that I had to pick the pieces out of the mouth before I could see the hook to retrieve it from just inside the bottom jaw!

A little while later the float went again, this time another jack of 3-08 which had not damaged the sardine thankfully as I was beginning to run low of decent ones. The pike line then went quiet and I began to pick up roach and rudd of half ounce size, then that went quiet before the float slid under and a strike met with a familiar unyielding weight – another pike which came leaping out of the water before succumbing to the net at 3-01. One further pike on the sardine of 4-00 between more small roach and rudd left me with 24 roach and 8 rudd for 1-03 and thus a 13-10 total.

On the Sunday Gareth was going to watch the Rugby League match at ours so we arranged to have a morning session at Blacklands. I ended up on peg 17 and Gareth on 16 – either side of the tumbledown jetty/overflow. The session lasted about 2 and a half hours for me (9:45-12:15) by the time I had got all the bait sorted and bits and bobs.Gareth was soon off the mark with roach, skimmers and hybrids up to just over a pound fishing maggot over worm. We had both set up a pellet line directly in front of us at about 8-9m with a worm line towards the end of the jetty, I had a much slower start, in fact it was about half an hour before I managed a bite. A few roach came from the worm line but after an hour I swapped to my pellet line with 4mm expander and found immediate success with roach taken a few inches off bottom. After about 2 hours I switched back to the worm line and had a perch of 1-02 on worm and a hybrid of 1-08 on 6mm expander. So an enjoyable if frustrating session ended with 16 roach for about a pound to pound and a quarter plus the two aforementioned fish.

My third and final session of the month was on the last day, the Tuesday and once again peg 10 at Bowood was to be the venue. I set up as normal and introduced one ball of groundbait laced with a few grains of wheat, some micros and a pinch of maggot at 10m in what was now gin clear water. The pike rod had a sardine on, although it was the last of the “decent” baits as the rest already had deteriorating stomach areas. No bites on the pole but after only ten minutes the sardine was taken but I missed the run. Fortunately the sardine was still okay and was dispatched out again only to be taken again after a further 10 minutes and for me to miss the run again! Twenty further minutes elapsed and it was third time lucky as a jack of 4-09 came to the net. Still no bites on the pole but a further run on the sardine provided a better fish of 7-04. I was now using the less appealing sardines but it seemed to make no odds to the pike as after a wait when I had a bite on the pole which produced a half ounce roach, a further two jacks of 4-05 and 4-04 came to the net. I literally had cast out the sardine and shipped out the pole when I realised the sardine had been taken! A strike met with a solid resistance and after gingerly playing the fish in it rested in my net -17-07. At this point I packed the pike rod up, had a couple of flick ins close with the top two that produced a half ounce rudd and packed up, happy to end the session with the prospect of rain looming.(left is the 7-04, right the 17-07.

Following the match at Pewsey the weather takes a turn as the temperature falls at the start of the week to sub-zero, particularly over night but then becomes ever so slightly milder for the next two days. Friday sees me head for Bowood, my intention on Thursday had been to go on the main lake but I decided on the morning to go to the Pondtail instead and fish the whip. Getting to the bridge area I was met by two shocks- firstly the bridge was closed and a large part of it was missing, secondly there was a swan standing on the ice on the Pondtail – both lakes were frozen!

There was a small area clear but no where near the platform, so it was ice breaker time! I was shocked at how thick the ice was and was only able to clear an area out to 2m after 20minutes.

Using the 3m whip with a couple of sections retracted I was able to fish the five feet of water but without much hope. Loose feeding a couple of pinkies every few minutes saw no action on the usual double maggot approach, nor on single maggot. A change to a 22 hook and double pinkie saw an immediate “skating” bite which resulted in a roach that was duly netted.

Ten minutes later I missed a similar bite then it went quiet, a change to single pinkie produced a bumped fish and another missed bite, so after two hours and my flask being empty I packed up relieved that I had been able to fish and had some action!

No match on the Sunday but Gareth wanted to go to Christian Malford with Zachary for pike , so off we went only to find a string of cars parked up. Investigating we found there was the rearranged Xmas match taking place (which obviously was not listed), so back in the car we decided to go to the Isis water at Sutton Benger and for me to fish with Gareth watching/acting as ghillie! Parking at the far downstream border by the bridge we settled on the bridge peg as the slack there gave the chance of a few fish plus there had been pike action there previously. Casting out a sardine it was within 15 minutes and the float bobbed and started traveling against the flow, a strike was met by a firm resistance and a pike about 8lb flashed clearly a foot or so down before releasing the bait! That was it for the pike and even a try with a leger and maggot produced only one sucked maggot so we went home disappointed!

Next day we were back at Christian Malford fishing 2-4pm trying peg 8 and 11 with no success apart from a one ounce roach on the maggot to prevent a blank. Similarly on Thursday we fished 1:30 to 3:20 with no pike action with Gareth getting a roach and a minnow for me to save the blanks! Friday I went to the Pondtail to find it still frozen but starting to thaw which resulted in a drop in the water temperature and although I could now fish a 3m whip without retracting any sections my sole bite resulted in a tiny perch!

Sunday sees me back at Pewsey for the third leg of the teams of 4. I draw C11 which puts me on the boats section first peg after the wires which is a good draw normally but as with my luck I draw a good peg when conditions are wrong! The peg along with the two pegs to my left are covered in thick ice at least an inch thick while the rest of the section is mainly cat ice or very thin ice that has disappeared before the end of the match whereas our pegs stay iced all the time! It took about 30-40 minutes to break a path for top2 plus 4 to be clear by which time I was knackered!

I only set up two rigs – a Blood with 0.06 to a 24 and a Peatmoor to a 0.06 and 22- intending to fish the edges of the ice and seeing what I could scratch out. To cut a long story short I ended up with 18 roach, 17 perch and a blade for 1-11 with the majority of the perch being similar in size to the Pondtail one, the exception being one of about an ounce that was taken by a pike and after an interesting struggle under the ice the pike let go and I had my perch! I ended up beating 3 others in the section (next weights were 1-12, 1-13 and 2-00) but suffered from blank periods when I am sure the pike was in residence. Hopefully next week for the final match the ice will have gone, although the section at Milkhouse had ice approaching 2 inches thick!

Happy New Year, albeit a bit late! The weather has had a huge impact on my ability to get out but Sunday 8th saw me at Pewsey for the Teams of 4 series fishing for Bankers (Darren Edgell, Nigel Russell and Paul Rice). The weather was predicted to rain all day and it did! I was drawn at Bowdens, peg E2 (no photo due to the rain) and started on the top 2+1 line on punch over liquidised, missing my first bite and not getting any others on the punch, so put a red pinkie on and bites immediately. In fact it was going really well until an idiot in a moored boat tried to set off and managed to stop just before hitting my net and then proceeded to back up and plough straight over my bread line killing it dead! So groundbait down the track and pinkie over the top allowed me to scratch out some more fish including a 6oz perch, no bites on the worm but I did get a couple of small roach on double maggot down the track. The far bank was not productive due to a pike and I finished with 19 roach, 8 perch, 2 gudgeon and a blade for 1-12 and 10th out of 13 in the section. My first choice bread float – the Blood

So on to Tuesday and I had arranged another session with Tim to look at posture when pole fishing but for me to also fish. The session was due to be 10-2 but on the morning Tim messaged to say he was having a bad day health wise and would come along and watch but was not up to fishing. I got to Blacklands by 9:30 and set up on the same peg that Tim had fished in November. The weather was not great with drizzle for much of the day, Tim arrived and set up under a brolly and I talked through what I had set up and then revisited plumbing the swim. Starting with chopped worm next to the overflow having potted in micros directly in front at about 9m I found it hard going with bites few and far between on both lines, by the time Tim decided he need to go at about 12:30 I had only caught 12 roach and a better hybrid but had also lost a good fish to a hook pull. When Tim had gone I fished on until 1:30 and the micro line woke up with a further 20 roach and another hybrid resulting in probably a 3lb+ weight. I did have quite a few missed bites on expander.

So the Sunday saw the second round of the Teams of 4 with me drawing A3 at Milkhouse. The peg was in a gap between two boats but there had been a lot of tree clearing with logs on the bank and debris in the water that I needed to clear.

Starting the same way with a bread line at 2+1 which was surprisingly deep, again only one fish on the bread but immediate response when a pinkie was put on. The fish were very small and after a dozen or so fish it began to slow down and a move into the track with pinkie over groundbait brought a run of similar small fish. I just got my head down and scratched the best I could and seemed to be doing okay until a double canoe literally went right over where I was fishing with 2 hours to go and killed it. The far bank produced only 4 fish in the last 2 hours and despite starting a separate worm line further down the track no bites on the worm again! I weighed in 1-11 with the Matrix angler on my right weighing in 2-03 so that lost 2 hours cost me big time as I finished 12/13 in the section.

What was more galling was on the Friday Gareth had spent an hour on the canal at Devizes fishing the 4m whip while his wife did some shopping and had a 5lb bag of mainly roach!

I think I will be trying to get to Bowood for a session soon as the water levels seem to be dropping after the rains, fingers crossed!

As I write this with one further day of 2022 to go I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms – not been to Bowood for over a month and amount of times out on the bank has been severely curtailed by family matters and illness. Anyway to cut a long story short I have managed to get on the bank with Gareth for a couple of hours at Christian Malford on peg 8 of the Calne stretch of the Bristol Avon where we took two rods, a bomb rod and a pike rod with the idea of alternating as we caught/didn’t catch!

As you can see, the ground is frozen solid with a heavy frost and the air temperature was just above freezing! The pike rod was put down the side of the big slack next to weed beds while the bomb rod was also put down the slack with double maggot. Ten minutes in and there were a few bobs on the pike rod followed by it heading out from the slack- a strike brought nothing! Back out and another 20 minutes before it bobbed again and disappeared, this time a strike resulted in a feisty fight from a 4-06 jack.

No further action on the pike rod and after various minnows from the slack a few casts out into the flow with a small maggot feeder produced a few bites including a small dace of an ounce or so. After two hours and coffee finished we headed home relieved that at least we had caught.

A few days later I had a couple of hours to myself and decided to investigate the upper reaches of the Marden in Calne as Gareth had taken Zachary there and had lost a good fish, possibly a large roach. Although I have lived in Calne for a good few years and fished the Marden lower down, the stretch below the town was just a typical brook (or so I thought!). I eventually found the swim Gareth had fished and armed with a bomb rod set to with double maggot – to no avail.

I gave it half an hour and then moved further down stream, finding only one more fishable spot, that again produced nado!

Backtracking I crossed over to the other bank and discovered that the river opened out into clear swims further down that I will investigate further at some point. The one swim I did try again bore no fruit!

Christmas came and went and the only other expedition I made was to accompany Gareth and Zachary to the Kennet and Avon canal at Great Bedwyn’s Church stretch for pike. Fishing a single rod, with a brolly set up to keep the rain and chill wind off Zachary, my role was that of ghillie/fish spotter, alas there was not a single fish that topped and the pike float stubbornly remained visible despite Gareth trying various positions. Still Zachary enjoyed the two hour or so experience and was happy to see six GWR trains go by.

2023 beckons and the Teams of Four series on the K&A at Pewsey starts on the 8th which will be an interesting if difficult event. Here’s hoping for a healthy New Year to you all.

It was not until Wednesday 16th that I ventured out due to the rain that had been falling, even so I only fished from 9:45 until 12:50 as the rain returned from 11-12 and then again at 1 on my way back to the car from peg 10. Ah yes, I am getting ahead of myself!I began in my normal way with three balls of groundbait cupped in, one soft and two hard with one hard ball dropped from a foot or so to give a plop and ring the dinner bell so to speak. Anyway it was quite slow but I managed 9 rudd, 7 roach, 3 small skimmers/blades and another gudgeon! These totaled 1-04 but I did also get a feisty pike of 10-04 after about an hour.

Now that is the last of my fishing this month as I was on call to collect my son, his wife and my grandson from Heathrow if they could exit China with the various Covid lockdowns and restrictions. They were collected on the 21st late on and are now in the throes of finding somewhere to live so I am on taxi duty!

That Friday (25th) I had arranged to meet Tim, a fellow Maggotdrowner, at Blacklands for a coaching session on the pole. He had been gifted an old pole and although a competent rod and reel angler had admitted he had no clue with the pole. I set him up on Heron lake by the overflow and went through the basics.

The first two hours were as expected more difficult for Tim as he got to grips with the pole but the second two hours saw him hit and land most of his bites but did lose what looked to be a very nice net roach. At the end I had a few minutes on Tim’s box so he could see me put into practice what he had been doing (when coaching I never fish as I feel I need to constantly watch and amend the learner’s actions).

One of the first things Gareth had done was to sort out his rod license and buy a Calne AA permit. On the Sunday I took him and grandson Zachary to the River Marden at Hazeland for a short session in the top field, again I was not fishing as I had not got a Calne ticket. The river was pushing through and very coloured. Starting on a bomb Gareth tried various areas before I suggested he tried at his feet where there was a small eddy albeit very snaggy. First put in he had a bite that was missed but resulted in a sucked maggot then he managed to get a roach, at which point 4 year old Zachary wanted to get in on the action, he missed a couple of bites and then had a gudgeon. It was at this point I set up a 3m whip that he could use and drop into the eddy at his feet. Several minnows came to the net as well as a good few missed bites and snags. After about and hour or so we made our way home.

The final fishing related visit was taking Gareth, alone, back to Hazeland to fish the weir. Fishing the bomb again we were pleasantly surprised by the number of bites despite the ferocity of the water coming over the weir. A perch of 1lb 8oz and a roach of 13oz were added to the net along with other smaller samples in the hour and a half we were there.

So next I must go fishing myself!

November arrives and on the first day I keep to my word and head up to peg 14 in the top field, the furthest peg on the right bank. Now the walk up here is not the easiest as when you get into the top field you have to navigate a steep slope with no flat area plus the ground is invariably sodden so a trolley is impracticable so I went forth with my Chinese rod bag holding the pike rod, a feeder and a waggler plus various bank sticks/handles, the pike handle was carried separately together with the keepnet bag and bait bucket. My haversack/seat held the rest of my bits and pieces.

The day was very windy with showers and I managed to fish from 9:15 to 12:15 before setting off for home. I decided to stick to the feeder as I wanted to get some casting practice in but still put the pike rod out, trying the margins and further out to no avail!

The open-end feeder was dispatched to the clip at 43 turns with a 24 inch 0.10mm hook-length to an 18 with double maggot, the feeder loaded with micros, and wheat in a mix of roach and fishmeal groundbait. I had six casts to put some bait down after an initial 5 minutes to ensure there was not a shoal of bream already in residence! It took 15 minutes before I had the first bite (this was the third proper cast) from a small roach and that was how the day went with missed bites and 10 roach, 6 small 2oz skimmers/blades and 3 rudd for 1-08.

Back to peg 10 on the Friday I began a bit later at 9:30 fishing through to 12:30. The water still had a fair bit of colour so I was not too hopeful of pike but put a sardine out to 20m while fishing the pole at 10m over 3 balls of groundbait. The going was slow with just a couple of small blades at first which I hoped meant there were some bigger fish around. The pole line went dead after an hour, not that it had been lively before that, but I took it as a sign that there may be a pike in the area so wound the sardine in to about 11m, just off my fishing area. Ten minutes later the pike float disappeared and a strike resulted in the first pike of the season coming to the net, albeit only 5-12 but a pike nonetheless! The pole line then started slowly to offer more activity and another “dead” spell about 11:45 saw another pike run from the same area, this time a bigger fish of 7-06, so in the space of a bit over an hour I had got my piking season off to a start! I ended up with two roach, six rudd, nine blades and a rare gudgeon amassing 1-04.

I took a photo of some “blades” as sidestreambob had not heard of the term before and as such it made me realise that it may need explaining, but a picture will help. Blades refer not to Sheffield United but small skimmer bream usually under 2oz as when they are swung in the silver sides glint like razor blades!

The following Tuesday I was back at peg 10 fishing 9:10 to 12:00 although the weather was bad with heavy rain with very few gaps. Fishing in my usual manner it was slow going with small blades the main source of activity until it went dead about 11o’clock and then the float slid under and a strike was met with an immovable object that resembled being caught on the bottom but I immediately knew this was a pike as that is the scenario when you hook them on the pole – just a solid weight until they realise they are hooked! Five minutes later I had it close in and had to reach for the pike net as it looked a double figure fish, then it dived into the marginal reeds on my left and managed to snap the 0.10mm hooklength!

Restarting a few more small fish came before another quiet spell at 11:50 signaled potentially another interloper. This time the pike rod saw the action and a little before 11:55 a pike of 10-10 was in the net! It was at this point I decided to pack up as there was a lull in the rain. My 9 blades,7 roach and 1 rudd dragged the scales down to a magnificent 0-14!

Next day I was back at peg 10 still with wind and rain but fished 9:45 to 1:00. I put the pike rod out to 11m to start and set the pole up. I had just put the first ball of groundbait in the cup when there was a run on the pike rod, a strike was met with a disappointing fight from a fish of 6-13, from there on at roughly 45 minute intervals there was pike action resulting in a very feisty 4-02 and a welcome 9-10.

In between I had nine roach, four rudd four blades and two surprise gudgeon for 0-15 but last fish of the day was another pike on the pole, this time one of exactly 6lb which gave me a very pleasant total of 27-08.

On the way back to the car I had slipped on the sodden grass and wrenched my knee so on the Friday it was a case of being sensible and forsaking the chance of more pike and fishing the Pondtail. I decided to just fish a homemade waggler at 20m for a change and fishing from 9-15 to 12:00 I had a fun session with 61 roach and three perch for a level 5lb taken on 0.10mm hooklength to an 18 using just three no9 droppers in the 8 feet of water.

So after a slow start the pike have turned up at last, my next task is to source some decent sardines as I am down to my last few!

Monday 17th returned to Pondtail for another session on 5m whip on the same peg (2) but with a different hook! Fishing from 9:10 to 12:10 I set up in identical fashion perhaps best explained by a picture!

Hopefully you can make out how the olivettes and float are locked plus the dropper stotz used. Anyway I started by throwing out 3 small “fists” of groundbait, 2 hard and one softer and proceeded to loose feed 8-10 grains of wheat every couple of minutes. I was soon into fish with the multi coloured tip easily identifying bites on the drop and lifts! The session went better with 50 roach and 4 perch and just the odd fish lost for a 4-09 total.

Wednesday sees me back at peg 10 for a session from 9:30 to 12:30, once again the pike were conspicuous by their absence, with no runs nor blank spells between bites which usually is a sign. Obviously the warm weather is not getting them into their usual seasonal habits. I had added a little bit of fishmeal groundbait to my usual mix and the difference was startling as the blades that appeared once in a blue moon became the dominant species with 21 blades. 10 roach and 4 rudd giving a 3-04 total. I had tempered my approach and had reduced my hook-length to 0.12mm as there was still a bit of colour in the water but I am sure it was the introduction of the fishmeal that prompted their appearance. As usual I fed only wheat.

Events and the weather then conspired against me so it was not until the following Tuesday that I was able to have a session on the Pondtail – this time peg 1. I was glad to be out, especially as it was my birthday and I am no officially a pensioner! The Pondtail did not look great with cold dirty water cascading into the pool, fishing from 8:45 with the same approach and tackle it took 40 minutes before I got my first bite and fish, so at least I hadn’t blanked! It was a full hour before my next bite and then from 11am until I packed up at 11:50 I caught a further 14 roach making it 16 in total for 1-06.

I returned on the Friday to the Pondtail to find the water was coming in at a more reasonable pace but there was a significant tow. This time I opted for peg 2 and a 6m whip, fishing from 8:55 to 11:35 I had a roach of one ounce second cast and that was it, no matter what I tried I could not buy a bite.The session was brightened up by the appearance of a stag munching fr4om the low branches on the far side before running across the hill to the dense vegetation opposite me. Unfortunately my phone could not get a better shot than this!

I decided to go to peg 10 on the Sunday as Monday was taking up with house maintenance! Once again no interest in the pike rod nor signs of pike striking. In a similar fashion to the last visit to peg 10 the fishmeal once again produced blades with a couple of 4oz skimmers added in.The session was interspersed with rain but was okay as it did make the unshipping of the pole easier with wet hands!The final total of 16 rudd, 26 blades, 12 roach and a perch went 4-14, all apart from one rudd coming to double maggot as I made the decision to keep on maggot while occasionally trying the corn as some of the blades would suck a kernel to a skin but would not get it in their mouth!

November beckons and I am of a mind to give the top field a go with the feeder (and pike rod) just so I get out of my usual rut and do something a bit different!