outdoors

September 2024 Part 1 – All Change!

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September 1st arrives and being a Sunday I decided to just grab the 10′ waggler and the seat bag and have an hour on the Pondtail. You may remember that the bridge at the start of the lake partly collapsed last winter and it has slowly been rebuilt with a compound formed for the plant and materials that cut off both pegs. During the summer peg 2 became available again but today the compound had been radically shortened and both were now available- except peg 1 was hidden behind a forest of 3 foot nettles that I will tackle at a later date, so peg 2 it was.

Fishing the waggler at about 15m with double maggot I managed 26 roach and 6 perch by loose feeding wheat after a single ball of groundbait was introduced. The fish pulled the scales down to 3-15. The other picture is looking down the Pondtail towards the main lake. As an aside I had bought a Chinese carbon extending landing net handle to go with a net head I had bought some time ago (the threads are smaller than in UK). It allows the user to set it at any distance from 60cm to 3m, it is on the heavy side compared to the more conventional handles but is very robust and ideal to stick in the pocket of a rucksack – it worked well on this outing.

Tuesday 3rd and I decided on peg 7, still weedy but I felt there was still a chance of bream and tench while the weed remained.Fishing 9:15 to 12, it was not hectic and despite the pike activity I managed 14 rudd, 3 roach a skimmer and a bream of 3-04 all on corn for a 5-06 total. I did lose a large unseen fish in the weed that I am sure was foul hooked from the way it fought.

My focus now shifted to preparing for the three day Pairs at the Glebe, although through a series of events the pairs became seeded teams of three. We had been lucky to negotiate pools 5,6, and 7 rather than 1 and 6 which was our original allocation so my preparation for pairs went out of the window and I drew up new sheets and lists for the Teams of 3! Monday 9th came, I collected in the pools and explained the rotation of lakes Group A (the superstars!) would fish 5 then 6 then 7, Group B, 6,7 and 5 while my group (C -the poolsfodder!) would fish 7,5,6.

So the last peg in the bag for me was 104 – not brilliant but hey-ho. Arriving at the peg it was very windy and I opted to set up a feeder for the far side,four pole rigs to cover 11m, 5m and two margin rigs. Line was mainly 0.18mm for out in front and 0.20mm for the margins. During a brief respite from the wind I managed to remember to take some pictures!

Starting on the feeder, in 20 minutes there were no indications so that went on the rack and the pole went out to 11m where I had fed 3 balls of groundbait, micros, 4mm pellets and corn. To say it was slow was an understatement, after 2 hours I had managed two skimmers. Tony on my right was fairing no better, the 5m line produced a solitary carp of 3lb and a skimmer so it was to the margins I looked. I had primed the left one with hemp and corn while the right had been given micros and corn with the odd 4mm. The last two hours saw me pinch a carp from either side and by rotating this I managed to get 37-10 of carp and 11-07 of skimmers for a 49-01 total, losing just 4 carp. Tony pipped me by a pound and an ounce weighing in 50-02 with fewer fish but of a better stamp, leaving me last in the group!

Next day sees me on pool 5 peg 78, however the weather had taken a turn for the worse and we had heavy rain and wind all day. I had unfortunately looked at my phones weather forecast which suggested the odd light shower so had put on my over-trousers (which have a hole in the crotch area- you can see what is coming!) rather than my bib and brace which is watertight but more awkward for calls of nature! Needless to say by the end I was absolutely soaked from the waist down.

I did manage one picture during a brief break in the weather before the start but it was all downhill from this point on. Setting up exactly the same rigs I decided I needed to attack the swim more late on so mixed up 1.5kg of groundbait which for me is a lot!First cast on the feeder sees a 4lb mirror carp in the net then nothing so after 40 minutes on to the 11m line for a couple of bream then nothing.Basically with an hour and a half to go I had clicked 25lb in my nets, at this point I but 5 full cups of groundbait with maggots into the right margin and put 6 maggots on my size 14 hook and went in on top. Three minutes later the float started to wobble and eventually went under with an angry carp attached. That is how it played out, for the last hour or so- catch a carp cup in a pot of groundbait and maggots, repeat.I had clicked 37lb in one net and I usually start another net if it is close to 40lb simply so that I can lift it (the net limit is 60lb) I had just put a couple of carp in the second carp net when I landed a lump of a fish that they reckoned was the largest caught on that pool that day, although not weighed a conservative estimate was 15lb. The all out called, the weigh in showed I had 5-11 of silvers, the first carp net that I clicked at 37lb was 37-03, the second net I had clicked at 39lb weighed 46-01, now I had given myself 12lb on the clicker for the lump so it could well have been closer to 20lb than 15lb! My weight of 88-15 put me 4th on the lake. I then spent the night drying off my clothes!

The final day sees me on peg 92. Now dry and in the bib and brace the continuing very heavy wind and rain (once the all in was called! ) saw me struggle as on day 1. Nothing on the feeder and mainly skimmers at 11m with the odd carp, going in to the margins late on fishing as on day 2 I had the frustration of hooking 7 carp and losing all seven, most I am sure were foul hooked by the way they went. I was glad when I called the all out! My paltry net of 22-02 of silvers and 20-09 of carp put me last with 42-11. My “team” did little better so we finished last as well!

The month finishes off with another 3 day event, this time at Monkhall near Bridgnorth.

June 2024 part 2b- Struggles and successes

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I had the opportunity to get to Bowood a couple of times before the Pellet Guys Pairs at Makins, so Monday 24th sees me trudge down the field, now occupied by sheep, to Peg 1. The colour had dropped considerably but there was still sufficient for me to give it a go. Shadows moving through the water gave a big hint that the colour would soon be gone but I set up as previously and introduced two cups of loose groundbait with some wheat and about 5-6 pieces of corn. Starting at 8:45 I fished through until 11:45 and things did not look good at small rudd were attacking the corn and their slightly bigger brethren were taking it. Eventually I had a bream of 3-08 followed by further ones of 3-10, 3-02, 3-06, 4-01, 3-06 and 3-02 together with 9 rudd, a small skimmer and a roach this gave me a 25-07 total.

I had brought the rake with me and intended to prepare some swims as Peg 1 would no longer produce with the colour dropping out. To my horror Peg 3 was gone, the posts were there but the platform boards had gone and the access was blocked by reeds! Moving up to peg 4 I was pleased to see it had a good colour and after putting the rake through a couple of times for minimal weed I decided raking would not be necessary for the other swims.

Next day I was back at Bowood, this time at peg 4 and fished 8:50 to 11:20 by which time it was getting very hot and I called it a day. The session was another that you dream about, apart from16 bream I also had a tench of 4-15 and a pike of 5-01 that took a fancy to the corn, combined with 8 rudd a roach and two small skimmers I surpassed the 50lb mark again with 56-06. Groundbait was cupped in loose again but this time I used a 0.5g Chianti style homemade float. Over the five sessions in June I have averaged over 49lb but only used half a tin of corn and a litre of wheat.

So Friday sees me travel up to Makins Fishery, just outside Nuneaton for the Pellet Guys Pairs two dayer. The format is simple in that the pairs are drawn so that there is a Makins regular teamed up with an MFS angler, the Makins anglers are on three lakes and the MFS on a separate three lakes with each lake treated as a section so the pair with the lowest points win after two days. Day one and I draw peg 30 on Lizard which is a nice short walk from the car!

From left to right – left margin, front of peg and right margin. The margin on the left was deep over 3 feet and sloping out sharply, the right margin was a lot shallower but still with a slope. I planned on two areas in front the first at 10m and the second at 2+2 plus the margins, I also set up a shallow rig which went unused! Starting on the short line in 5-6ft of water on 4mm meat feeding meat and 4mm pellets I could only get a couple of roach and one solitary carp when I tried corn over it there was no joy either. The 10m line produced a roach so I ended up looking at the margins, apart from one carp from the right, all my fish came from the left one. Unfortunately the only area I could get interest was very close to the tree which had roots into the water I ended up being snapped 4 times by fish going into the roots despite being on 0.20mm and lost a further two to hook pulls. I did manage to extract eight carp including a koi close to double figures and weighed in 36-10 for joint 5th on the lake, beating the anglers near me.

Day two sees me draw peg 10 on Severn.

The margins looked featureless and on plumbing up were very sharply sloping with no flat spots and about three feet deep. The weather was very sunny and hot and although the point of the island was crying out for me to put a method feeder there I didn’t feel as it would be that productive in the hot weather as the fish were high in the water and were looking as if they may be getting ready to spawn again. Same set ups as previously and the 2+2 line only produce a few twitches before a two pound carp came to the net and that is how it stayed until the last hour of the six hour match. Despite making changes and trying the margins plus straight lead there was no joy apart from two hook pulls and being snapped on the paste by a good fish when I think the lane caught on the jagged dorsal fin. Fish were coming in to the left hand margin but were spooked if they touched the line or each other! Straight lead down the margin with a longish tail produced one liner and that was it. I was now in desperation mode so I cupped in 3 cups of loose groundbait and a cup of micros and began to put 10 4mm pellets in every few minutes. This began to get the fish wait longer and by the weigh in I had somehow managed to get 24-10 which put me 8th on the lake. To put it in context, the angler on my right who had tried the island tipped back as he reckoned he had just over 20lb and the one on my left weighed in 26-08, so I felt I had not done as badly as I feared, just that area was the worst on the lake on that day. Needless to say we came nowhere as a pair!

July beckons with the arrival of Gareth et al for a couple of weeks, so Bowood will be on the agenda.

June 2024 -part 2a, musings

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When I was coaching I used the mantra of the 3Fs when working with newcomers in particular. The 3 Fs are find the fish, find the depth, feed the fish. I used this as in most cases with newcomers if they can get these three elements correct they stand a better chance of catching and remaining in the sport. Find the fish is not always easy to explain but essentially if on a commercial then there will be fish in front of you and in the margins but on natural waters you are looking for a variety of things – wind, vegetation, overhanging bushes, flow, etc.. This combined with finding the depth, not just where you are casting but the whole area in front of you can give you a picture of what lies beneath the surface and identify further fish holding spots – deeper areas, drop offs, slopes, etc… This then gives you a better chance to target the correct area of the swim. Finally feeding the fish, I generally try to instill a little and often approach as this will often produce more consistently than handfuls of bait being thrown in sporadically which tends to be the case with newcomers. The choice of bait also comes into this but along with presentation are the next steps in a newcomer’s journey.

So how does this fit in with my fishing? Last season after 9 years of trying I finally got a 50lb weight out of Bowood after several near misses. This may not seem much in these days of three figure weights in commercials but we are talking of a water that is not stocked, is predominantly bream and tench and only a small part is available for fishing. At the start of the season the larger fish tend to congregate in the shallows for spawning and feeding but are only willing to feed with colour in the water. Now already my first trip to Bowood resulted in a 52lb weight as there was plenty of colour in peg 1, I did not expect the colour to be there when two days later I returned but the water was still highly coloured so I set up again on Peg 1 (no other angler tends to attempt to fish it as it is so shallow and weedy other than the odd one who reads the blog!).

The Ugly Duckling rig was brought into play again (2x no6 shot were added to the bulk to dot it down), the thinking behind the rig is that the 1g bulk tends to get it down past any rudd lurking but with the bulk set an inch or so off bottom it is easy to ensure the bait is past any weed. Anyway with plumbing up I had determined there was a hole three inches deeper slightly to the right of me at 10m. Using last session as a guide I introduced two full large pots of loose groundbait with a dozen grains of corn and 20-30 pieces of wheat, corn went on the hook straight away.It was not long before a bream of 3-06 was in the net, several others followed before I hooked something slightly better that turned out to be one of 5-12.

Baits were steady and if tailed off a pot of loose brought them back, all the while I was firing out a pinch of wheat every put in. At one point it went quiet before the float went under and the elastic streamed out, following a feisty fight a tench of 6lb lay in my net!

In total I had 17 bream again plus the tench, for 56-09 I also had two rudd and a roach which I didn’t count!

As you can see I weigh the fish in the landing net as I go along and note down the weight (minus the net).

Friday was my next opportunity to go and I was expecting to try pegs further up the field with the colour potentially having gone. On arrival there were two anglers where I was intending to fish but I checked Peg 1 and unbelievably the colour was still in the water, without further ado I set up once again, thinking surely I can’t be lucky again! I fished the exact same way, starting at 8:45 and ending at 11:45 (reason why later!) but I did not get 17 bream this time – I got 18 plus two tench of 4-01 and 2-08 for a 58-15 total, again I have discounted the solitary roach I had on corn!

I had planned to fish a bit longer but all of a sudden after the last bream at 11:45 there seemed to be a surge of water and a load of floating decaying weed covered the water in front of me, once I had packed up the weed had floated back out of the swim!

May 2024 Wanderlust!

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A slow start to the month mainly caused by various health appointments, visits from friends and various jobs I had been putting off! As I write this my new passport has just arrived prompted by the impending election (although my bus pass would do) and Gareth’s short trip from China to Jurassic Fishing Lakes in Thailand.

Gareth and family arrived at the lakes on the Thursday evening, fished all day Friday and half a day Saturday before leaving for China. So they draw for choice of pegs on the day before so there is no mad scramble for the “best” areas and Gareth ended up on peg 14 both days. On the Friday he missed a run second cast and then finally latched into a Siamese carp that went 50lb.

Things went a bit quiet as the day got hotter and it was Wendy, Gareth’s wife, that talked him into buying chicken hearts to try. Chicken hearts delivered a whole kilo of them were deposited into the margin and two put on the hook, ten minutes later and a run produces a 85lb carp, ten minutes after resuming it goes again with another at 95lb and a bit later one of 105lb.

He also had a run on the predator rod that resulted in his mackerel being bitten clean in half. Day 2 sees him back at the same peg which again produced, this time a 95lb carp and a 20lb Chao Praya catfish with seven missed runs, probably off the catfish before they had to leave.

Anyway back to more normal sized fish! With the Monkhall festival approaching I decided to make my way there to finalise arrangements and to have a short session on Owl pool which I had not fished before. I decided to limit myself to testing two areas and baits – paste and expander in the margin and at 8m. Feeding micros the long swim was soon fizzing and the 0.16mm line was teamed with a size 14 hook for both paste and margin. First discovery was that there are too many fish in my swim! I was getting constant nudges/liners and the first 4 fish hooked were foul hooked, second discovery was that the new 2mm elastic I was trying was perfect if the fish were lip hooked but was definitely undergunned if foulhooked .

I persevered and ended up with a clutch of F1s up to 2-12 and a few carp plus 10 tench, but at least now I had an idea of what tackle and bait I needed! The time before the event will be preparing the paperwork and tackle plus slotting in a three day trip to Yorkshire!

Another tail hooked Monkhall carp!

April 2024 Part 2 – Away Days!

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It was on 19th that I made my way up to Woodland View near Droitwich to have a practice session in preparation of the three dayer at the end of the month. One reason was I had not fished a “proper” commercial for carp for some time and I wanted to check out the new elastics I had bought from China, the second was I wanted to buy the fishery pellets in readiness as I would have enough to do on the first morning with collecting three days of peg fees and pools.

Making a relatively early start I arrived about 8:30 and duly paid the day ticket and bought my 2mm and 4mm pellets at the on-site tackle shop. It is easy to distinguish Woodlands pellets as they are a blue green colour like the water of the pools! I made my way up to peg 37 on Arles and set up a rig for the margin, one for 2+2 and one for 11m. The two non margin rigs were the same depth, so I had a “light” rig of 0.14mm to a 16 with a float taking 4 no 8 shot and a “heavy” rig of 0.16mm to a 16 with a float taking 0.5g.

Starting on the short line after cupping out a handful of micros to 11m and a large pinch on the 2+2 line it was very quiet, I fed some chopped worm and caster on the 2+2 line with some caster and started feeding a pinch of caster every put in. Eventually I began to get the odd bite but decided to try the long line which I had been feeding with catapulted micros and an expander on the hook to no effect. I brought the rig in and made some adjustments, flicking it out directly in front of me I was putting the pole together when the line tightened and a carp of 3-12 took the expander!

I continued at 11 m for a while and had another carp of 4-08.

Arles carp.

I had most success on expander on the 2+2 line with further carp of 5-04 and 5-00 with five small stockies, nine bream, four rudd, a roach and a perch for about 40lb in the four hours I fished. I came away pleased with the elastics and content that I had a plan for Arles.

No further fishing for me until the three day festival and of course on the Saturday it chucked it down, so much so that on Sunday on my way to the venue a lot of the roads were in a state of flood and it was not a pleasant driving experience. Worse still I knew that the rain would have adversely affected the fishing, so I would need to play things by ear as the matches progressed. Money collected, pegs allocated and weigh boards filled out we got on with the draw and the last peg left was mine. I was hoping for a peg in the high 20s or 30s but ended up on peg 5 (the board) which was upwind and hence flat for a lot of the time.

It was hard, very hard and with two hours to go I had four small fish, two carp a skimmer (blade really) and a perch. With Tony on peg 3 also struggling I decided to spend time down the margin, worm produced another small carp to take my tally to about 2lb. I then threw caution to the wind, put corn on and started to drip feed micros in every put in with just the odd piece of corn. The result was two late carp that took my final weight to a level 12lb and 4/5 in section.

Day two sees us split between Ghost and Back Deans, I was left with peg 38 on Deans with the board again! On looking at the section board it really was a deadly section – peg by peg- Carl Liddle (collector of many brown envelopes), me, Barry Gabriel (winner of many of our festivals and others), Pete Bailey (of Garbolino and many festival wins) and Rolly (Fishomania finalist and winner of many matches). I told myself realistically I was last and so decided to just have a pleasant day ignoring what others were doing. I set up four rigs – a margin one on 0.18mm to a 14, the 2+2 I used on practice and two long rigs one on 0.14mm the other 0.16mm both to 16s.

At the start I cupped in a ball of micros with some casters and a pinch of corn at 11m, a handful of micros mixed with caster and chopped worm on the 2+2 line and a half cup of caster and micros down my left margin. I ignored the right margin as there was a goose sitting on 4 eggs right next to where I would be fishing. I went straight on the 2+2 line with an inch of worm, within five minutes I had my first fish in the net, an bream of about two pound. Apart from a brief try on the margin line that produced a solitary F1 I spent the whole match on the 2+2 line apart from a short look-see on the 11m line. I had 23lb of carp over 2lb, 20lb of silvers, mainly bream and 41-08 of F1s and carp under 2lb for a 86-08 total. I was pleased with the day as I had been kept busy and I was even more delighted and shocked at the weigh in- see pic.

For me to have been that close to so many very good anglers was like winning!

The final day arrives and as is custom those who fished one lake on day two would fish the other on day 3 so I ended up on Ghost 16. The previous day we had strong winds coming off our backs or to our side but today the wind was just as strong but blowing directly into us. Once again with the board and once again next to Barry, who said (tongue in cheek) he would never speak to me ever again if I beat him again! Anyway no such chance of that happening. I must add that I set up a bomb rod each day and never picked it up! With the same rigs set up, worm didn’t work neither did expander other than me losing my first 4 fish (possibly foul hooked) and still blanking after 2 hours. Eventually I had a bream on the 2+2 line, but needed to use a heavier float (the 11m rig) to get presentation right, again I went down the margins alternating between left and right, feeding via a toss pot micros and 4mm with just two grains of corn each put in This got me a few carp and I ended up with 46-00 despite losing two in the last five minutes, making me 3/5. Overall the festival went well with me finishing 12/21 and after finishing the match at 3:30, we packed up, did the weigh in sorted the results paid out three days of brown envelopes and was out of the gate by 4:50.

April 2024- Part 1 The Bs continue!

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With the forthcoming match at Boddington on the near horizon I took my self up there on Tuesday 2nd, mainly to check the water levels and confirm with the bailiff that he had all the details. I decided to go light and just took the whips, setting up on peg 38.

Unusually for Boddington it was like a millpond when I arrived so set up a 6m Chinese whip with a new float that had a long multi-coloured bristle with a sight bob on 0.14mm line and 0.10mm hooklength to an 18. The water was lapping the top platform and I had about 9-10 feet at 8m.

I started off with three balls of groundbait and loose fed over the top. It was slower than normal but plenty of bites, unfortunately the fish were predominately very small with just the odd better example. In the 3 or so hours I was there I had 60 roach and lost two lumps on the whip, the first probably a carp, the second a pike.

Saturday arrives along with the 47mph winds! To be fair it was very windy all day with certain periods that were worse than others and this caused problems with presentation for most. I was running the match and at the draw the last peg in the hat was mine – peg 38! Just where I had been in the week! I had intended to take the pole but with the projected winds I settled on the whips and a waggler rod. To cut a long story short I had 36 roach, lost a lump that was a pike (scale on hook) after a brief fight, had most of the fish in the first 2 hours and then struggled, a couple on the waggler but most on the whip. One of the comments on the day – “presentation was impossible with the waves, one moment the float was a foot out of the water next it was a foot under”. I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures at the calmest point of the day, at points the waves were crashing into the platforms and sending spray up in the air, particularly on the dam wall.

So Monday sees me continuing with the B theme – Burbrook, as I had booked into a match on the Sunday. As I had to collect the exchange ticket first I did not start until 9:30 and set up on peg 1. Plumbing up I had a full top kit in depth once past the initial margin shelf then it was consistent. I set up with a 0.10mm hooklength to a modern 18(explanation to follow) with a 0.6g homemade float. There were a couple of others fishing further down the other end also. I began with two hard balls of groundbait laced with casters at 8m and fed a swim to my right just over the shelf plus one to my right where I put in some chopped worm. By 1 o’clock I had caught 4 small perch all on maggot, one from the right and the rest out in front. I had lost a better fish with my only bite on the left and had two very small roach drop off on shipping back. At this point I decided changes where the order of the day, so first I put on an old style 17 hook which when you compare it to a modern day 20 is smaller! The modern hooks do not have any consistency of size across not just brands but also within brands! Secondly I put out three large pots of loose groundbait with just a pinch of caster on the 8m line. This seemed to work as between one and two o’clock I added 4 chub, a hybrid and a roach.

As the old adage goes – if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got! Change was needed and this is probably something I need to work on as I can be stubborn trying to make a method work!

Sunday arrives Burbrook is only small and the ten pegs that were in filled the place. The four left out were 1,6,11 and 14, either because they crossed other pegs or were in the process of being “desnagged”. I drew peg 13 which after being told by a regular that it was in the corner, which I thought odd as that I thought was 14, the match organiser then came around and indeed the regular was on the wrong peg so we shifted up one and finally on 13 I looked across and there was peg 1 about 20m away!

Setting up like on peg one I also set up a rig for close in (2+1) which was the same depth but used a light float for on the drop and a heavier margin rig for the left margin where I planned to put chopped worm, micro and caster. The match got under way and it was hard, after 2 hours I was blanking while the regular on 12 was catch small fish at mid depth. The light rig produced nothing but finally on my peg 1 rig I got a perch on a tiny piece of worm over my caster line. I had one perch from my margin line, so at 12:30 I cupped out three pots of loose groundbait and sat and waited. Maggot had not got me a single bite so I persisted with small pieces of worm then at 2 o’clock I had my first bite, a small chub. Twenty minutes later another came to the net along with another perch and roach. That was it, I missed three bites that I am sure were liners as the float shot under but nothing and no marks on the bait.

The match had been hard for all, with some only having one fish, with three left to weigh I was lying second with a level 2lb behind a single carp of 3lb, peg 2 then put 2-06 on the scales and Darren who was on peg 3 put 3-06 on the scales to make me 4th and one out of the money! Darren, who had lost a big fish earlier in the match said he had a last minute chub that swung it for him, proving you need to keep going right to the end.

My thoughts now turn to the three day event I am in charge of at Woodland View at the end of the month.

March 2024 – part 2, a BB finish!

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h the Bowood season closed it was on the Saturday 16th that I find myself at the Glebe again for the second of the Maggotdrowners matches. The draw arrives and deja -vu, peg 26 sticks to my fingers again!

I decided to ignore the feeder, although I still set it up and went for a pole approach with the 2+2 line as my main attack and the 13m line as a back up for when I wanted to rest the close in line. Starting on the close line having deposited three balls of groundbait laced with 2mm expanders at 13m I introduced one ball and fed a pinch of maggot every put in. Small skimmers and roach along with huge gudgeon began to go in the net but it was not frantic. In the end I stayed on the 2+2 line all match apart from a 10min stint on the longer line that resulted in a missed bite. At the all out I had put 61 small silvers in the net along with approx 11lb of bream, the carp net(s) (nets as carp under 2lb go in a separate net) held five carp 10lb, 8lb, 2x 3lb and a 1lb baby! This gave me 18-11 of silvers, 25-10 of carp for a total of 44-05. This put me 5/10 in the section, 6/20 in the silvers, 11/20 in the carp and 12/20 overall, missing the silvers section money by 14oz. The day was made by Darren who had drawn peg 2, opened up his holdall and realised he had left his pole at home, just having top kits and a no 3 section plus a waggler rod. Undeterred he fished top 2 and later top 3 to walk the match with a superb all silvers catch of 76-05.

Darren talked me into fishing a local match the following Sunday at Pockridge Lake near Corsham so as I had never seen the lake I made my way there on Tuesday to see what it was like. The ubiquitous rain we have been getting had taken it’s toll on the paths, which are apparently used by the public and dog walkers, they were now a muddy quagmire.

I set up on what turned out to be peg 4 in the match and fished at 5m before going out to 10m to see the difference. I set up one rig- a homemade taking 0.6g to 0.12mm main line and 0.10mm hooklength to an 18 – this rig would cope with both swims with the depth of each marked on the pole with different color chinograph pencils. Starting cautiously I cupped in two small balls at 10m and one at 5m, then loose fed a pinch of maggot each put in (pellet is not allowed here until April). I was soon catching small roach at 5m but decided to see if I could get a better stamp so put a piece of corn on and the bites took ever so slightly longer to come but the stamp was much better. The same happened when I went out to 10m. I fished about 3 hours and had 38 roach and 6 rudd plus dropped a few more when swinging in for approx 8lb.

Sunday arrives and I draw peg 7 which turned out to be the point almost opposite Tuesday’s peg.

It was a funny peg as I had the island directly in front, to my left was a bramble lined margin and to my right and behind me I had a weeded margin. I had not bothered to bring a rod having already made the decision just to have a pleasant day on the pole. Starting at 2+2 directly in front was my main attack but also fed two lines at 10m about 5m apart, the right hand one with caster the other with chopped worm, I also set up a heavier rig for the margin in case carp showed plus a slightly heavier rig then the short line for the long line as insurance against the large perch that were reputed to be present. The all in arrived and the first two hours went to plan with a steady stream of roach and small skimmers coming to hand, then it stopped- just like a tap had been turned off. For the rest of the match I rotated through all the lines and had only 3 further fish, one a small perch caught on worm in the left margin and two roach. Strangely I could not get a bite on corn with the fish coming to double maggot. I dropped one fish of about 3oz trying to swing it when I should have netted it but other than that I didn’t lose any. At the weigh in I was weighed first as the match organiser was on 6 and had arranged to weigh me and then for me to weigh his fish. I ended up with 2-13-8 while he weighed 2-15-0! The match was one from the other end of the lake with 10lb, second also down the other end 6lb (both had carp I believe) and third was peg 4 with 4lb which was mainly 2 big perch.

The organiser had said he was thinking of putting another match on in a couple of weeks but this time at Burbrook Lake, Bromham which is less than 10 minutes from home, so I booked on to that one. The following Friday (Good Friday) sees me at Burbrook in gloomy wet weather on Peg 3 I believe, the near bank but towards the far corner. I only took my whips as I wanted to try out a new Chinese float. It was hard with it taking a bit of time to get bites, feeding caster into the 5 feet of water at the end of the 6m whip (Chinese of course!). Eventually I ended up fishing double caster for a small skimmer, a perch, five roach and a chub of about 10oz, for a weight of 2-3lb (no scales).

Easter Sunday sees me at the second of the Bs from the title – Blacklands. Fishing peg 4 I tackled it my usual way with chopped worm at 10m, pellet at 10m 5m away to the left from the worm (11 and 1 0’clock). Fishing a homemade Chianti style float taking 0.6g on 0.12mm to a 0.10mm hooklength and an 18. No groundbait is allowed at Blacklands so loose fed caster close in at 2+2 range and over the chopped worm line with loose fed pellet over the left line.

Basically to cut a long story short, I fished for 3 hours had four skimmers (3 between 1-1.5LB), 2 hybrids of 1lb+ and 2-2.5lb,1 perch and 22 roach. Most came from the worm line, one roach on the pellet line, although the last hour on the worm line saw me fishing double caster . I had made a mental note as I was catching and thought I had between 10 and 10.5lb.

I start of April with another BB- Boddington and Burbrook!

February 2024 – Part 2 the rise and fall…

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With Gareth and family safely back in China I made preparations for a Maggotdrowners match at the Glebe on Saturday 17th. I had talked Darren into having a go and arranged to meet him at Moreton in the Marsh so he could follow me up to the Glebe as it was his first time. We arrived on time without incident and Darren drew peg 20 and I was on 26. My preparations had not been done that well as I realised that I had left my pole cup in the other bag when I had been out with Gareth, fortunately Darren lent me a spare. For some reason I forgot to take any pictures but I started on the feeder tight across and was patting myself on the back when the feeder was going down the same hole each time – a rare incident! Anyway a roach, skimmer and monster gudgeon made the way to the net by the time we reached the 30min mark while peg 24 had about 4 carp in this time.

The match had been split into two payouts- silvers only and everything counts -with each section getting a silvers and overall winner, you could win one but not both. I had set out for silvers as I wanted to see if I could get the usual bream of 1.5lb to 3lb feeding as being February I suspected the carp may be more bunched up. Hence, I had fished maggot on the feeder and had primed a long line at 13m and a short line at 2+2, the long line with groundbait, 4mm pellet and corn, while the short line received one ball of groundbait and a pot of micros with a few 4mm expanders and a few maggot. Tackle was unusual for me as the long line was normal with a 0.8g homemade float on 0.14mm line, a 0.12mm hooklength to a 16, the short line however was again homemade but took just three no8 shot spread in the last 3 feet again to a 0.12mm line and 16 hook.

The feeder was put up the bank and I had a look on the long line and began to pick up small skimmers of only an ounce or two on maggot or expander at 13m but although I was putting fish in the net along with one better skimmer of a pound it was not fast enough due to the size of the fish. So on to the 2+2 line again it was a case of small skimmers interspersed with the odd roach and gudgeon no matter whether I had maggot or expander on the hook, but expander brought the bites faster. I stayed on this line for the rest of the match but the fish were very small in comparison to the usual silvers at the Glebe. After three hours I hooked and landed a carp of around 8lb but it was the last 40 minutes when the silvers got pushed out by the carp. I caught two carp of a similar size to the first but then I managed to snap my hook off in the bank side vegetation and instead of just tying on a new hook I took the hooklength off and replaced it with a similar one but with a narrower gauge 16 hook – a big mistake as I lost three carp on the bounce as the gauge of wire was pulling through and not holding the carp. I managed one further carp of about 3lb. I was on the board for the weigh in and Darren had had a good day – sticking on the 2+2 line and feeding and fishing maggot he had caught consistently all day and ended up winning the silvers pot for the section. Looking at his fish I guessed I had caught a similar amount but mine were a great deal smaller. I ended up with 15-11 of silvers and my 4 carp went 29-10 that put me 6th overall, and 5th in the silvers.

Darren went home pleased with his day and looking forward to the next on 16th March! It was only at the end of the match that we discovered that Roy Marlow, the owner and ex-Likely Lad, had died on the bank the previous day, a true loss to angling.

Events and weather then conspired against me, with a recurrence of my dodgy knee and monsoon type weather at times I stayed in until the following Siunday when I packed the haversack seat and took a rod bag with a waggler and feeder rod up to the Stock Pond at Bowood on the premise that it would do me good and was the only place likely to be fishable. It was fishable but no-one told the fish!The main lake was muddy after all the rain and it looked as if they had opened the sluice as the water level was lower than normal. I squelched my way up to the Stock Pond and despite it only being 1C on arrival I expected to get a few bites- how wrong can you me – 9:30 to 11:30 fishing and not a bite on either waggler or lead. There had been one hardy pike angler on the main lake when I walked up but he had gone when I walked back.

Tuesday sees me pluck up the courage to go to peg 10 at Bowood, there was a lot of debris and large sticks on the platform and walkway which gave credence to the theory that the rain over the last week or so had risen the level to over the platform and the sluice had then been opened to alleviate the situation.

There was an undertow from right to left against the strong cold wind again a cold night and only 1C on arrival. I fished in my usual manner, the pike rod was untroubled but I did prevent a blank with 3 roach, 2 rudd, 2 skimmers/blades and a micro-perch for 0-06. Two other anglers came after me on the other bank but I did not see them catch, Oh for a period of settled weather! It has to be said that apart from one bite that took the float under the rest merely moved the tip a mm or so which meant I needed to concentrate hard on the float.

March means 14 days maximum of Bowood to end of season and then the return to the Glebe.