I've neglected me bloggings a bit of late, but a quick glance at my last one reveals how quickly we've moved into autumn / winter fishing. Ton weights on catfood ? Pah, thats yesterday's news. Roll on next summer ! In the meantime heres what i can remember from the last 6 weeks or so:


Sun 15th Oct - Surrey Winter League - River Mole
Yet another venue I hadnt fished but was keen to have a go on given that i spent my younger years on small rivers in Yorkshire. A few mails & calls to my Leatherhead Mole expert chums gave me some pointers, I just needed a half decent draw and there could be a good chance i'd catch my first chub in over 10 years ! Blimey, time flies. I was informed I'd drawn just that - half decent, not a flier, but half decent, and could expect some roach & dace with the chance of chub showing late on. Twas a lovely looking peg on the Leatherhead stretch, about 10 mtrs wide with an elderberry bush trailing in the water on the far bank, and some trees right down the peg on my own bank. I could see the bottom upto halfway over before it dipped into a deeper channel 2 rod lengths out which is where i fancied a few bites.

The various information pointed to a pole and waggler affair, most poeple ruling out a stick float, but as it'd been a few years since i'd had a spliced tip rod out of the holdall i set one up anyway :) a 4 x 6 Pete Warren (just for old times sake) on 2.5lb Matchwinner and a size 18 Drennan Maggot hook. A 3BB wagg featured identical terminal tackle, with a couple of no10s and a tiny swivel above the hooklength, and i ran a 4 x 12 up-bodied pole float shotted with no9s onto 0.14 with the same hook. I pulled the waders up, got in the water, put the bait into my apron (dug out of the shed), the sun was shining; it was heavenly.... !

And a very pleasant day ensued, switching mainly between the waggler and the pole, i caught about 7lb of silvers with some lovely roach coming on the pole & caster after i sussed out that the better fish were sat right on the deck upstream of where i'd been feeding (which was a good 3 yards downstream of me) - so i'd bulked down bar one dropper, put it a few inches overdepth lowered it in at the head of the swim and as it passed over the hotspot, just slowed it down and every 5 mins a 6-10oz roach would come out. Alternatively i could run the waggler through to the end of the bush and usually catch a small dace or chublet and so on. However i got to thinking that this wasnt gonna get me that many points - it would only take a couple of chub from any peg to batter me. The dilema was to up the feed and kill off the roach and hope for a chub showing, obviously i'm a bit wary of killing the swim if they dont show, so i left it as late as possible - an hour to go - before feeding much heavier. The bites faded out, but 20 mins later the waggler dipped and something much lumpier headed for the bushes, 3 mins later a nice chub about 2lb10oz went into the net. 10 mins later a slightly smaller brother of about 2lb joined it, no more are forthcoming and I've weighed in 11lb 14oz, 3rd in section, 4pnts, a really enjoyable day, out in the sticks, lovely little river, cows moo'ing, fresh air, wicked.

Saturday 21st October - Bury Hill Bonds
As previously stated, I like Bury Hill, and have been trying to get there ever since Ken Collins started running matches at the end of summer. Bonds is the out & out match carp lake there, I've pleasure fished it in the middle of winter before and had really goods weights, so was hopeful it would fish well. Unfortunately i did hear there'd beena fish kill, and so it proved on the day, as it fished pretty hard. The main thing was the feeding has definitely shifted to all things wintery, which was where i fell down, i didnt exactly fill it in, in fact i didnt feed much at all however i just got it wrong by potting in after catching a couple of early fish. The outcome was about 2 hrs without a fish, and it was only in the second half that i managed to sort it out and put together a relatively regular spell of bites & fish. I didnt miss any bites, its just that they were at a premium. Anyway, I've weighed in 55lb for 6th (3rd in section) which is first out of the money.


Sunday Nov 5th - Wey Nevigation Canal @ Black Boys
Something new again, what is seemingly the first of my yearly 2 visits to the Wey Nav, one to fish in the Winter Leagiue, and one to practise there a couple of weeks beforehand. Having said that i do like it, mainly cos its different - a canal that runs like a river - and i get a chance to fish breadpunch and bloodworm, 2 methods i like but rarely ever fish nowadays. After a bit of a chinwag to a couple of Wey Nav regulars, i decide to focus on 2 main lines of attack, punch down the middle in the deepest part, with a b&j line at the bottom of the far shelf. The punch rig is a 4x12 Drennan Trio on about 3.5 mtrs of 0.08 to a size 20 511, shotted with 9s & 11s, the worm rig is a Sensas 0.5grm flat float, with a bulk of 8s and 2 11 droppers. I decided to make these rigs up with Preston Shotz, which are great on thick line cos they move about really easily, and i figured the same principle must apply to light lines - even more so, moving a shot on thin lines is a nightmare - and they worked really well, especially as the bulk shot moving very easily with no line damage. Anyway...

80% of a 1/4 kilo of joker in double leam went into 6 hard balls and were plonked at the foot of the shelf where they would sit for at least an hour while i had a whirl on the punch. A golfball of liquidised bread started that line, 3rd run down the float dips and a 2 oz roach comes to hand. This carries on for about an hour or so, before i reach the point that comes to all bread punch swims; how to refeed. And at this point, i cock it up, not because i've refed it completely wrong, but cos i refed it badly - ie inaccurately, and the fish get scattered all over the place. After 5 or 10 biteless minutes i finally catch a couple right down the swim and realise that i've made a bit of a mess of it. I limp on til about halfway, refeeding a marble of punch and catching the odd fish here and there but with no consistency and i'm getting frustrated. I decide to look on the longer line, but know that really i should still be catching one a bung on the punch.

The bloodworm line just doesnt seem to work either with only 3 fish in 20 or 30 mins and i quickly lose confidence in it. About this point my neightbour nets a 3lb tench from his far bank chop & caster line and i decide to have a look against the far boat where i've pinged a few casters throughout the day. This doesnt work either, and the next thing i know theres only about 90,100 mins left, i've knackered all my swims and on a venue like this i just cant see where i'm gonna get a bite from. I decide to be positive and focus on the line that has been the most productive, the punch line.

I've been flicking 2 or 3 casters over this every 10 mins or so, and decide to feed a small hardish ball about 1.5" dia just downstream of me through the cupping kit with a little bit of loose punch to make the cloud. I refine the rig and 2nd run down i'm back into fish. They are back right over the feed, and my little mission now is to just really concentrate and fish as well as possible til the end of the match. I resist all urges to throw bait in, instead using the cup with a marble every 10 mins or so, and it works, i keep the fish coming steadily. I've been having the odd look on a caster, I've only caught 2 or 3 on it, 1 about 5 oz, but as the light fades i fancy the bigger ones to show, sure enough 2 proper fish show late on to the shell, one about 12oz. Final weigh in is 5lb 4 or something, for 4th. Just short of 12lb has won, but 8 is 2nd, 7 odd is 3rd and i know i should have beaten those. Interesting day, lots of things learnt and very much looking forward to returning next week, however straight after the match everyone tells me that the Winter League match has been swapped with the Willinghurst one, so i've just spent the day practising on the worng venue. Doh !



Sunday 12th Nov - Surrey Winter league @ Willinghurst
So I havent been here since the first of October, I know full well thats its changed a lot since then and its been fishing hard on most lakes, with only Top Lake showing any fish, even then most blokes are fishing for roach weights and nicking the odd carp early or late. I fancy a day on Horsheshoe, at least you can usually geta few bites from the F1s to keep you interested. I duly draw Horseshoe 1

Now, I've drawn this peg before last winter, and was battered off the next peg. 1 & 2 sit next to each other on a point facing into the middle, however from peg 2 you can dominate the middle of the lake whereas peg 1 is a bit more restricted. Well thats my excuse - last time on there i weighed in 13lb or so while peg 2 had 45lb. Still, at laest i should have a better idea of what to expect, i hear it fished hard yesterday with 20lb winning the lake so i'm thinking if i can get to 15lb i'll be happy anything beyond that would be good.

Its deep - 7' or so over the shelf, and while you can catch big weights shallow in teh warmer months, i wasnt expecting much off the deck today. Like most of the anglers sat round the lake, i started on a maggot feeder, after 20 mins the tip jagged round and i caught the first f1 on the lake. Over the next hour or so, most people catch at least one or so, however the Dorking bloke in my section, Mark Goddard, also lands a lumpy carp from his corner peg, so the rest of us are playing catch up.

About 1hr in, and i decide to have a good look on the pole, theres a few roach around, 30 mins later the white hydro tugs out properly and the 2nd f1 hits the pan. Its not going mad, but to be honest, i'm in the hunt with 2 at this point. However, i commit the winter sin again and over feed it, the f1s are so finicky i can literally sense them move away from the bait, the bites get really iffy and then they stop completely. A sit without a bite for an hour and thrown the feeder out - i'd like to say it was strategic, but really its just in desperation :) My neighbour obviously concurs and follows suit, however the difference is he catches 3 f1s in 3 throws, while i remain biteless. Bah.

I can sense a blowout here so i decide to think like any good team member and try to catch anything that might be swimming. I shuffle the rig around, resume pingiong a few casters & maggots and start to catch small roach again. It should be possible to catch 4 or 5lb of these in the last 2 hours, which could potentially prevent a last in section. At least its a few bites and abit of fun, and no-one else is really catching in my section either. I strike at a regular roach bite and its immediately eveident it aint no roach - i've had to set the white hydro really soft to prevent me from bumping the little roach, within moments theres about 30' of it wanging out of the tip, that'll be a carp then, and when the elastic is so stretched out theres no real way of knowing what kind of size - they regularly come out to 18lb in this lake; this could be fun.

10 mins later and i'm in with a chance of landing this - i've somehow managed to find a bung extractor from my box while playing the fish, and have pulled the elastic back out of the top kit in the same manner as a milo pull bung (works a treat, must buy one !) - and then its finally in the net, about 8-9lb, its turned what was a miserable birthday into something far more interesting (yes, 21 again). A few more roach show, no more f1s, but i'm just happy i've salvaged some points, at the scales i weigh 12lb 10, 3rd in section (again) and 4 more points. Funny old day.

Tight Lines

Sunday 24th September - Willinghurst Open

One of the venues I'm keen to get to grips with this year is Willinghurst, and as the first round of the AT Winter League is on the venue in a week's time, the Sunday open followed by the midweek open would give me the perfect opportunity to get upto speed and see if I've made any progression.

There's a decent turnout for this, about 70 blokes, some real top notch anglers out from all sorts of squads, many practising for the first round so lots of Dorking members, but also plenty from the area in general as it's one of the biggest matches on in the south this weekend. ie its another £25 thrown away !

There's loads of lakes in, but I really fancy a draw on the back bank on Top Lake - it's consistent enough and while it could throw a weight up, I feel it will be more suited to me just working out what the general methods for the Winter League are gonna be. Peg 18 on the back bank of Top duly sticks to my hand, so I'm happy enough and for company I have fellow LDAS members Mark Smith & Kev Gaywood both to my right - a quid each way side bet is soon struck.

I decided to keep it simple enough, concentrating on a line straight out & over the shelf at about 7mts, with options to look in the edges (bit shallow) or long if the shelf line was working. Bait was to be catmeat short, corn in the margins, pellet long if its a struggle. Starting on 11am, the first hour brought 2 fish on catmeat, typical lake average fish of about 5lb. No more bites were forthcoming in the next 90 mins apart from the constant chiselling by roach, which wasnt ideal. I've been guilty in the past of spreading lines about all over and then catching nowt on any of them, soI'm always reluctant to chage tactics onthis kind of venue, however coming upto 2pm i decided to pot in pellets, hemp and a bit of corn at 12 mtrs off to an angle and see what happened. 10 mins later the area was fizzing; looks promising.

45 mins later, liners, dips, foul hookers but no fish, very frustrating and some decisive action was needed. I potted in a bit of catmeat, thinking that they needed something substantial to chew on other than gill feeding and wafting particles off the deck. As the depth was identical i shipped out with the short catmeat rig, 2 mins later a 5lb fish was in the net. I started to build a few fish up, whilst hoping to catch a few in the edge later, unfortunately that bit never happened and in between pullingout of fish - 3 in 3 chucks at one point ! - it all fizzled out leaving lots of unanswered questions and 45lb of fish. Happily that was enough to beat Smiffy off the next peg (although not by the 100lb + margin which he hammered me on my first ever LDAS match - when i avenge that I'll be truly happy !) but not enough to beat the Palace supporting Kev 2 away, who weighed 54 and was"more than happy to take a quid off a Leeds fan". Right, cheers.


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Wednesday 27th - Willinghurst open - Top Lake
A very rare midweek outing for me, but I've got the bug and I'm dead focussed on cracking it, so I'm rarin to go. I draw 21, a peg I've never fished and always fancied a go on, its a noted edge peg, and has thrown up some big weights this season, 250 - 300+ kind of weights.

Taking Sunday's learning into consideration, I decide to keep it very simple - one line over the shelf and one line down the egde - and really try to work out the feeding pattern. The place has a habit of throwing up 2 or 3 fish early, then you can scratch for a couple of bites each hour before they turn up in the margins after 3pm.

Sure enough, the first hour I had 3 fish, then not even a bite for 90 mins. Feeding wise, it was dripping in through the tosspot & fishing for bites, eventually I got one, and then scratched out a fish an hour or so. By 2:30 its evident that I'm going nowhere - the flyer 22 is right behind me with Dorking's Pemb Whiting sat on it, and he's heading towards 100lb, and in the bombhole is Ross who is heading the same way. I'm confident that I'll have some fish down the edge later, so i decide to feed harder on the shelf line, there's nowt to lose, and the fish start to turn up, by 3pm theres 6 in the net. No-one else is really catching other than these 2 and Alan Woods on 19 who has had fish all match long on catmeat.. Time to sort this out and see if I can at least give a decent account of myself.

Quick look down the margin to the tree where the weights usually show - no-one is home, so back to the 6mtr line. I've tweaked the set up following Sundays lost fish and its working a bit better and by 3:45 theres about 45lb in the net. Back down the edge.

Its a fish a throw, not the 7, 8lbrs I'm after, but they are here now, between 4 & 5 o'clock I put 60lb in, 2 pieces of corn under a 4x12 PB4 on 0.21 in about 2.5' of water, feeding by hand about 9 mtrs away, great fishing. The last half hour is inexplicably slow, the bites get really cagey and i catch just one more fish, will it be enough to frame...?

Ross weighs 126, Pemb weighs 116. I've possibly caught the best in the last 2 hrs, can i catch these ? No, just short on 105, and even worse, Alan Woods pips me by 1lb. Finally theres a 108 from a peg on the other side of the lake that i couldnt see.... I've missed out on 2nd by 2 fish, and dont even get the section. I immediately pinpoint where I've gone wrong - feeding, timings of the edge line, and know that I could have actually won this if i'd've got a couple of things right.


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Sunday 1st October - Surrey Winter league - Willinghurst
Last year was the first time I fished in this, and to be honest I was completely shocked when Leatherhead asked me to fish, they must've been really desperate. However I came 2nd in my section in this match last year, beaten only by Des Shipp, it was a right buzz, which was quite inspiring and thats what its all about I guess (although the buzz would've been even bigger if I'd've beaten him !)

I'd be happy with a draw on Top Lake, any peg would do, its the lake I'm most familiar with, and some of the other lakes have been well patchy of late, at least Top is consistent. I must have good drawbag karma (or I'm just a spawny git), as i'm on Top 6, although on Weds there was only about 5 fish off it, so I'm a bit 50/50 about being there. I have a chat with the other team members about their draw and completely forget to ask how the peg fished in yesterdays Open....

About peg 6. 10 mtrs to the left is a tree stump in the water and about 25 -30 mtrs straight out is an aerator, and running between them is a rope. Theres always fish having a chew on this rope, and today is no exception, in fact there are quite a lot of fish showing on the surface. I decide to cover my options - my finely tuned catmeat rig on black hydro, a pellet rig for the same distance, my 4x12 margin rig plus duplicate, both on red bungee and a shallow rig if they really are gonna have a go up in the water. Theres a few fish blowing too, I'm feeling confident. However I then discover that pegs 21, 22 and 2 in the bomb hole are all in our section, oh well, just a days fishing then innit ? I'm targetting 70lb, but will be chuffed with 50 really.

I've started at 10mtrs, pot of hemp, 6mm pellets and a few pieces of catmeat, some corn down the edge and away we go. First throw, 10 secs, boomf, fish in the net. Next cast lose one, next cast foul hooker, next cast one in the net, 2 foul hookers, one more in the net, lose one more, the 4th is in the net, hour gone, great start. Slows off a little bit, here comes the "fish an hour" bit, at least I got 4 in the first 60 mins though, especially as there are 3 match winning pegs in the section. Theres still fish around though, and after 30 mins I finally nail the feeding pattern - I catch another, then another then another, at the end of 2 hours its 8, after that, its bites all the way, approx 4 fish an hour, a few too many lost until about 2:45, when i need to start looking down the edge.

At this point, my main concern is peg 21, where venue regular Steve Collins has been catching big lumps down the edge, and I estimate has over 50lb. I cant see in the bombhole, its England bloke Steve Hemingray, so i estimate he will have 50lb or so too. The others seem quite quiet, overall the lake doesnt seem to be fishing that well. I reckon I have 80lb or so, I've caught about 16 fish, average 5lb. I cant deny I'm a bit nervous - mainly in case i fck it up ! I've fed 2 egde lines, about 12 mtrs to my right and about 9 mtrs to my left. 3 casts to my right lead to foul hookers and liners, great big bow waves as lumps shoot off, no good. Theres nothing in the left margin yet, so i decide to catch a couple more at 10mtrs where they are still blowing. That goes to plan, and I have another go down the right edge - more lost fish, I'm fishing like a fanny really, anyway, I look in the left where its a bit closer, the float goes straight away and i have 6 or 7 on the bounce, and I finally start to feel that I'm pulling clear away from the rest of the section.

We're about right on the whistle, I need to decide where to put the float - left where i've just had 6 fish, or right where they must be queueing up ? I stick to what works, fling a load of corn down the left margin, hastily swing the bait into position, and will it to go under. After about 20 seconds I start regretting the choice when it buries, i set the hook and time is called. I immediately know its a proper lump, the pole is bending to the butt and the fish is on the deck, its heavy. A painfully long 5 minutes later and I've managed to juggle a carp of at least 15lb into the landing net, and i know i've won the lake at least.

I've been lucky really - the peg was solid and they were feeding. My neighbour kindly informs me that Top6 won yesterdays match with 250lb and now i feel a bit of a prat ! There again they dont always fish 2 days running do they ? A quick ask around and it looks promising, I've clearly won the section, probably the lake and aside from Des Shipp on Old Lake there are no other weights been talked about. I think I've got about 115lb, its 117 in reality and at the final results its good enough for 2nd !

I'm sure a better bloke than me could've beaten the 185 match winning weight off the peg on the day, and in hindsight I'm sure i could've got close if I'd've fished it better / properly, however I'm more than happy to come 2nd. No matter how i fished, I've still come 2nd, and I'm chuffed to bits really - its the first time I've framed in a big match for nearly 20 years! The wife is well proud, I tell her its only cos she let me out to practise so often - she looks at me very suspiciously, so I bung her the wedge (well, some of it), tell her I'll spend next Sunday at home and she's soon encouraging me to stick at it (er, okay then). All's well in the world....


Tight Lines !

Sunday 10th Sept - Bough Beech

Here's somewhere I hadnt been before. I'd heard about this place from match reports & stuff, a big open reservoir in Kent, mainly bream fishing, not particularly big fish, but lots of bites on the feeder, with the chance of catching some decent roach on the pole or waggler. Its quite exposed, and I'd heard blokes talking about their nets been blown back up the bank when the wind gets up, and big waves etc. The match record had recently gone, 70 odd pound, from the bank we were on, lots of 50 & 60b weights in that too, so it had been fishing really well. I'm partial to a bit of "old school" feeder fishing, so off i went from West London into darkest Kent.

It was a lovely day - 25 degrees and flat calm, however not ideal bream weather by any stretch. There was a match in progress on one section, but not many were catching at all. The water had a thick film of green algae round the margin too. I'd forgotten me waders, so i had to kind of plot up in the slime. I'd drawn onthe right hand side of a point, facing diagonally across the water - I had a feeling that you needed to be on the 3 pegs or so facing straight out on the tip of the point, but unperturbed, I set up sorting myself out. I knew it was a big cast in here to get over the long shelf to the flat bed, so I'd rigged up a MAP 13" power feeder with a soft 1.75oz glass tip in it - strong enough to punch a feeder a distance, but soft enough to spot any bites. I used Drennan feeder braid for this - i knew the fish averaged 8oz, and in 30' of water 55 yds out, I wanted to see every movement. A size 16 Mustad Bream Feeder to a 0.14 hooklength finished it off. After a few casts with a big bomb to set the clip and establish the reel turns I was ready, and put 8 big feeder loads of chopped worm & casters on the deck. First cast with a smaller feeder and a worm on the hook and it wanged round - however instead of the hoped for skimmer it was a 1oz perch. This carried until i started getting really fast quick bites; i finally hit one and a 6oz roach came in. Hmmm.

This proved to be the pattern - roach had obviously moved onto the feed, not the skimmers i wanted and that the pegs to my left had started catching. The roach were just hitting the hookbait too quickly that far out in that depth of water, and were impossible to connect with. I decided to switch to hair rigged corn with a size 18 hook on a really short hair, reckoning that if they took the corn in they wouldnt be able to eject the hook. The skimmers would still take this if they turned up. It worked - I started to hit the bites, and landed a string of 6oz roach.

Eventually as the sun got hotter they disappeared, and i struggled for bites, until about 3pm when I finally had 2 skimmers in 2 casts, expected a great last hour and then never had anoother bite. I weighed in 10lb 15oz for 5th, Mark Hathway easily won with 26lb of skimmers caught steadily through the match from the point to my left, Jim Heasman one to his left was third and Irvine was 4th only interupted by Mark Smith who'd drawn in the further bay - he caught 16lb of roach on the waggler for second, all in the last hour.




Sunday 17th September -Framfield Brookhouse.
Framfield is a pig of a drive for me, but i came 2nd there last year and the competitive streak in me meant I had to see if i could go one better. I knew a low draw would be needed, we turned up late, there were 3 numbers left, including 5 & 7, i duly picked 5 out, a good start ! My mate Matt joined me on his second outing in 2 years -he pulled out 20, which looked very fishy.

So after fishing there last year for the first time, i knew they way to do a proper weight would be to fish floaters all match really. Not my favourite thing but atthe end of the day, thats the winning method. The fish on the deck, or shallow on pellet were just smaller. I set up a biscuit rig and a paste rig to try and catch any edge lumps and that was it, both rigs 0.18 to Drennan red bungee, which I've used a lot this season and i really rate it, softer than red hydro but just as strong. For fish this size black hydro would be more than ample, but i wanted to get them in as fast as possible.

A slowish start ended with 7 fish in the first hour, by the time of the first weigh in at mid way, i had about 23, 34 fish for 57lb, which was 2nd, Ross to my right, a biscuit king had over 80. It would be hard to catch him, and i was only about 7lb ahead of Nick Kenward on the other side, another floater man. For the second year running Hathers has drawn peg 7, this year I was to his right, would I be able to beat him again, this time a round pound was riding on it.

The fish were still there, but I had a spell of fish swirling and not taking, so i tweaked the rig so it was just dapping onto the surface,c ame in shorter and started feeding by hand and never looked back, at some points they were coming within seconds of it hitting the top, proper bagging. I had 30lb to make up on Ross from the morning, despite banter claiming he hadnt caught all afternoon, i knew he had at least 120lb. I wasnt sure if i'd do a 100, so it was 2nd at best.

The scales finally came down, I had 114lb in the afternoon (and took some grief for claiming way less, honest i thought it was) - 171 in total for second and a quid of my neighbour. Ross plopped 140 on from the afternoon, a total of 228, he's done me both halves !! Nick weighed in 150 for 3rd.

And over on peg 20, Matt has not only weighed in his first ever ton, but he's snuck into the frame in 4th, I'm dead chuffed for him cos he is unable to make it out very often, and he's grinning ear to ear (at least until i took a quid off him as well)


Tight lines

Sunday 13th August - Willinghurst Old & New
Sunday 20th August - Willinghurst Top

A quick mention of Sunday 13th:
- its was split across Old & New. You wanted to be on Old, ideally 7 or 14 would do it - New was fishing awful since reopening (closed due to bad algae / fish deaths)
- subsequently drew New 20. My blogging oppos PIkey & Hathers naturally drew Old 7 & 14
- i had 2 quick fish on paste at 7mtrs in the first 40 mins
- i then had no bites for 4 & 1/2 hrs, not one fish showed itself, no blows, no nothing
- and it rained. A lot.
- at 4pm i had a fish in the margin, another next put and 2 more before then end, all on corn in 18" of water.
- i've come 3rd on the lake, beaten by peg 8 (flier) and the Sargeant on the high bank. I didnt miss a bite, lose a fish or nowt, there just wasnt the fish in the peg, so I'm not gumbling.


Sunday 20th - Top lake
Originally scheduled as a silverfish match on the Xmas tree lake, which i thought was great idea, its stuffed with skimmers and the like, however we've moved due to algae, fish deaths etc. No compaints though, Top is a cracking venue, and with a decent draw I can hopefully frame and might even nick my first club win. At this time of the year a draw in the back spit is gonna put you amongst a lot of fish, its produced a 270lb weight on Weds, and yesterday's match was won with 250 followed by 210 from pegs 24 & 26. I stuck me paw in and duly pulled out 25. Hurrah. Naturally, I was commended and greeted with good cheer from my compatriots....

The spit is 2-3' all the way across, about 20-25yds at its widest, lots of fish show up in the margins especially later. You can do a big weight on the feeder to the far bank too, and after much humming and hawing, i decided to fish a small method to a clump of grass, keep an eye on what everyone was doing on the pole and then come in the edge in the last 3hrs or so. We're fishing 7 hrs today, 10:30 til 5:30. I have Paul Taylor for company on 24 who is fancying his chances, and further up Ross Nursey is on 22; he's already had 300lb from 23 in the last match here and a 400lb weight not long after, so he knows how to haul. But most crucially, I've gone right to the heart of the mattter and taken Pikey on for a £5 side bet. He's on Peg 12 behind me on the other side of the lake - he can see me, but I cant see him. Naturally I offer someone a quid to give me constant reports on his progress. Me, competitive ? Nooooo.

I have 9 fish in 9 chucks in the first 45 mins, and set an early lead. They aint big though, averaging 2lb. I'd rather be using maggots, but aint gone none, so hair rigged corn it is. The action then slows a bit, and I feed for the first time down the edge - everyone is catching on the pole, and they might be bigger and come in quicker, so 5 mins after feeding I have a quick look. I foul hook one and wait 10 mins for another bite before landing one. Back onto the feeder. However thats not thick & fast, and I only add 3 or 4 fish in the next 30-40 minutes. Pikey has overtaken me, Ross is catching on 22, and Brian is no longer giving reports on Pikey cos he's started catching on the method too, and has probably overtaken me. Hmm. I need to make a clear decision about what to do and get my head down.

I decide to stay on the feeder, really concentrate and go onto the pole about 3pm. It starts to pay off and the fish return; it doesnt go mental, but the tip usually wangs round after 5 mins or so. I switch to a pellet wrapped in paste, the fish size goes up a bit. I reckon by 2:30 i have about 23, 24 fish, maybe 85, 90lb, but I know thats not enough, 250lb is gonna win this match, so i really need to nail it the pole.

I feed mushed catmeat & hemp to my left & right and get stuck in. They start coming almost straight away and by dripping the feed in, theres plenty of clouding & bubbling. Foul hookers are a bit of a problem, but theres so many fish its hard to avoid. The duplicate rigs come in handy too, 2 or 3 invariably get trashed in 2' of water. The right hand swim starts to provide more fish, of a better size, but really its a bite a chuck, proper bagging style, right upto the end when the biggest fish of the day, maybe just touching 10lb, joins his pals and its all over. I've no idea what i've got, possibly 180, its not enough to win though, I think pikey has 230, and I'm sure Ross has 200lb too, despite his protests of "no more than 150"

As i start weighing, i hear that Smiffy has 230+ from peg 8. Oh-oh. After 6 weighs I finish with 204. Its a PB by a long way, but I cant deny i'm a bit disappointed. More importantly Pikey puts 240+ on the scales. There goes a fiver. (this time). However, he's soon beaten too, Peter Turnbull has been hiding from my sight on 21, he puts 270+ on the scales, with Ross' "no more than 150" being a tiny little bit more, actually its 269. Genial Willinghurst stalwart Eddie Green slips a measly 223 on the scales from 23 too, all caught on his beloved dogfood. (I'm wondering what other mechanically retrieved meat treats i can experiment with. Tripe paste ?). I'm 6th with 204lb, theres a few 180s and loads of other ton plus weights too. What a venue.

In hindsight, this was a pole match, I'm completely confident that i would've had at least 50lb more if i'd've fished on the pole all day. All the top weights have been caught by blokes fishing in one spot short in the edge, mainly on catmeat. And whilst a double ton is great, I cant deny I'd've rather caught 5lb & won....

30th July - Old Bury Hill

When I were a nipper, pushing me baker's bike upt' cobbled Northern streets and scratching 2lb of perch and ruffe from the Ouse of a weekend, we'd read about this fish filled utopia south of Watford, where the sun always shone and people ate exotic food. Like fried onion rings and french bread. Any road, it were called Old Bury Hill, and I always wanted to fish there, so needless to say, once I got back into fishing I headed there straight away and I still have a soft spot for it. Besides, an attractive natural lake full of bream makes a nice contrast from a hole in the ground containing carp soup.

The fishing press regularly features a report of someone nobbling 100lb bream nets, and it certainly fished it's cock off for the Leatherhead match last year - 140lb won it, all on the pole, there was another ton plus 80s, 70 etc. I rolled in 10th with 45lb. That day I fished a feeder, catching mainly on worm over chopped worm, the bites drying up when i ran out of worm, but all the main weights were on the pole or waggler with banded pellet, which is the main method down there.

So with all that in mind, this time I went down totally focussed on the waggler, pole if they would come in close enough, aiming to fish a 6 or 8mm banded pellet over regular pingings of 4mm pellets at about 20 mtrs out. As I'd set up nice & early and I had a feeder rod ready made up, I put it up just in case the wind got up and I needed to toss a bomb overthe waggler line, where the fish would undoubtedly be hanging themselves because fellow blogger Pikey had been and practised on exactly the peg I'd drawn, got "bored of catching" on the waggler, before catching 4 big tench and 10x 5lb bream from the lillies under his feet. Bring it on.

Wrong.

Despite a few early fish around me, it became evident very quickly that this could be a hard match. I remained biteless for an hour when the float finally dipped and after an hour and a 3lb bream graced the pan. By the halfway weigh in stage, nothing else had happened for me. A couple of people had managed 20lb, just taking the odd waggler fish. I wasnt competing on the waggler with no signs of it switching on, so I retrieved the made up groundbait from the car, and decided to fish a feeder for the last 2hr 40 or so. Unfortunately the wind had picked up, and I soon realised that the feeder rod I had might just be a bit too light to fling it as far as I wanted to go -the fish obviously weren't within 25 yds of the bank.... Regardless, I managed to get it about 30 yds out, fishing a 10mm drilled pellet on the hook, just groundbait and no particles through the feeder - if they are having a nibble then theres only one lovely pellet for them to worry about... 2nd throw the tip yanks round and Fish No2 joins his lonely pal.

Next cast - ditto
Next cast - nearly ditto, hook pulls out at the net.

No more bites for 30 mins.

Tip yanks round again, by the time I've picked the rod up, its done a double free willy (ie jumped clear of the water not once but twice) and smashed me. Grrr. Big mistake fishing braid at a short distance - would've made sense on a big cast but not this close. Anyway, onwards.

A succession of liners finally leads to 2 more fish, but not before I've picked the rod up with no sign of a bite and a big thump results in another smashed hook link.

Final weigh in, 6 bream for 17lb or so, not good at all, but with 8 fish hooked in the last 2 hours and 38lb winning, its obvious to say that fishing a feeder all match would have put me right up there. Strangely, it's the method I'd normally always fish there, but I was determined to nail it on the float as its THE method to do a proper weight with; typically its switched off with a lake full of anglers which is a shame, and the feeder would have killed it on the day

Sunday 23rd July - Stubpond LDAS

So, the first time out for a month, and it's back to Stubpond. The regular reader (singular) would sagely note that after so many trips there in the past few months, one would have made some key observations, learnt some insights into the moods of the venue and generally have a head start against much of the field. With that in mind I predicted mid week that in these hot conditions the feeder could play a key part, allowing you to pick off the odd feeding fish as opposed to all the ones cruising around. Naturally, this special insight made me a "muppet". You cant help some people eh ?

Especially when you draw their end peg. In all honesty, I'm not that keen on the end pegs at Stubpond. Its a long finger shaped lake, and the far end curves round with loads of vegetation, but it looks more inviting than it actually is. Regardless I decided to fish out in front of me on the deck with paste at 11 & 5 mtr, and pick the fish off as they came through, I also fed 10 mtr off to my right against the bushes, a nice flat spot about 3' deep and put a feeder up if they just werent having it on the pole, as per my wise insights.

After 90 mins on the deck with no bites, I decided to have a look on the feeder. There were plenty of fish swimming through, but hardly anyone fishing shallow had even had a bite, so I wasn't fussed about that, feeder it is, with a hair-rigged pellet wrapped in paste. First cast, 5 mins the tip yanks round and I'm into a fish, only to pull out as it attempted escape via a bush. Bank walkers are saying that most people have only 1 fish, so I'm not perturbed but after another 30 mins with no more signs on the tip I spot a blow on the paste line. Hmmmmm. Ok, lets have a quick look, the feeder is boring anyway.

What follows is an absorbing game of chess between carp and me, wherein I sit for 5 mins with no bite or signs on the pole line only to see a blow over the OTHER pole line. I quickly ship in and rebait, drop the paste on that line only to sit motionless. Meanwhile a set of bubbles comes up on the first line where I'd *previously* been fishing. Repeat. Ad nauseum. Yes I know - "you should've sat on it for longer." Tried that. Didnt work. The float finally buries after nearly 3 hours and a 5lb fish hits the pan. 30 mins later, its another, and I'm a fish ahead of my neightbour and Stubpond regular Les. The bubbly chess recommences, so I have a butchers in the edge, where at this quite late stage of the match I'm thinking a few big lumps might be hangimg about. At 10 - 15lb a throw, I'd only need 3 or 4 fish to get right back in it. A quick bite results in an angry lump which I manage to pull out of. Not great. 20 mins later a 5lb'r joins his chums, hmm bit small. 10 mins later....an 8oz tench comes in. Really not that great. And.... thats that. No more bites, nowt.

Well my 15lb has beaten the 3 to my left, so it's fair to say our end of the lake is shit. However as some bright spark wisely predicted midweek, the match is dominated by the feeder, the top 4 weights have all fished it, so quite why I had a bite first cast and then gave up on it I couldnt really say. The lure of the bubbles was too great I guess. I should really have tried a pellet too, it looks like they were having a munch but not on the paste, cos on occasions I would get a blow when the float was there, a big trail of bubbles would go round the float and it would just sit there.

The day ends brightly though with the sight of John 'Swanny' Swann doing widths, he's making out that he wants to retrive his pole from a bush where a fish has dragged it, I'm not sure, I think he wants us to see him in his thong, he must have been down the gym or something. Much heckling ensues : "john the fish are going belly up," " you cant use floaters in here John" "whale" etc. At least he hadn't gone commando; for that, we must be grateful.

And on that bombshell, as they say,

Tight Lines

News has reached Marginpig Mansions of certain unruly elements clamouring to hear of my latest ventures. Such are the demands a pioneer of Fishy-blogging must face, so without further delay...


Sunday 25th June -Stubpond

After my attempts to master Stubpond ended in a poor match at the Fishomania qualifier a couple of weeks back, I'd had time to think about how I'd been approaching the place. A few things came to mind, namely that most of the local cracks focussed on picking the odd fish off the deck instead of losing loads of fish & wagglers by fishing to the boards. I decided this would form my attack if the conditions were right, otherwise I'd fish a feeder to the far bank and pick off the fish that wanted to feed as opposed to trying to snare the cruisers. A quick walk round the lake seemd to vindicate my plans - lots of fish blowing on the deck both short and down the middle, not many showing on the surface. The far end looked nice, and I'd not drawn up there before, so was quite chuffed to draw 26 last but one peg, and look at that, my blogging apprentice and paste-ace Dave Pearson has got his honourary end peg draw next to me. A pleasant day of fish and banter beckoned.

A 4x16 KC Paste float on 0.21 to a size 10 Drennan Method hook, set in about 5' of water was the rig. This was the depth at 11mtr and at the bottom of the shelf, about 5mtr out, so I set up a duplicate cos something was bound to get trashed in 7hrs, plus a margin rig to fish meat to me left & right. First cast and a fish about 6lb graced the net, then it was 3-1 to the carp, foul hookers. Undettered, I plugged away and come the half way stage I've put 56lb on the scales, all long bar a double just before the break caught short. Endpeg has nearly a ton and will be very hard to catch, but I'm focussing on a ton weight and a frame place - I'm second in our half of the length, so looking good.

Now, I'm very wary of rolling weigh ins -obviously they make perfect sense for fish care, but it can knacker the fishing for a few hours when you tip em back. We should all really have got 2 nets from the hut and avoided the scenario, one learnt for next time I think... With this in mind, my secret plan was to go straight onto the feeder against the far bank rushes, an area I'd left all match but was showing signs of life. I'd have a couple of quick looks on the pole, not expecting to see a sausage, and then go straight over. However within minutes I'd hooked a big fish short, so I decided to persevere, especially as the short lines should start producing later in the match. The next fish off this line was 16lb, so I decided to just fish this line now, the fish were much bigger under my feet. Bad move. I spent an hour watching my paste getting chiselled to death by skimmers and roach, at one point actually hooking a kamikaze 2oz roach on a size 12 hook and a lump of paste ! They just would not be fed off at all, so more out of frustration I've gone long again and immediately started to catch with an hour to go. I've had 4 or 5 fish long when a telltale cloud of bubbles appears at 5mtrs, 10 mins left. Straight in and a fish about 8lb. As I rebait with my last piece of paste another cloud appears, 5 mins left. The float goes almost immediately, I'm expecting a nice fat double however something's all wrong and possibly the smallest carp in the lake flies through the air towards me. The whistle goes before I can make find something to put on the hook, and I'm sure that carp-sprat is a bad omen.

I'm chuffed with the final weight, 121.4lb - I've learnt from previous trips, kept it simple and focussed on one rig, it feels like I've finally got something back for all the legwork I've put in. Pikey has had a dreadful afternoon, mainly spent singing "Here FishyFishy" and has just scraped me by about 5lb. Oops sorry miss-type, I meant 50lb. Ross Nursey has had a crap afternoon too, there's no way he could have beat me, he's positive of it, he's not even got 40lb in his net. I'm deeply suspicious of all this hoohah, especially as his first fish weighs 16.12. His final weight = 121.14 - he's done me by 10oz, and we're both beaten by Jim Heasman, he's drawn peg 11 and put 123.4 on the scales, all on paste short and including a 16lb sturgeon that took 30 mins to land.

Beaten into 4th by 2lb, I knew the tiddler was gonna cost me. There again, 2nd ton in a week 'snot so bad. This time last year I caught 2 fish at Willinghurst, 2 fish at Stubpond and the idea of framing seemed years away, so something's starting to go right, lets see if it carries on when I get back from my hols....

Til then
Tight Lines !

Saturday 17th June -Maver Pairs, Willow Park

Since getting back into fishing a coupla years back, 2 of my favourite venues have been Willow Park and Willinghurst. I've never nailed either them by any stretch but I always enjoy going there confident that I will do soon, so I've put all my charms into wangling a weekend of it, as it's Willow Sat & Willinghurst Sun. Well, sometimes you have to, dont ya ?

Its the Maver Pairs at Willow, 2 main sections, one across the Small & Middle lakes plus 10 pegs on the Big Lake, t'other all on Big. My partner for the day is Barry Curd, and as he's stood in at the last minute he's agreed to go on the Big Lake which is gonna be a patchy affair apart from the few lucky souls sat on some bream. Having said that its nearly 30 degrees, cloudless and nary a puff of wind to be had - hardly ideal breaming conditions. I've pulled out 22 on Small, not a great peg but I'm happy enough; its 8 months since I've fished on here, and I have a little plan in my head which I'm keen to try out....

22 is along the bank towards a corner, and the pegs to the right of it are all a little bit further out into the lake, so I'm gonna start long but save a section in case I need to follow the fish out. I feed a full pot of fishery pellets and a few small bits of cubed meat at 13mt to fish a 4x14 KC Porth on 0.14 g-line to a size 18 808, dead depth in 5' of water. I've spent awhile plumbing up closer in, and found a nice flat spot over the first shelf, 5 mtrs out from the bank and 7 mtrs off to the left - this is my paste line, a 4x14 KC Paste float on 0.16 gline to a 16 Mustad Method hook, which should be perfect for the F1s. I've also put up a little margin rig and a shallow rig since there are already fish cruising round everywhere. To my right is Gary Miller from Van Den Eynde Essex who knows the venue well, so I could learn a few things too.

The first skimmer arrives after 10 mins, a few more follow over the next 90 mins, but its all about continually tweaking the rig, the bait and the feeding pattern to achieve any kind of consistency. I've been feeding small balls of groundbait on the paste line, but a quick look there shows nowt, so it's back long where I'd refed half a pot of pellets to try and get their heads down. Its worked and now a few small F1's are showing long amongst the skimmers, and by 3 hours I've got about 10lb or so. Its not going to win me anything though, but it's about same as most around me.

I've still been feeding the paste line with groundbait, so it's time for another look, an immediate bite and a decent F1 hits the net. Next cast same, and again, then a tench, great. Quick look in the edge, a bream of 1.8lb. Just as quick as they came, they've gone and I go 20 mins without a fish, so its back long, but the lack of drip feeding means its gone quiet out there. Theres about 40 mins left and my neighbour has decided to go long, seemingly ot of desperation as he hasnt had a fish for nearly an hour. He starts catching fairly quickly, and since I've been pinging a few pellets over the long line in an attempt to draw a few fish in, I give it a whirl and step up the feed. Pretty quickly a 1lb F1 is on its way to the net, followed by another, but I trash the rig into an almighty tangle, so go back to the paste for 10 biteless final minutes and its all over. I'm pleased with 24lb 13oz, my plan has worked out farily well, I've managed to work out how to keep fish coming to some extent and caught soem good bonus fish. Gary has won the section with 29lb, I'm only 3 or 4 fish off, which would've easily been doable if I'd've gone shallow earlier. Ah well, coulda woulda shoulda, still very enjoyable and a great days fishing. Unfortunatley this didnt apply to Barry who drew a stinker on the Big Lake and sat for 5 hours without a bite. Sorry mate, but well done to his son Tony Curd and his partner Myles who recorded the only perfect section score to win on the day, great performances, very well done !


Sunday 18th - Willinghurst
Part of the deal to go fishing both days was the wife got to have her fun too, which meant going to a big party Sat night, and so it was after about 2 hours sleep and a hangover the size of Denmark that I shambled up to Willinghurst. BreamBrain kindly drew for me as I knew I'd be late, and he picked me out 28 - the last peg in the 'backspit' and where the PasteMaster aka Pikey won the last club match. The main feature here is the end of an island, with some reeds 3 mtrs to yr left. Its very shallow in here- 2' max, nearer 8" towards the far bank and about 15" in the middle in the relative open water. Now, I think I've finally learnt a key lesson here which is keep it simple; pick your lines and stick to them and the last thing my poor heed needed was tactic confusion, so I set up a pellet / corn rig - KC Carpa 2 4x12 to 0.18 G-Line and a 911 size 16, and a KC Paste 4 x 12, no shot just the paste to cock it. 0.19 and a size 14 Mustad Method. 2 rigs, that would do it, I was ready 40 mins early and sat slack jawed & staring into space, interupted only by the constant crashing of carp shagging in the reeds.

I was a bit worried about the spawning situation in such shallow water, and after 5 foul hooked fish in the first 20 mins, I started having reservations about fishing 14.5 mtrs to the island, it was waaay too much like a complete non starter, so I decided to feed a new spot at 10 mtrs straight out in front of me with a potful of hemp pellets & corn. Immediately the water clouded up and started to 'boil' as fish came in, but the liners and foul hookers were still a big problem and it got worse when the wind picked up and pushed the scum into the far corner taking the fish with it. They were having a chew alright cos their tails were waggling , but in 8" of water it was foulhookers galore. 2 hours gone and I had about 10lb, this was no good at all.

Change of plan; I figured that in such an enclosed piece of water that any feeding fish would come to the food, and if i fished a big bait ie paste, any time the float went under properly there'd be a fish on it. So back to 10 mtrs, just feeding hemp and paste on the hook, within 30 mins i had another 30lb in the net and it was steady away. Some times they'd go off for a while, then I'd get 3 or 4 fairly quickly. The paste fish were much bigger stamp too, a couple of doubles thrown in for good measure. At 4pm with an hour to go, I threw a 3rd net out confident I was nearing a ton, which is always a good target weight to aim for at this venue I reckon.

The backspit throws up some good weights from the margins, and looking along the bank, most people had been catching down the edge in the last hour or so. I was a bit peeved cos this peg doesnt really lend itself to margin fishing as there is a bush immediately to your right that you cant fish round. At least that was my initial opinion, cos with a bit more thought, I realised that I could actually lay the pole behind the bush and along the bank to fish about 10 mtrs away, so I quickly potted in some hemp and catmeat, gave it 5 minutes and then went over it with the paste rig set at 12" deep and a piece of catfood on the hook. 4 fish in 4 puts and I was kicking myself for leaving it so late, there again I then went 20 mins without one before finally adding one last fish before the whistle.

As I have the scales and hardly any gear to pack up, I weigh in first, my 120lb prediction is slightly ambitious, it's 115.8, but I'm still chuffed, especially as its the first time I've done a proper weight on the paste. I know theres a couple of big weights elsewhere, and sure enough Kev Gaywood puts 160 on the scales, corn down the edge from peg 4, and Ross Nursey is miles ahead with 292 corn in the edge again from peg 23, a great weight, well done Ross, so close to 300lb for the second week running ! I'm edged out of the frame by Alan Woods who has 120lb on the feeder for 3rd and 116lb is 4th, but I'm not complaining - I've had a great weekend again, learnt loads more, caught a pile of fish in the process, got a nice suntan and by 9pm I'm happily in the land of Nod......

Stubpond Open 7th June

The last chance to practise before the Fishomania qualifier, so theres a good midweek turnout, fishing is 2-7. The weather is scorchio; hot, cloudless and very bright, so it not ideal and neither is the sight of all the fish in every lake spawning.... This could be tough.

I've drawn peg 40, up towards the end of the far bank. I've never really fancied it that much up here, much prefering the nearer half of either bank, but needs must and all that. After the last outing, I had resolved to just get my head down on the pole lines and see if I could make that work instead of chasing fish around with a waggler, however the conditions just seemed to scream for fishing shallow, and the peg is half decent for it - a bay of reeds to the right of a tree in the water - so that will be my main initial attack. I also have a line down the middle for paste on the deck, and its 3' in the edge to my left so I feed there too with meat.

Not a great deal to say, other than 4 fish in the net and 1 lost by 5pm, which isnt too bad, but unless I catch a few later on I'm not even competing, cross venue banter suggest that people have 60lb+ in their net. The people around me on the pole have caught nothing, so thats not looking promising, however at 5pm I decide to give it a whirl on the deck. By 6.45 I havent even had a bite down the edge or down the middle, so I decide to try and nick a couple of late fish on the waggler, promptly hook one that snags me and its all over.

It has fished hard for most, bites at a real premium, 50lb is a good weight, I tip back about 26lb. Perry stone wins it with just short of a ton, he's been able to reach the far side with a flick rig and caught most of his fish like that, gadget is 2nd 2lbs short, mainly on the deck with paste.



Stubpond, Fishomania qualifier, Saturday 10th June

So to Saturday, its even hotter, and 130 happy hopefuls have gathered for the draw, most saying unless they draw on Plantation they're going home. I'm keen to draw something in the last 20 pegs on either bank of that lake, and duly pull out 120, which reveals itself to be permanent peg 11 where I've had 98lb from a few weeks back. Its a cracking waggler peg - boards about 22yds across and no bushes to cast into ! I know that lumps live down the edge, and Les Parker has had nearly a ton out of it last weekend fish at depth close and down the middle. In the scheme of things I couldn't have wished for a better draw, excellent !

I've set up a waggler, a bomb, dead depth rigs for paste & pellet and a margin rig, and I'm gonna focus on the far side and at 6mts later on, plus a look down the edge of course. The conditions are tough - 30 degress, cloudless, nasty sidewind. No fish at all are showing, very unusual for this place, its going to be very hard today.

This is confirmed after an hour when only 1 fish to my knowledge has been landed in the first 20 pegs on this bank. About that point I hook but pull out of a fish on the float, gutted. 10 mins later, I have one in the net, but the wind is making it tough with the waggler, so I decide to fish a bomb with paste wrapped round a hard hair rigged pellet - I've heard a few fish are coming out on this method further up the bank. I dont have any sign bar liners in 20 mins, and the bloke next to me hasnt even had a liner on the g'bait feeder none of which gives me any confidence in the method, so I have another spell throwing a waggler which brings me another fish, I have about 15lb with 2 hrs gone.

At this point I'm concentrating on the section really, a couple of blokes to my right have had 3 fish each on the feeder, a bloke 2 to the right on the next section has also had a few again on the feeder, but 4 or 5 fish would put me about there. The rest of the match passes in increasingly agitated boredom, when I just cant get an indictaion anywhere in the peg, which is compounded by losing a smallish fish when I finally get a bite. The horn goes at 4pm, and I'm actually quite relieved; the last hour has been horrible.

3 anglers further up the bank have all recorded over 60lb, Perry Stone just nicking the match by 6oz, mainly caught on bomb & paste after nothing shallow. Rob Hitchens has fished very similiar for 2nd. I've weighed 15lb 8oz, the section is won by 25lb, 23lb second, only 3 of us have actually finished the match in our section, and I suspect less than 40% of the entire field are still at their pegs; its fished like a toilet. I'm annoyed at myself for not focussing more on the tip as the method to catch a few today, patiently sitting with a big bait on the deck to catch fish that actually wanted to feed instead off picking of cruisers. Live & learn I guess, which is what its about.

I do like the venue but its done my nut in a bit. I just havent mastered it at all, I've fluffed a couple of flyers, and I cant deny that I'm happier swinging in a hammock in the back garden today than driving round the M25 to try and sort it out ! I'm there with LDAS in a few weeks, hopefully I can refind my enthusiasm for the gaff and finally win a few bob to make the effort seem worthwhile. As for next weekend, I have negotiated a special all weekend pass again (cost = trip to somewhere exoctic, it looks like I've finally lost it), so I'll be at Willow for the Maver Pairs Saturday, and Willinghurst for LDAS on Sunday.

Tight Lines

Stubpond Open

First outing in a couple of weeks - not for lack of trying though; I turned up at Stubpond last week for a Polemania match, unfortunately so did only 1 other person, so that was a dead loss. Anyway, finally made it back, and up for it after catching a few last time.

Peg 17, chuffed with that, 16 is a flyer and it wasnt in, and neither were 18 or 19, so lots of water to go at. My plan was fish the waggler tight over to the boards, then fish short and in the edge later on. I had a length of board about 3mtrs long on the other side, a branch was hanging over the middle, which left 1.5 mtr of clear board before the next bush, so I concentrated my line against that. There wasnt much showing at all in the first hour or so, but as no-one had more than 2 fish I wasnt fussed. After finally getting it right on the board, i had a decent lump, 30 mins later a smaller fish about 4lb. No-one to my left was catching, so far so good.

I then a spell of about 2 hrs where i lost half a dozen floats in the friggin branch, enough line off the spools to impede the casting so i needed to completely rig re-rig, each time with slightly weaker line, which meant that when i finally started to hook them again i invariably lost a couple. To cut a miserable few hours short: carp 5, me 4.

By this time it was coming upto 3pm and the odd fish that had been showing had cocked off, so it was time to get it sorted on the pole. I'd fed a coupla big pots of pellets, hemp and paste at 7 mtrs, corn down one side, meat down the other. After the last trip when I'd left the edge too long before trying it, I went straight down, having left it alone all day. 10 seconds, float buries and a very angry 'barney' is rampaging down the peg. 5 mins later its in the onion bag, lovely. Lets try the other edge, lump of meat, 5 seconds, bang, this is a proper bigboy, came in like a sack of shit, but with another 15lb in the net I'm really not that fussed about its fighting capabilities. The depressing display of waggler fishing is but a distant memory. Just iffy bites on the paste line, so another look in the edge, a bite comes soon enough. I can honestly say I have never been wrenched round on my box so fast, the eye and top rubber both pinged off the float and I'm snagged with a nanosecond. 6 all. Next cast down the other edge it was 7-6 to the carp, pulled out. 8-6 with one bumped off on the paste, 9-6 in the last 10 minutes, another one pulled in the margins after a bow wave suggesting a large ocean going ship. However this was only after a doddery blind perch of about 2lb took a fancy to my meat.... pretty much sums my performance up I'd say

My 6 fish for 53lb was 2nd in the section to 63lb. 150lb won the match, 125lb second, I've lost 70lb minimum, probably quite a bit more. Bollocks. I'm not happy. I'm gonna have to go back on Wednesday !

Sat 13th May - Stubpond - Polemania qualifier
Sunday 14th May - Leatherhead match at Willinghurst top

I'd been really looking forward to this weekend, a rare Sat & Sun outing - very rare considering I've only been fishing 7 times all year - so with the wife's good cheer ringing in me ears, it was back to Stubpond.

After 2 very poor showings - one fair enough, the other plain embarassing - I was determined bordering pathological to catch some fish down. This was a pole only affair, and due to the FA Cup Final, there were only a few attendees, which could be in my favour. I drew 11, 1 to the right of where i'd been 3 wks previous, so I had some idea of what to expect. I planned to fish banded pellet shallow at 14mt, feed a paste line down the shelf and feed both margins with corn - plenty of room this week and a good depth - 3' right up against the reeds. Heavy tackle for this line, there's some real dogs in here - 0.21 to a 12 Drennan Method hook.

Pinging 4mm pellets at 14 mtrs, soon brough a fish, after an hour I'd had 2. It wasnt thick & fast, just the odd one swimming through and taking a fancy. 3 more followed in the next hour. The guy to my right was starting to put a few together, also shallow, and a bank walker informed me we were the only ones with more than 1 fish, we were also the only ones fishing shallow. So far so good. The bank walker returned to his peg, went shallow and started catching a fish a bung. Hmm. Meanwhile I didnt have a sniff for 90 mins. Hmmmmm. A quick look in the edge and down the shelf brought nought so I decided to persevere long. A few more went in the net and with 2 hrs to go I had 10, but I was now well off the pace.

I finally had another look in the edge with 90 mins to go, missed an immediate bite but the next put resulted in a chunky 12lb fish. Great. Straight back in, within seconds the margin pole is bent to the butt, the red hydro is at full stretch, 5 mins later a real lump of 15lb or so joins his mates. Nothing down the shelf, but another double with 20 mins left brought a final tally of 98lb and 4th, but only by 3lb. The 3 fish in the edge went 40lb between them. At last, some fish from the bloody place, a few lessons learnt and I feel like I'm starting to work it out a bit. The man who returned to his peg won it with about 126lb I think, 1 or 2 fish ahead of 2nd - its never to late to rethink your match I guess.


So to Sunday, the first Leatherhead club match of the year and I'd been really looking forward to this one. I did crap in the same match last year, (which was the first time I'd been out with Leatherhead) so I was keen to see how much I'd improved in a year. I'd also persuaded me mate The Puffin to join, like me he'd fished as a nipper, but got into other stuff and had a good 10 years+ away from it. This was his first match in over 2yrs, and I suspected he'd've been awake at 4am with excitement. (He was). It fished it's nut off the day before - over 300lb won the lake, with 3 other 150-ish weights.

We both drew pretty well, me on 20, a nice peg on a corner facing into the middle giving you lots of open water to go at. I drew it in a winter league match, so knew there was good depth in the edges and a shelf about 6mtrs. Puffin had 25 in the backspit, so I knew he'd catch a few. I went for a pellet / corn line at 10mt, fed some catmeat down the shelf and potted corn in both sides. Again, it was slow going, with only Ross catching a few across the lake from me, but with only 2 fish after 90 mins a rethink was in order. The fish were up in the water, so out went the waggler but 2 or 3 spells on it only produced 1 fish, with another 1 pulled. A loooooong spell went by with no sign of a fish until bang on 3pm, with 3 fish in the net, I dropped 2 bits of corn down the edge to the right, 3 seconds later it buried and I proceeded to catch 5 in 5 puts, 1 nudging 10lb. Alternating between left & right margins brought a steady run of bites, and what was looking like a re-run of the previous years blow out became a great last 2 hours which finished way too soon. Its fished hard, but most have 50 or 60lb. I'm thinking I might nudge 70, which was spot on - 71lb 4oz, beaten into 5th by 3lb, and 10lb short of 3rd. As usual, I've learnt what not to do - that 10lb is 2 fish at most, I'm sure i couldnt nicked 2 fish if i'd've kept my head down on the pole instead of slinging the waggler or dropped it down the edge 15 minutes earlier. Nonetheless, I've won the setion and had a good net of fish, The Puffin has gone home reasonably happy; he's had 40lb+, but not had a bite in the last 2 hrs, so he'll have something to think about too. The match was won by the funny little man who seems to live in the cabin at Willinghurst, some people know him as Pikey. You can read about that here. Ross is 2nd with 100lb

All in all a great weekend, lots of fish, some good lessons and I'm starting to feel confident about nobbling these Southerners for a bit of their hard earned this season :))

Stubpond teams of 7

Today was definitely a lesson in (bad) preparation. After my last visit was a pole only match, I really fancied a day on the waggler, and accordingly drew a great looking waggler swim, peg 66 at the near end of the lake, with a 25 yd cast to the boards. However, upon opening my box I noted I had left all my reels at home. Hmmm, not a good start. Borrowed reel in hand I started rigging up, and realised I had not tied any appropriate hooklengths. Bad to worse and still and hour before the start. Undeterred, I also set up a paste rig at 6mtrs, and a little edge rig, but as i had I didnt really fancy either edge, I had a peg either side, and couldnt get more than 2 mtrs away from me due ot the nature of the foliage. Mark Harrington was on 65 to my right, he'd won the previous match I'd fished with 160lb+, so at least I could watch & learn something !

Anyway, I had tench first bung on the paste, then 4 carp on the wag after about 90 mins, Mark had had about 8-10, but smaller than mine. Not so bad. I then proceeded to put about 4 wagglers up the boards, which wasnt so bad in itself, but re-tieing 0.21 knotless knots with a quick stop onto a size 14 (eye sometimes letting line in sometimes not) in the pissing down rain somehow seemed to take up most of the middle 2 hours, which is just rubbish. A good look on the paste never bought a bite either. I finally got it back together on the wag, and had 3 more in the last 90 minutes, and did 3 more (fish & wagglers, plus over 20 bits of ssg bythe end). 65 was bagging up big time by this point, he ended with 26 fish for 130lb, me with 7 for 33. Very poor, should easily have had 15-20 fish from my peg, and a very clear lesson on going properly kitted up.

I'm glad no-one is reading these.

After a very long grey winter, I finally finished the decorating and got back by the water. I've booked in for the forthcoming Maver Pairs at Willow Park, and the Fishomania qualifier at Stubpond, so what with the weather starting to warm up a bit it was time to start getting down and having a look.

I've only been down to Stubpond a couple of times and never really got my head round it, its a bit of a one-off place, averages 5-7' or so, approx 20 mtrs wide with a thin island up the middle that's made of boards with vegatation inside the boards. The fish are pretty big - average is 7-8lb, plenty run well into doubles and they fight really hard so tackle needs to be strong. Theres definitely a knack when it comes to this place, thankfully a few of my Leatherhead cohorts pointed me in the right direction, and off I went.

As this was a pole only match, my plan was to fish a line about 13mt on the deck with pellet, 0.18 to a 16 Drennan Carp Feeder and a nice big KC Paste float to combat any drift; a much shorter line down the shelf at 6/7mts with paste, same float, heavier line and a Drennan method hook, and in the margin where there was a good 3ft plus I was gonna try paste under a small Preston margin float, 0.21 to a 10 Method. Well, when in Rome..... In all honesty I wasnt expecting to catch loads, 4 or 5 fish would've done, I was just down to learn as much as I could and try to get upto speed, especially with paste fishing, not something I'd really properly tried to crack.

I fished on the deck long for 2 hrs, the only bites I had were skimmer bites on the pellet (lesson 1 - dont fck about with anything smaller than at least 8mm on the hook) while the bloke 2 to my left had already put about 50lb in the net fishing shallow. I'd half heartedly given that a whirl as there were a few fish over near the island - as soon as I started pinging pellets they swam off. Probably to his swim. There again, it didnt really look like anyone else was catching much, which was ok. Nowt doing down the shelf, not even a liner, so I lowered a lump of paste about the size of a ping pong ball in the edge where i'd potted some gear. 30 seconds later, the margin pole is bent from the butt, about 15 ft of red hydro is streaming from the tip and some beast is trying to drag me in but it fails as the hook pulls free. Encouraged I dropped straight back in, 2 mins later same again, this time I manage to stay attatched and after a couple of very surging runs a fat 11-12lb carp with broad shoulders and a menacing scowl is in the net.

Hour and a half later with little else happening, neither 1 to my left nor 2 to my right have even had a bite for 2+ hrs, I've had a little change of plan and decide to drop a big piece of paste in long. 10 secs later and thats buried, carp 2 in the net, bit smaller than the last but still 8-9 lb. A foolish thought crosses my mind that if I can get 6 to 8 fish in the net I might actually frame, cos 70lb will be a good weight.

Definitely foolish as in the last 90 minutes I managed to lose another fish, miss 3 more bites and that was that. 160lb+ won it, all shallow, 90lb+ 2nd, a couple of 80s next. I could've done 60lb+ if i'd've landed / hit all me fish, which is stating the obvious but I dont really mind as I've learnt plenty of things and started to get my head round the place. A bit. I'm back there in 2wks with a slightly clearer plan - report to follow

Finally a quick hello & well done to anyone else who started a blog - I'll update my links shortly. Come on the rest of you, lets 'ave it.

Hello and welcome to my first blog. Quite frankly I'm a bit crap at this lark - both blogging and fishing ! - but I got to thinking that people dont really want to be spending a few quid every week to read about crap in the papers especially when you can log on for free and read my crap instead.

I'm sure plenty of you will have far more entertaining and informative things to say than I will, (and hopefully you'll start yr own blogs...) but if any of you are like me, then hearing what yr fellow anglers have got to say is part of the enjoyment. To that end I'll be writing about my sorry attempts to catch fish in matches I hope someone out there finds it vaguely interesting / amusing / takes pity on me if they draw next to me.

Enough talking crap, lets talk about fishing ! Yay !

Sunday just gone (19th march) - the last round of the Willinghurst Masters. Held on a complex of lakes just outside Guildford, I'm not sure why its called Willinghurst, it just is. (And if anyone from there ever reads this, update your website !) This has been a league of 6 rounds, with 12 teams of 5, with 1 man from each team on 5 different lakes, ie each lake is a section. Its run extremely well by Dave Pearson (aka Pikey) who pays the top 3 on each lake, plus the top 4 on the day including a superpool. I think that's a really fair system; basically a quarter of the field is gonna go home with some cash for their efforts, which is nice when you are sat freezing your tits off in the middle of February, and if you frame then you get a proper envelope. The lakes are all quite different from each other too, not only do they fish differently but the form of the pegs changes from week to week with the conditions , so you need to be flexible in yr approach and keep bang upto speed on the methods, resuts etc

I missed the first round as I was lounging about on a beachaway miles away (hehe), but wouldn't've missed the rest for anything. Fishing with LDAS (the Leatherhead B team) I had a great match in Round 2 winning Old Lake from peg 10 with 32lb or so, 5 bites = 5 carp, all on corn at 14 mt. Next round I drew another flyer - Old 4 - but made a bit of a pig's ear of it. I had 4 fish for 26lb, but pulled out of 3, one at the net and was smashed by another, should've won the lake really, and maybe framed, as it was 10 points for the team and some lessons learnt. (ie is solid latex the thing to use in the depths of winter, maybe a hollow or white hydro could be more forgiving on light tackle?). Next 2 rounds were shit for me, so I was v keen to draw a good peg and finish the series on a high nad give myself some confidence. You're only as good as your last result, right ?

I drew on Top Lake, which has been hard and very peggy all winter, but I drew in the back spit, a kinda canalised section of the lake about 20 mtrs wide, and an area that has been producing silverfish in the last few weeks. Willinghurst isnt somewhere where you'd normally consider silverfish, but since 2 or 3 carp was the maximum most pegs would throw up in these conditions (it's been winter for about 6 months now hasnt it ?), it becomes a viable options especially since the top 3 on a lake get paid ....

I decided to fish tight over for an early carp on the lead, and feed a line in the edge to the right where there was a shrub in the water, and also a carp line about 13 mtrs, with a silverfish back up at 6 mtrs. No need to fart about on the lead, if i hooked a fish I was going in the net so it was 8lb Pro-gold and 12" of 0.18 G-Line hooklength, with a Drennan Carp Feeder, size 16 hair-rigged with 2 bits of corn. The rod was a trusty old Tri-cast Heavy Feeder 11' (showing my Northern roots here). No loose feed, just have a few casts about to look for indications. There was an island to the far left of the peg, so i concentrated on that, and after half an hour I was getting liners. About bang on an hour it went right round, 3 mins later a fat 7lb fish was sat in the net. Good news, as 3 or 4 blokes had all had a carp, the bloke to my left on the end peg of the spit andthe lake was catching a few. Always good to keep up with the field and settle the mind.

After another hour I'd not even had another liner despite changing to a tiny feeder with 2 red maggots on a 16 B611 and an 0.16 hooklink. A quick look on the long pole line and down the edge had shown nothing.... may as well have a look on the roach line. I'd potted about 20 maggots there at the start, and pinged about 6-8 with the catty every 20 mins or so, so in I went. 6 mtrs, Fox Mp2 6 x 10 in 3' of water, 0.12 direct to an 18 Drennan carbon match, strong enough just in case a lump turned up (hook, not line !). 10 secs later its dipped and a 3 oz roach makes its way across the surface. 4 more follow in the next 2 minutes, all on the same maggot. Theres not much else going on, so for the sake of entertainment I've stuck at it. After 20 mins, and about 3lb of them, I'm thinking - 5lb of these equals 1 carp, most people will catch 2 or 3 carp max. I already have 1 carp, and its a good un, and absolutely no-one else is bothering withthe roach, so.... lets carry on !


2 hours later and I've managed nearly a stone of roach and its GOOD FUN. Shuffling the shot (double bulk worked best to winkle out the 6oz fish as opposed to the 2 oz fish), changing the depth (they stayed hard on the bottom, come off 2" and the bites went), working out the best feed (potting in 15 maggots every 10 mins kept them tight in one place, as opposed to pinging with a catty) - wot a larf. I'm still thinking there's a carp to be had from the far bank tho, so with 30 minutes left I've got nearly 20lb in the net, the pole is up the bank, the feeder is back near the island (I'd like to say tight to the hotspot, but I'd be lying to you and me - lets just say it was near enough) - and its gone round. After an unnecesarily long fight that involved about 3 laps of the lake and a 5lb carp swam into the net, it probably realised it had more chance of peace and quiet if it just gave up as opposed to me yanking on it like a friggin loony

25lb 4oz, 3rd on the lake, and a thoroughly enjoyable day. The bloke to my left won the day with 55lb. Our team came 4th on the day, 6th overall, its all good. I say that with a bit of guilt as i know how hard it can be at Willinghurst in the winter, and far far better men than me have had some terrible times up there. If you are one of them, and you know who I am, please dont hit me the next time you see me and rest assured it will be my turn next winter. Roll on summer !

Speaking of which, I'll be enjoying my second season of club matches with Leatherhead DAS. If anyone in the South is looking for a well run club, with really great venues, some excellent matches and a match squad that competes in the AT Winter League, the newly formed Surrey Clubman league and the VDE Supercup, then follow the link above for details.

Tight Lines, & good luck wherever you are going

Marginpig