June is almost over and not added to this for a time so this could be longer than usual! End of April saw me at Larford again , this time for the Feeder Masters, a new competition in which you can only use a feeder- any type as long as it is a feeder and you cast overhead! I was there in plenty of time, drew Match lake peg 56 and set up a fixed elasticated feeder on one rod and a 30g open end feeder on the other. Groundbait was a 50-50 mix of Maryukyu 131 and 161 with a couple of handfuls of micro pellets added. On the whistle I had 8 casts with the open ended feeder to get some bait down then went over the top of it with the fixed method feeder and a drilled8mm pellet. The first hour saw only one small skimmer on the method so I switched to the open end feeder (and stayed on it for rest of match). The odd small carp came along together with the occasional skimmer but the match was made harder when we had a really prolonged hail storm that left the area white with my nets covered. The pictures below are taken an hour after the hail finished!

The match was slow for many with the angler on my left tipping back one small carp of a pound, I weighed in (for the hell of it) 9-9 with the end peg on my right weighing in 19lb. He had probably the same quantity of fish, but they were a better stamp.

May came and the first week I was away on a family holiday taking my wife’s elderly parents to a lodge at Hornsea. Nothing on our return but the following Sunday was the first leg of the North Wessex Summer League, a team of four event and I was making my debut for Pewsey after leaving Swindon Isis. The first match was on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Kintbury and the talk was of needing to be in the first few pegs in A section. As team captain for my team I managed to draw peg 7 and the section draw put me in A- result! When I set off for my peg I walked past all the pegs that peole were talking about and was about 75 yards further past the junction with the Kennet, a nice set of trees covered the far bank and I was hopeful. On my left and end peg was newly sponsored Ian Spanswick, a real threat on the canal and further down on my right was Tony Leech and then veteran Arthur Cook.  I set up three rigs- a 1.5g rig for down the track (the canal can tow like a river at times here), a 0.5g rig for down the track and a 0.5g rig for over at the edge of the trees. Depth wise I had about 4foot down the track and 3 foot along the tree line. The match started and Ian was straight into fish on the pole feeder, catching 3 skimmers before I had my first bite – gudgeon. I persevered with the track at the start for the first hour while feeding the tree line. I had a couple of small skimmers and roach before moving across after about an hour and a half. Ian began to slow down and I began to pick up the odd skimmer  with the best fish about 2lb.

The canal here is famous as it still has a horse drawn barge that day trippers can enjoy,we had been warned there would be a trip out and sure enough about 1pm the horse came past with the rope being eased over our heads. After the canal settled Ian began to get the odd skimmer as I did but with an hour to go I hit into a bream about 3lb that pulled a large length of elastic out before porpoising and throwing the hook. The match finished with me weighing in 6-4 with Ian weighing in an 8lb weight for the section and the match, so the lost fish cost me, I was second in section and picked up the section by default.

On to the end of May and an MFS match at Theale. This was a nice change as it was an 11am draw and fish 1 to 6pm, so there was no rush but I still managed to get there ultra early before the gate to the lane opened! I drew peg 57 which was a really fishy looking peg with a tree in the water, the downside was the overhanging branches that made fishing a feeder very difficult if not impossible. Before the start one comment about my peg was – “oh, you got the swearing peg”, I was to find out why it had that nickname very soon!

I decided to feed 3 swims – a margin swim to my left under the trees, a 5m line and an 11m line which was fizzing before the start. Elastics were a 10-13 on the 11m line, a 14-16 on the margin rig and a  black hydro on the 5m line. It began well enough, fed the three swims one cast with the feeder confirmed my suspicions about its practicality and so went onto the 11m line with meat. After 4minutes the video shows what happened! To cut a long painful story short I weighed in 23-8 after losing 20 carp with the hook pulling or them snagging in the tree, despite me changing to red hydro on the 11m line. I did two things wrong in particular, firstly I totally ignored the 5m line after finding a snag, the match was won on the 5m line on meat; secondly I should have stuck with the original elastic but baited the 11m another couple of metres to my right away from the tree and lifted towards the tree to encourage the carp to stay in open water. I am going back for another MFS match in July- we will see!

Into June and with Larford Fisho coming up on the Sunday I went to Witherington to spend the day with young Tom. We went on the inner snake and walked around the back end. We were soon into fish and although Tom didn’t get as many carp as he hoped for I took the opportunity to fish long and although the day was not spectacular on reflection I realised I had caught over 50lb of carp plus the odd skimmer.

Onto Larford and I drew Speci peg 34 – if I could have chosen my peg this was it! I managed not to run to my peg and was greeted with the sight of carp cruising everywhere. I turned out to be end peg on the bank as 35 was not drawn, two pegs away I had previous champion Steve Jackson. I had planned to attack the peg with a method and look on the 5m line with meat later in the match, but also set up a pellet waggler. As it turned out the fish were there but not interested, I had one skimmer on the method and then looked on the long pole line for nothing, 5m line-nothing and spent most of my time on the pellet waggler. I ended up with a disappointing 1 skimmer, 4 small pasty sized carp for about 2lb and one proper carp for a 16-6 total. Steve Jackson had about 3-4 carp and tipped back, the lad from Farnborough next to me had about the same and tipped back. Another year of Fisho over for me!

Onwards and the next Saturday was at Rolfs in Oxfordshire for another MFS match. I drew peg 24 which is on the car park bank so nice short walk! Rolfs is one of the venues where any carp over 10lb have to be weighed and returned straight away so there are a series of scales and weighing stations with troughs of water every 3 pegs for this to happen with a board to record your witnessed weight. I had read up a bit about the tactics and began on the 11m line  toss potting in a few 4mm pellets and a couple of grains of corn, I also put a couple of handfuls of pellet and corn down both margins. The match went quite well with 4 board fish to 12lb, most fish coming to the 11m line with a few down the margin later on. The key was to keep lifting and dropping the bait.  I think I lost about 8 fish. At the weigh in I had 71-13 for third in section beaten on the left by Billo who had 3 board fish in the last 10mins for 86lb and Shuar (Josh) who had 91lb on the end peg to my right.

One downside was my top kit with the red hydro exploded into 4 pieces whilst playing a “board” fish, so I had an interesting time netting the fish!

The final jaunt was to the Glebe outside Hinckley for the MFS Hillbilly pairs event, spread over the Friday and Saturday. There was a random draw for pairs with one on Pool 1 and the other on Pools 4,5,6,7 on the first day, reversing for the second. A great experience but a shocking result for me over the two days with some poor decision making. Day 1 drew peg 67 on Pool 4, had only one margin peg to my right, 2 Four feet pegs at 10 and 2 o’clock approximately 2+2 and an 11m line plus feeder. Managed to clip up the feeder so it was within inches of the far bank and managed a few fish, losing 4, after spending half hour on my 11m line only to pull out of the first fish hooked! On to the 11m line again and a few fish again, nothing on the two 4 feet lines and finally a few fish down the margin. Lost 7 fish in total, weighed in 31lb, peg 66 (corner peg) had 46lb, the peg on my right had 15lb, then 102, 89, 68, 111lb. On reflection I probably fed too heavily, especially in the margin as the wind was blowing down the other end of the pool and I don’t think I had that great a head of fish in front.

Day 2 saw me on Pool 1 peg 5 – I later found out that Shuar had won the lake on day 1 with 182lb using groundbait and maggots (what bait didn’t I bring!). I had a bush on both sides of me so two margin pegs, two four feet lines at edge of bushes and an 11m line. Began a lot more frugally with the feeding and I had taken the decision to mix it up by feeding a mixture of micros and 6mm pellets at 11m with a little groundbait, 10 o’clock was hemp and corn as was the left margin, 12 o’clock was pellet A positive start with 14lb on the clicker in the first hour at 11m, then two lost fish saw the swim die. I tried the 10 and 2 lines- nothing, back on 11m and picked up the odd fish. Swapped back and fore the 11m and 10+2 lines but only caught on 11m line, tried the margins with two hours to go and had three tench and one small carp from the left margin and a couple of perch and one lost carp from right margin. I could see the fish going in and out the right margin but the were not having it. All the while in the last hour I could hear splashing from the other side of the bush as they were obviously feeding and getting caught on the next peg! Last 10 minutes I had 3 fish from the 10 o’clock swim- my only 3 bites in two days there!

I weighed in 42lb and was really fed up. Lost 8 carp in total. Scone won section on peg 1 with 150lb+ despite letting a carp of about 8lb roll back before it could be weighed. Jay (Pellethead) on my left, had 120lb catching on the 5m line, down the margins late on and shallow at 16m, the other side of the bush weighed in 68lb. A great venue but poor decision making cost me, Scone said to me afterwards- “How many times a year do you fish this place?” to which I replied 1, “so don’t beat yourself up about it”. True words, but I need to get my decision making sorted as I feel I am having to many blank periods in matches. As an aside- just to make me feel worse- Andy Kinder won Pool 4 and the match with 212lb from the margin in (you guessed it) peg 67.

Onwards and upwards has to be my mantra!

April promised to be a busy month in terms of matches with 7 I was committed to including 2 further Fishomania qualifiers, a Feeder Masters qualifier and 3 MFS matches.

Match 1 was an MFS silvers match at Barston, a venue I always enjoy going to. The early start meant I had to scrape the frost off the windscreen as it was -2 when I set out but ensured I was there in plenty of time for a bite to eat and drink before the draw in the lounge area of the Golf Club. The talk was of needing higher numbers and certainly past the mid 20s – I drew peg16, second peg as the match started at 14, so a short walk but not a promising area. As it was a float only event, I set up a waggler plus 3 pole rigs for my 4 foot swim – a 0.5g wire stemmed BGT2 with strung shot for fishing on the drop with a 20 to a  0.10mm hook-length, a 1g Paster with a bulk about a foot from the hook and one no 8 stotz as a dropper with a 20 to a 0.10mm hook length and a homemade wire stem black bristle taking 0.6g to 0.10mm and an 18.

At the start I cupped in two solid balls and two pots full of loose groundbait with a smattering of dead maggots and casters on the 14.5m line and one ball with casters at 11m. I primed the waggler line with about 30 casters. Things didn’t go to plan and the wicked wind blowing into my face did not help, to cut a long story short it was over an hour and a half before I had a bite and by the end of the match I had managed to get  a few skimmers for a level 6lb. The guy on 14 had 7lb, including a proper bream, the next peg 18 had 7 fish for 19lb mostly caught short at 6-7m!

No time to relax my next match was on the Wednesday at Woodlands View, a Fishomania qualifier. The draw saw me on Back Deans peg 43 and the wind and poor weather had followed me again. To say it was hard was an understatement but I weighed in to see what I had – my 3 carp and silvers went 19lb, the guy on my left had tipped back less than me, the one on my right had 4 carp-30lb!! Was glad to finally get home!

Yet again a couple of days to sort things out then back to Viaduct for yet another Fishomania qualifier.This time the weather was kinder than the previous visit and I drew what I thought was a good peg- 97. The next 5 hours was pure frustration, the carp were showing but not having it. I had one of 4lb on the bomb and pellet and pulled out of another that I thought was foul hooked. A change to the pellet waggler at 30-40m resulted in another 3 carp of 3lb and 2 at 10lb and another 3 lost that may have been foul hooked and another 2 where the hook pulled at the net. All the time I had been priming my 5m line with meat so with an hour to go I went on the pole with a homemade short tipped, long stem float, 0.18mm line straight through to a 16 and a piece of meat ripped off a slice about a 6mm pellet size.  Had 4 bites, hooked 4 big carp, lost all 4 at the net when the hook pulled. Result 27-8 (10 carp lost in total- I was not a happy bunny!)

Next day was more of a fun match at Peatmoor Lagoon, in Swindon, for the annual Peatmoor v Three Counties match, this is very laid back and very sociable but the standard of angling can be good also. I arrived at the car park puzzled why there was no one there apart from Pete the organiser, then I realised that the match was 9am to 2pm not 9am draw! Thankfully I am usually always early so I had arrived at 8:25, peg 20 had been drawn for me so off I trotted! My wand came out of the bag with a small open end feeder attached and 0.8mm hook-length to a 20. The pole was kept to one top given the time constraint with the depth being identical at 10 and 14.5m, the homemade black tipped wire stem used at Barston was pulled into service with the depths being very similar. I was ready as the whistle sounded and cupped 3 balls of groundbait with a few casters on to the 10m line, a single ball with a handful of casters at 14.5m then went on the feeder. Second cast I had a slow pull and a 8oz skimmer was in the net, then…nothing. After an hour I went on to the 10m line and had a couple of half ounce roach then nothing. Back on the feeder, all the time I had been priming the 14.5m line with 10 casters every 5-6 minutes, hoping to catch in the last hour. A few more spaced out  solitary roach on the feeder then it died completely, back on the pole and a few more small roach. Last hour came an I went out on the caster line and had a bite but bumped it, five minutes later same thing happened, so I decided to change my top kit for a soft set no3 guessing that the bream would not show and I needed to catch these roach. Next 40 minutes saw a procession of small roach being fed into the net. When the scales arrived it transpired that it had been grim  and my 2-0 was top weight with four to weigh- I ended up 3rd with a late bream beating me 3 pegs away and Pete on the end peg had found 7 small bream for 10lb

Next up was an MFS silvers match at Boddington. I really enjoy this match because the roach fishing is fantastic. Peg 46 so a longish walk compared to some, I set up a video with the intention of recording part of the match as I had Ian Leach, a Welsh international, next to me but somehow it did not record!. The match started with me cupping in three balls and a pot of loose at 6m and two further balls at 13m, in the time I had done this Ian had deposited 12 babies heads at 13m and caught 2 fish!!!I had set up a waggler, the pole for 13m and a 5m whip with a Chinese float to fish on the drop in the last 3 foot of the 10 foot of water. Apart from a short dalliance with the pole and the waggler I stuck to the whip and managed 18-9 made up of 96 roach. A great days fishing, Ian after a quiet period had changed to fishing shallow and gave a master class of catching the smaller roach ending up with over 30lb. I was third in my section- they pay top two!

The last match was another MFS silvers event, this time at Larford, with a slight twist. In this match any carp caught would count but only for 1lb. I drew peg 22 on the Specimen Burr bank and set up a feeder and two pole rigs. One pole rig was the Paster set up used at Boddington as I had top 4 depth of water at 11m. the other was a homemade float to 0.18mm line and a 16 hook- this was for my short line. The feeder set up was different than normal in that you are allowed fixed feeders at Larford, so I had a clip swivel attached to the end of the line with a 6 inch twizzled section. This would allow me to swap elasticated method feeders or put a normal feeder on and attach a hook length. Whistle sounded and I cupped in 3 balls on the 11m line and a few casters. The short line received a pot of 4mm cubed meat and casters. I had a few casts with the method and a pellet just to see if there was any response but soon changed to a 30g standard feeder with a 0.10mm hook-length to an 18 with double red maggot.

After a few casts I began to get indications and then had 3 skimmers in the 1 and a half bracket before it went quiet. A switch to the pole resulted in a couple more skimmers before that went quiet and so back to the feeder but no response. I then made the mistake of discounting the feeder and concentrated on the 11m line until the last hour, with the odd flurry of skimmers but a poor hour and a half in the middle with only one fish proved costly. Into the last hour and I moved onto the short line that I had been feeding meat on with some micros throughout the match. A couple of skimmers around 2lb came to this and a couple of missed bites when with about 20minutes to go I struck into a bite with a loud crack, the pole now looked like a huge swingtip! I quickly shipped back and got hold of the top kit; the pole had snapped 2inches up the top kit! However, my attention turned to the yards of elastic that were streaming out of the remnants of the top kit, I was still attached to what must be a carp!   Fortunately I was on a puller system so was able to begin to exert some control over the fish by retrieving the elastic and constantly changing the direction of side strain applied. After what seemed an age the fish came into netting range and I managed to net my 1lb carp- all 18-07 of it!

The match finished with me taking another small skimmer off the 11m line and the scales showed 27lb of skimmers plus my 1lb for the carp for a total of 28lb! The width of the carp was surprising- a comment at the weigh in was – “look at its head it’s like a baby’s”.

Next match is at end of April at Larford for the Feeder Masters.

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Well another year over at Bowood and a totally different experience to last year. March Began with me at peg 11 on St David’s Day and me leaving three hours later frozen and biteless! I gave Bowood a rest and turned my attention to Fishomania. I had managed to get 4 tickets this year, two at Viaduct, Woodlands View and Larford and it must be said that I have no illusions of winning it but view it as an opportunity to learn and gain more experience of big match atmospheres.

The trip down to Viaduct was interesting in that it was freezing cold, windy and I drove through sleet and then snow to get there. The complex is set in a valley and was buffeted all day by gale force winds. At the draw the talk was of Campbell 113 and 114 being the form pegs, so when I pulled out 114 I was pleasantly surprised and looking forward to catching a few ! Arriving at 114, I was greeted by a peg set out from the bank on staging with the gale hitting it head on and the odd fish topping.Setting up I decided to use mainly bomb with a pole set up in case they moved in range. First mistake! The wind caught me when I was setting up the pole and the number 6 section disappeared in to the water just out from the bank- despite trying to scoop it out with the landing net, it remains in the murky waters !

So top five was going to be my pole line! By the time the all in went I was frozen despite having multiple thermal layers on. It had been noticeable that the topping fish were slightly to my right and then on the all in disappeared completely! Bomb cast out with a 10mm pellet on a stop, I began to get the odd nudge and rattle from small fish before after 20 minutes or so the guy on 115 hooked and landed a carp around 6lb, as he was landing his fish my tip pulled around and I was into a good fish that eventually kited to my left before the hook pulled. On retrieve I had a scale on the hook, confirming my suspicion that it was a foul hooker. The next four hours were spent me watching the guy on 115 bag up on the bomb, despite trying various baits I could not get a run of fish and ended up with 6 carp for 38-3, losing 3 foul hooked fish in total, beating the guy on my left who had 5 plus one tench, 115 (Matt Greening)won the match with 160lb+ with 129lb second from the peg opposite him. Many had packed up and gone before the end of the match with the conditions being horrendous for those like myself with the wind coming straight into you.

I had a bit of a break then but managed to get down to Bowood for the last day of the season, still on peg 11 although there were 3 others down there for a change. I potted out a small handful of micro pellets on to my 10m pole line before setting up, I discovered I had left my groundbait on the side in the garage so it was going to be a loose feed jobbie today! Pike rod was duly made ready with a “joey” as bait and lobbed out very close to where I had potted in the micros. I set up a white hydro top with a homemade float taking a no4, 2 no8 and 2 no10 droppers to a 20 on 0.10mm Shogun hook-length. Put a plummet on and checked I had got the right depth, then went to put a couple of maggots on only to see the pellet waggler I was using as a pike float disappear, a quick strike and after a short fight a pike of 7-14 was in the net!

The pole was slow but I was beginning to get a few bites from small skimmers, by loose feeding a pinch of micros every 4 minutes or so together with 3-4 maggots (I was catapulting out more than this really but the majority were floating casters from my month old maggots! I was hoping the noise would attract the fish but not feed them).

After an hour the pike float went again, this time a fish of 8-06

That was the end of the pike action for the day but I then had a run of tench interspersed with a few better skimmers and two roach. The biggest tench managed to snag my pike kit so ended up playing tench and pike kit! The tench went 4-14, 3-14, 3-10, 3-09,3-08 plus I lost another when the hook pulled. Altogether at the end of the day a total of 23-12 in the net , made it a round 40lb including the pike for a good farewell from Bowood! As others packed up it was a tale of not doing very well so I was pleased with my day.

Last day of January saw me back on the K&A at Pewsey for the third round of the Teams of 4. Incredibly I drew B7, B section again and although in the trees my bonus this time was a crayfish! 24 small fish for 0-11-8 and last in section. Despite trying for a skimmer or big perch I did not get a bite on my “bonus” set-up. Team did equally as well and we are definitely the strongest team as we are holding the rest of the league up!

Into February and my first visit to Bowood (peg 11) saw a change in fortunes with bream of 3-14 and 3-6 coupled with a lost tench saw me with plenty of action on the pole plus a pike of 5-5 and 3 missed runs. The bream came to double maggot while joey mackerel did the damage with the pike. Buoyed by this relative success I returned the next day to find no large fish and no runs on the pike rod, having to be satisfied with a clutch of small fish for 1-8-0.

A day off to do the shopping followed but I was back on the Friday and it was a frustrating tale of lost/missed fish. I ended up with 2-12-0 of small fish but lost a pike about 5-6lb on the pole at the net, a large bream at the net plus an unseen fish possibly a tench but may have been a pike. Adding to my chagrin were a further two missed runs on the pike rod.

The following week I did no better with 2-8-0 of small fish and no runs, but at least I did not lose any fish! Friday saw me head of to Salisbury and Witherington Farm to fish with young Tom. Chatting to the guy in the tackle shop there had been some sport with silvers to be had on the first couple of pegs on the snake. A slow start finally saw Tom begin to catch after missing 6 bites, which prompted me to adjust his tackle slightly, he then began catching roach up to 6oz  and the odd skimmer wqhile I happily plodded along getting roach and skimmers while keeping an eye on Tom.

Sunday saw the final round of the Teams of 4 at Pewsey and someone somewhere must be having a laugh at me as yet again I drew B section, not content with that I had exactly the same peg as round 1! So in 4 matches I drew B13, B10, B7, B13!

Starting on the punch I caught sporadically but when the first bank walker came up after two hours my 13 fish were winning the section, sadly after a couple of boats went through the punch line died and I struggled to to get anything other than “pairs of eyes” on the squatt, nothing on the worm or caster. By the whistle my 1-4-0 gave me 4 points out of 9, with the ones above me all having bonuses. C’est la vie! The team points total was 8 so we stayed as the strongest team!

Following week saw me back at Bowood, not hopeful as we had an overnight temperature of -4C but a pike of 3-6 and bream of 2-10 lifted the spirits slightly. Couple of days later I was back but the underfoot conditions were so bad last time  I had decided to take the seat-bag and waggler for a change. A very pleasant day fishing caster saw plenty of bites and 2-8-0 of small fish.

On the Sunday I took the same kit but had amended my pike tackle , replacing the slim cigar style pike float with a pellet waggler that took the same amount of shot but was lighter and smaller. The thinking being perhaps the resistance of the float was the cause of the missed runs. Casting out with a bait on I found I had got the depth wrong and as I begin to retrieve a pike took the sardine, unfortunately it was only lightly hooked in the lip and as I drew it over the net the hook hold gave and it flipped away- another lost fish, this time about 8lb. No further pike action and a busy day with the roach saw me accumulate 4-4-0 by the end.

Two days later I was back with the same kit but this time I went across the other bank and walked the 1100+ paces to peg 20. I wanted to fish the feeder and set myelf up with the feeder clipped up at 50 turns of the handle with a pike bait 20 odd yards out to the left so it was in my sight-line. A few quick casts to get some bait down and I began to get bites from small roach and after putting about 10 in the net I hit into a bite only to be met with the solid resistance of a good fish. I was not sure what it was as it plodded about with the odd head shake but it was very difficult to get it to move. After 5 minutes I had it about 25 yards out and it kited to my left and managed to tangle the pike kit.So now playing the fish and the pike tackle I slowly managed to get the fish within netting range, then I saw it! A pike of 15lb+ hooked in the tail! Gently I steered it towards the net but could not get its head in the net, just as I got half of its body across the net the hook pulled! Despite a quick lift of the net the pike swam off! I was left with such a tangle that I had to redo both sets of tackle and when I started again the disturbance had obviously moved the fish off and I only had two further bites.

Same tackle but this time on the waggler on peg 11 was my next outing and remarkably I had one bite on the pike rod a jack of 3-8-0 and nothing, nado, zilch on the waggler. I put this down to the bitterly cold easterly wind and packed up after 3 hours. So ended February! I think I lost more fish this month than the rest of the year put together!

January has been a disappointing month from several respects, the fishing Gods seem to have decided to laugh at me when I decide to go fishing/have a match…and change the weather! Let me start of with Bowood- only been 3 times and called off another 3 visits due to torrential rain and the ground being totally saturated making the hike to and particularly back from the lake seem like hard labour.

Visit one – early on in the month during a gap in the weather, had a small roach when shipping out on my first put in then nothing for 4 hours before I jigged a maggot at my feet to catch another small roach  as I was packing up. Water was horrible chocolate colour so was not surprised it was hard. Had to stop 3 times on way back to catch my breath, the going was so bad.

Visit 2 – slightly better with a skimmer of about a pound, a rare gudgeon and some small roach. Only had to stop twice on way back!

Visit 3 – the rain had stopped but now it had turned cold (-3C). Like an idiot I went without my icebreaker, thinking it would not be fully frozen and only a bit of cat-ice like on the canal (see later). How wrong can you get, solid across entire lake apart from one small area in front of the house on the far bank where it had been broken for the birds and you couldn’t fish. I tried to break the ice with a bank stick and managed to clear a hole about 2 feet by 18 inches in front of the platform through the inch thick ice.

I set up a hand line to jig a maggot to see if I could snare something – 2 AA shot, 8 inches above a 22, single red maggot – 40 minutes later I gave up and went home – a blank at Bowood!

Three matches this month to tell you about. Firstly I  agreed to fish a teams of 4 series on the canal at Pewsey. First match and we realised we were in danger of being the whipping boys for the series as the calibre of anglers taking part was very good- mostly sponsored or venue experts! I drew B section up at Milk House, a draw I was relatively happy with as the path is good and there is always the chance of a few fish. B13 was last but one in the section and a very long walk, it was the one peg in the section that had no cover behind nor in front but did have a set of inviting reeds on the far bank. As I arrived the rain started, gradually getting worse, in fact it was not until the last half hour of the match that I could see that there was a hill at the end of the field opposite. To cut a long story short I started on the 3m line on punch, had one fish after 10 minutes then nothing, went onto my squatt line at 10m and managed to get the odd fish throughout the match on double squatt to a 24 on 0.07mm. Nothing on the far bank line where chopped worm and cater made not a jot of difference. Even a choppie line down the track (my favourite method) produced nothing. Result 42 fish for 1-0-0 and 2pts – the pegs to my right around the bend had all managed a bonus skimmer, hybrid or perch, end peg to my left had just over 2lb after catch well at the start. Team wise we finished 5th out of the nine teams with Tony Leach, my team member in section A winning the match with 7lb of worm caught perch. (It was over a week before my kit dried out after the rain!)

Round two was  two weeks later and the day started badly when team captain Darren texted that he has unwell and unable to fish, so ,we were up against it! Once again I drew B section, B10 and thinking I was going to be on fish was quite happy to be walking down the long path again. The weather had turned cold but had warmed up apart from the previous night,I was not expecting any serious ice and left the ice breaker in the car. When I got to my section  I seemed to be walking past all the pegs I fancied when lo and behold I ended up 25 yards away from where I was last match. The canal was iced up but we had a shout that a boat was coming through so don’t worry about breaking the ice- in fact once the boat had passed I never had any ice to worry about. The match started and again little on the bread, on to the squatt line and nothing then a pair of eyes. With two hours gone I had 2 tiny roach and 3 smaller perch, I decided to forget the squatt and put all my faith in the chopped worm approach- tiny bits of worm moved around very slowly. This produced more perch and I ended up with 3 roach, a gudgeon and 8 perch for 0-11-0 and 5 points- it was hard! Team wise we ended up with a team total of 7 points and last!

The final match was one I organised as part of the MatchFishing-Scene Garbolino Champions League series. Lakeside Rendezvous, near Rowde just outside Devizes was the venue and 14 taking part, travelling from the south east, south west and all points north! The previous match I had organised there had been won with 51lb of small skimmers and I was hoping the same would happen but those damn fishing Gods laughed at me and we had the cold snap that froze Bowood that week then on the Thursday the weather turned so by Friday night the ice had gone but the water temperature as a result plummeted for the match on the Saturday. I drew on what is normally the favoured south side and was on the peg I had taken Tom fishing just before Christmas. Calling the all in I went out and 15 minutes later no-one had had a bite! Then Minnowmaster on my left put together a run of skimmers in the next hour before they disappeared, I had managed to get one small roach in the net by this time and by cutting back on the feed- loose feeding 2-3 maggots every 3-4 minutes I began to put the odd fish in the net. End result was 1-5-0 for 4th in section. The match was won off the end peg on the opposite bank with 9-15 of quality fish. A big disappointment for me as I was hoping everyone would get a decent days fishing but it wasn’t to be.

Two more canal matches to fish in February – can it get worse?

The rains of December left me thankful that we live on a hill and not near any rivers after viewing the scenes from elsewhere in the country. I have difficulty in remembering any day in December when it did not rain for at least part of the day. The weather combined with pre-Christmas family visits and preparations meant my opportunities to get out were curtailed somewhat.

My first visit to Bowood saw me at peg 11 (I’m definitely getting in a rut- but it is a good peg) with the intention of catching anything that swam but having a pike rod out at the same time. The water was up and very coloured not good for pike (or so I thought). Starting on the pole I began getting the odd roach and small skimmer when surprise the pike float went – resulting in a pike of 7-12 a nice start to the month. I tend to use herring in “dirty” water conditions and mackeral in clear conditions – I rarely use sprat at Bowood as I have never had much (no) success with it.

The roach were small but kept me busy until the pike rod went again this time with a 10-6 fish that only just fitted in my net- one of my season’s targets accomplished!

With the weather closing in I made my way back to the car with a 20-8 total and severely out of puff after sliding about in the conditions underfoot.

My next excursion to Bowood saw me leave the usual kit at home and revert to the haversack seat and float rod as I determined to break the rut and walked up to the end peg- peg 16, a total of 1150 steps in the wet conditions. The drizzle was not to bad and although I did not get any runs on the pike rod I had a pleasant couple of hours catching small roach and skimmers on the waggler for 5lb- the size of the fish was immaterial as I was just pleased to be out and the float going under!

The rut set in again on my next visit and it was back to peg 11 – there is a rational (I keep telling myself), if I am the only madman to fish here during the winter then at least I know there is bait going in on this peg and it may encourage any larger fish to remain in the vicinity, especially as it is the deepest part of the “arm”. The rationale seemed to work as I had a bream of 3-12 , lost another bigger fish and lost a good tench. I had a few small roach to take the total to 4-12 but left regretting the choice of putting a light elastic on rather than my usual 6-8.

Final visit was another tale of lost fish but slightly different. Peg 11 (again) usual elastic this time and I started getting very small roach on the maggot but they were not coming very often and I felt there was something bigger out in the swim. I changed to corn and 10 minutes later was putting the net under a larger skimmer of 2-12, then nothing. No runs on the pike rod, nothing on maggot so went back on corn. The float lifted and then buried, a fish tore off to my right then turned as the elastic did its job, at first I suspected tench but as it got closer and was keeping low and then making fast runs I suspected a pike – and it was a jack of 3lb hooked under its chin. Still a nice fight on the pole during a wet and windy day! No further bites on anything when the pike float ran across the surface, pole was shipped in and put to one side as the float disappeared and my strike was met with not just heavy resistance but a bone wrenching jaw to my arm as the pike rod bent right over and the fish began to run then the hooks pulled out!!!!! I was not a happy bunny as that pike was far, far larger than anything else I had hooked at Bowood and felt a great deal heavier than my pb of 14-12. No further action and with it getting wetter I packed up and trudged back to the car having to stop 3 times to catch my breath- the conditions underfoot were that heavy!

January will see me fish a Teams of 4 series on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Pewsey.More on that next month!

The start of November saw me 6000 miles away in Guangzhou, China on holiday with my wife and taking the chance to visit our youngest son who had gone out there to teach English. I was quite interested in visiting a tackle shop should the chance arise but I knew fishing was out of the question for the duration of the visit. The visit highlighted the diversity of modern China- on the one hand you had shopping malls and neon lit shopping avenues and on the other shanty style shop fronts where the whole street would sell exactly the same thing – a spice street, a pet street, a medical appliance street next to a hospital- you get the picture! The parks were interesting with the closest to our hotel being Liwan Lake Park – the water level had been dropped and there were lines of thin rope in lanes across the lakes- at first I thought cormorant prevention but the reason was much simpler- teams of men in waders were working their way along the lanes clearing weed! Most parks had lakes with koi and other species but no fishing! You could feed the fish however!

I did get to a tackle shop eventually; on one of my son’s  days off we traveled by train to Jiangmen, about 40mins on the train- it was only a local train but very modern and we hit 198kmph on the journey! Just outside the towns I was surprised to see commercial type ponds with people fishing under blue brollies, the temperature was in the high 20s on that day but went up to 30+ during our visit. Gouangzhou is the third largest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai with a population of over 16million, Jiangmen was just a little place- population 4million!! No pictures of the shops (two to be precise) as they consisted of an open shop front with shelves upon which were numerous whips, telescopic rods, pellets, floats and other paraphernalia, including two turtles for sale! Looking at the whips I picked out a 5m one to buy for my lad (he had already bought himself a telescopic rod and reel set up previously) cost £5, then began to look for terminal tackle to go with it but to my surprise the women owner began measuring off line at the counter against a meter stick, and began setting up the whip with a float , weights and two!! hooks that looked to be size 6/8, then fastened all this to a removable winder that attached to the handle of the whip. The completed whip was then put inside a new cloth bag so as not to compromise the rig- all for £5. A pot of worms cost 30p!

The river that runs through Jiangmen was alive with catfish and what looked like carp or some variant of carp close in to the side with other fish topping further out in the flow.

To date the fishing has been difficult as you cannot get down to the bank but bites are hard to come by and harder to hit- even with the hooks to nylon I took over for him – to date his sole catch has been this-

I await further news!

Returning to the UK, (16.5 hours) I slept in my own bed for one night before leaving on the Saturday for March, Cambridgeshire to fish an MFS match on the Old Nene on the Sunday. Leaving the hotel I had a leisurely 5min drive to the draw, although the conditions were not great with a very strong down wind accompanying a very grey looking sky! The wind was so strong that it actually blew a seatbox off a barrow, down the bank and into the water at the peg next to me, fortunately the box was retrieved with no lasting damage. I made a fundamental error that day in that I had planned to set up the pole to fish a chopped worm line, but decided against doing so as the wind was so strong as too making the pole virtually unfishable apart from close in. So it was the waggler and 5m (Chinese) whip that was set up with with liquidised bread and breadpunch being my bait for starters. To cut a long windy story short, I had a good 3 hours catching on the punch before a tangle saw me lose the fish and I scratched around for the last part of the match on the pinkie and squatt to end up with 5-8-0 and no where in the match. The guy upstream from me caught some bonus fish on the worm on the pole fished close in!!!

A couple of days later saw me at Bowood, peg 11 were after a slow start bream of 4-6, 3-15 and 3-12 graced my net along with some small roach for a 12-8 total despite losing two good fish that I still cannot decide if they were tench or pike.

The following Saturday to the March match I was hosting a silver fish only match at Lakeside near Rowde, just outside Devizes. I had never fished the venue before but had heard good things and as it was not normally open to the public, nor open to day tickets I was hoping for a good match. Come the day and we are met with an 8 degree drop in temperature and a bitter northern wind replacing the mild south westerly we had all week- typical! The match itself was a tale of two banks- the North bank (wind on their backs ) had a 51lb weight of hand sized skimmers along with 3 other weights of over 20lb, the south bank (wind in your face) was won with 15lb and I was second with 11-4. If the conditions had been kinder the results may well have been truly outstanding.

November finishes off with three visits to Bowood the first with real bitterly cold conditions a water level to the top of the platform and chocolate water and despite 2 hours without a bite a clutch of small roach and blades accompanied by a very rare Bowood gudgeon saw me hit the pound mark- no takes naturally on the pike rod in those conditions. Two days later I returned minus pike tackle and only with the 11m banana and back pack thinking it would be an opportunity to practice it as the pike rod could stay at home given the water colour and further rain. To my surprise I was met with an 18inch drop in level and clear water(someone had opened the sluice!”). Ideal for pike! I persevered with the banana but my heart wasn’t really in it and 2lb of small roach and blades later I packed up. Next day I returned with pike tackle and my usual pole setup to be greeted with the same water level but now coloured water! No takes on the pike tackle, but two tench of 3-11 and 3-7 together with roach and small skimmers saw a 11-4 return.

Roll on December!

October started with a holiday down in darkest Devon (no internet or phone signal) coming to an end at Bulworthy Lodges. The lodges are set into the wooded hillside on one side of a valley with a series of small lakes created by damming a stream at various points on its way down the hillside. Fishing wise it was an opportunity to relax and try out things. I had taken my usual holiday kit – similar to what I take to Bowood but had included the 5m Chinese whip and a 8ft Beastmaster carp /stalking rod.

The plan was to put out the Beastmaster as a sleeper with boilie or pellet on the hook alongside the solitary island on the main lake, while fishing pole  or whip for the hordes of roach that live there. The week flew by and saw me get two carp of 6-6 and 8-4 in between stacks of roach and skimmers. The swims were fizzing but not with fish but crayfish (both native and signal unusually)- single bubbles erupting at the surface heralded their arrival and it can only be said that they were a pain!

So back to Bowood and it appeared it was getting moodier than ever! My first two visits saw me get a jack pike of 4-4 plus some roach for a total of 7-8 from peg 11. Another visit to peg 11 saw me get one bite-one fish, a half ounce roach. After this I decided to more further afield and try on the opposite bank- a place I had never ventured.

A long walk (but easier as it was flat) saw me arrive with a waggler and pike rod at the first peg

behind the island (peg 18?). Plumbing up confirmed it was shallow and the water was gin clear. Pike rod was cast out 20m or so with a joey mackeral as bait beneath a pencil float, quickly followed by the waggler and some loose fed maggots. Two hours later the only thin g I had to show for my efforts was a missed run on the pike rod, nothing, nado, zilch on the waggler. I decided to move around the other side of the island in search of deeper water. As I packed up a bream of about 4lb swam serenely past the platform within touching distance- and kept on swimming!

Setting up on peg 19(?),

I plumbed up and found a drop off about 13m out into about 6 foot of water, pike rod cast to the side of the baited area, waggler cast out and little and often catapulted helpings of 5-6 maggots every couple of minutes saw nothing change. Then the bell struck two and the float buried- a roach of an ounce, next cast the bait reached the bottom and the float buried again- it was as if a tap had been turned on or the fish were waiting for the bell to sound so they could begin feeding! Then 3 bream in three casts followed by more roach until the bell sounded 3pm and the tap was magically turned off! In that hour I had 12 roach and 3 bream plus missed a couple of bites for 8-8.

Walking back there was a member fishing peg 8, on asking he had one bite exactly at 12:30 from a bream of 4-8. It was interesting as the bell chimes at quarter past, half past and quarter to the hour as well as marking the hour. Coincidence?

Later that week we had the opportunity to fish the public area of Bowood, so i made my usual trek down to the Lawns area, made all the easier this year as the keeper took pity on us and offered to transport our kit down. I began with 10 casts of the feeder at 50 turns to get a bed of groundbait and casters down then began on red maggot to see what response I could get. Small fish found the bait first and after an hour I rested the swim and had a look on the pole line that I had been priming- again small roach. The pike rod had been out  with no interest registering on the float. Back to the feeder and to cut a long story short I ended up with 6 bream and a tench of 3-14 for a total of 28-0, the bream came in a two hour burst over mid day then disappeared. No runs at all on the pike rod. I packed up at 4pm with a long trek back, this time with my kit!

I decided to give peg 11 another go on my next visit and managed to get one tench of 4-5 out on my 0.10mm hook length but lost a further two which took me into the still dense weed-bed to my right. A few roach saw me end the day with 5-5 and  attached to a double figure pike on the pole that enjoyed tail walking several times before finally biting through the line! No runs on the pike rod!!!

A further visit to peg 11 a few days later saw me finally get a run on the pike rod resulting in a pike of 8-8 and only one bite on the pole resulting in a bream of 2-12 for a total of 11-04. Another visit to the opposite bank was called for and this time I settled in peg 21(?) which was almost opposite 11 as I had spotted plenty of activity last time on this side.

Pike rod cast just to the side of my pole line, I had a slow start and then began to get bites from roach when I had a run on the pike rod- a jack of 4-8- an hour later another run saw a pike of 8-12 find the net. On release this pike just lay sulking at the rear of the platform (21 is set out 10-12ft from the bank) for a good half hour before moving off.Again the roach disappeared and 14-08 was the return for the day.

Spot the pike! Superb natural camouflage.

Witherington Farm near Salisbury was my next outing- not to fish, but to coach a friend’s 11 year old who had only been fishing a couple of times (sea and trout) before I met him in August at a previous visit to Withy and had started him on pole fishing with some old kit I gave him. I always set a target when I am coaching and today’s was to beat his best total number of fish which was 18. Fishing peg 84 on the inner snake we set off at 8m (the most he can handle at present) with a 10 elastic but after a few lost fish, I gambled and put the same rig on a no 4 elastic to try and offset any loose line on shipping back. I also set up a margin rig with 0.20mm Shogun to a 12 in the hope of getting him a better carp. He had never landed his own fish previously so after the first couple he was shown what to do and there on in he landed all but one fish himself. Sod’s Law, as always, applied and he latched into a good carp that he had on for 3-4 minutes before the carp managed to put it’s turbo on and the line parted. The day ended with him getting a carp from the margins on paste of 7-6 (this was the one he did not net himself!) and a new pb  not only with the carp but a total of 23 fish.

Next day I was off to Shatterford, just outside Kidderminster, for a MatchFishing Scene organised silvers match on Stella Lake.It began raining when I got there and carried on until about 3pm when the sun came out. I was on peg 6 which was one of two exposed pegs on the lake. The lake did not fish up to expectations and my 53 fish (mainly gudgeon and small roach, with one “specimen” of 5 ounces on my first put in) went 3-1. Herbie, the organise, was on peg 12 and every time I looked up he had a carp on, great for a silvers match!

Bowood beckons for a last couple of outings before a trip to China!

September is a funny month, it can be red hot or teeming down with rain or dead cold and this year has seen all of these! Only managed 5 visits to Bowood to date but will come to that in a minute. September has been punctuated by a visit away to a small place just outside Richmond in North Yorks with the wife and in-laws and the month finishes with my wife and I having a week down at Bulworthy near Barnstaple.

The Richmond visit was interesting as I had only put in a small haversack seat with a travel rod to fish the farm pond (lake) on the site to which I had sole use. Day 1 saw me go down in the evening for a couple of hours, waterproofs on, fleece on and shivering in the cold wind that was blowing. The water was about 100m long and 40-50m wide and was inhabited by a large flock of geese with the odd duck. The farmer’s wife had been vague when she said she was unsure what fish were in there so it was a trip into the unknown armed only with bread, corn and pellets. Two hours later having not found any area deeper than 18inches, nor seen any sight of fish I went back to the cottage to warm up with a whiskey! Next evening saw a similar story, except this time it was accompanied by torrential rain (thank goodness I took my Gore-tex!). Third evening the farmer drove down and stopped to chat- it appeared the water had been stocked with roach, perch and trout but they had been visited by cormorants! I didn’t bother again!

Bowood has been suffering from something, whether the effects of the climate or something else but it has fished poorly this year in comparison to last, either that or I have been fishing badly each time! The first visit saw me try peg 11, usually a banker for some roach and some bigger fish. Pike were again in evidence and although I persevered with corn I could not get anything apart from one large tench that took me into the weeds, so to save a blank put on maggot and put 1-02 of small roach in the net before giving the corn a final go to no avail.

The next visit saw a rare event- another angler but on peg 11 so I settled on peg 9 (the pegging is very generous so I was still 30-40+m away) and this time managed to get a tinca of 3-0 and two bream of 4-2 and 3-14 all on the corn, plus some other skimmers and roach for 16-00. From the videos of the tench and bream you can see that I have changed to a lighter hollow (an 8-10) given the change in conditions, I had also scaled down to a 0.12mm Shogun hook length.

Next two visits were unusual in that I was thwarted each time by someone fishing where I had planned resulting in me fishing peg 8 both times and somehow managing to catch exactly 10-00 each time one bream and one tench plus bits and losing two tench on each occasion!

Latest visit was today, got up with the decision to be at the lake and fishing before 9am. Well I achieved that despite a wheel coming off the trolley which resulted in me having to make some hasty repairs! The shooting season must almost be upon us as the pheasants were everywhere, one even being nosey enough to watch me through the gate on my journey down.

Peg 11 was duly primed with a couple of small balls of groundbait and some micros as the temperature when I set off was only 5C. Nothing on maggot, corn, pellet, in fact not a sign of anything so put in a bit of chopped worm-nothing, put in a second lot of worm then still fishing maggot at 10:44 it was as if a magical hand had turned a tap on -it was a bite a chuck on the maggot, albeit small fish. To cut a long story short corn produced the best tench so far this season of 4-5  and a bream of 3-2 then nothing. Ending with 9-12 a little after 2pm

When playing the tench a double figure pike followed it in and took an interest in my keepnet- so much so that I netted it while playing the tench. The pike did not take kindly to being netted and thrashed about in the net so much so I let it go and it disappeared at a rate of knots- I then proceeded to net the tench with a lovely rip in my landing net from the pike!!

It seems if I touch my kit the heavens open; it is August isn’t it? Had a couple of hours down at Bowood on peg 9 but decided to do things a bit different.

I have been experimenting with Chinese floats and tackle and have just acquired a 5.4m Chinese  whip so decided to give it a go for an hour or so while the pole line settled (experience shows that it is usually 40mins before fish move over the feed at Bowood). Three balls of groundbait and a pot of casters and wheat was put on the 10m pole line while a marble of groundbait and a few casters went on the whip line. The whip was set up similar to the 11m one I wrote about with a dacron type end piece which I tied a knot in and then attached 0.14mm Shogun, loop style, and 0.12mm hooklength to a Sensei F103n 16, the float being the one on the left (the smallest one) which was attached bottom end only using a Chinese float attachment and took 2 x no 8 to lock it in position, 2 x no 1 3 foot from the hook, and 4 further no 8 as droppers.

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I was hoping to video the session but as I got to the peg the rain started so I left the camera safely in my pocket!

Bites came rapidly and after 40minutes I had  a few blades in the net with the whip performing admirably but very similar to it’s big brother.

A change to the pole saw a fruitless hour in driving rain before a skimmer of about 8oz  took the corn. One further small skimmer of 3oz followed in the next 30 minutes. I suspected the worst and when a row of bubbles erupted in the swim it confirmed my suspicion of a pike being present. A change to the whip for the next 20 minutes saw a steady run of blades and small rudd grace the net before I packed the whip up in a dry period and gave the pole another 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I thought I would try the wheat (I had caught on the whip with wheat) and second put in saw the float bob before disappearing, a strike met with the solid thud of a fish as it went towards the weed bank but it soon turned and I suspected a bream until it got in close when I saw it was a crucian (one of my targets). Safely netted it weighed 2-12 a personal best!

Buoyed by this success I gave it another twenty minutes and on my last cast put corn on- the float buried and lifting into the fish was met with a solid weight that slowly then much quicker veered off to the right before leaping clear of the water and breaking me – a double figure pike (about14lb). At this point with the weather looking ominous I called it a day.