I drew peg 11 for the first time ever, this peg has lillies close in and is known to hold good silvers.
I set up to fish at 5m to the lillies and a line further out at 9m but still near the lilly pads. I also set up a light waggler rod to try corn futher out in the open water.

I started by feeding 2 balls of groundabait and micros at 9m and one small ball and some magots at 5m.
Starting on the 5m line with maggot on the hook I was a bit disappointed to find myself struggling to get a bite.

I started loose feeding maggots hoping this would help, there were a few small Roach in the upper layers taking the slow falling bait then I caught a nice Crucian.

Both lines were not producing much so I had a go with the waggler as I had been pinging out a few grains of corn since the start but this produced no bites.

I alternated between the 2 pole lines and tried a few casts of the waggler now and then just picking up odd bites mainly on the 5m line with a strung out rig including two more Crucians and a couple of nice big Roach.

I did try for a Carp to the reeds on my left in the last 30 minutes but could not get a bite.

My coulourful net of silvers went 8lb 4oz, this was 18th of 29 fishing so must try harder!

This match was on the main match lake, did not want to draw either end bank so was not best pleased with peg 9.
I set up to fish the pole at 13m and 7m for Skimmers and Bream, A feeder rod for the method and when clipping up with a bomb I felt Carp in the upper layers so out came the pellet waggler rod too.

After feeding the 13m line with 2 balls of groundbait with micros and 1 ball of the same plus a few grains of corn at 7m I tried the pellet waggler. On the first chuck I foul hooked and lost a carp, nothing then for a while then "wound into one" which I managed to land and it was a double.

I tried different depths, casting alot, letting it hang for longer, different feeding patterns but although there were fish around they were certainly not feeding.

Onto the pole lines and surprisingly could barely muster a bite on either line, at 1.30pm on the 7m line I had 5 Skimmers in 5 puts on corn but then nothing again.

I only managed to nick an odd further skimmer here and there on the pole despite trying a few tricks like fishing meat off bottom.

My 19lb was 6th best on the match.

A few weeks later in the month than our visit to the Oaks Lake at Wold Farm last year and alot colder.

A blustery wind was also going to make things a bit tougher for most of us.
I was drawn the far end peg 14, the end peg nearest the car park being the favoured one, I fed micros and corn at 12m, micros at 5m and micros and corn at 5m in the left margin.

It was a tough day at this end of the lake with just odd carp now and then mainly on my 5m line with either corn, hard pellet or expander on the hook with just one big carp from the 12m line.

In the last 2 hours I managed to catch a few from the margin but with about 50lb I was not going to be anywhere near framing this time.

As expected, sure enough Josh had run away with the win from the other end peg with over 200lb.

​​Our annual visit to the River Ouse at Felmersham.
We had 10 anglers for this match and I was hoping to be handed as low a peg number as possible for 2 reasons, a short walk and I believed the best chance of finding one or two of the big Perch this stretch is known for.

I was drawn peg 3 which was a good start. I set up a maggot feeder rod and pole lines at 11m, 5m and to my right in the margin.The margin would be to target the Perch.

I cupped in 6 balls of groundbait with pinkies and hemp in at 11m and 2 of the same at 5m. I would start feeding the Perch swim half way through the match with chopped worms and maggots.

Starting on the feeder, it was very awkward casting due to the overhead trees but I managed to fish just past half way across with a sideways cast. I caught some Bleak, a few Roach, a gudgeon and a small chublet on this during the coarse of the day. The pole lines were hard hard work due to the amount of Bleak around taking the bait on the drop even with 2 gram down the line.

With 2 hours to go I dropped in on the Perch swim and had a run of 7 small Perch in as many casts but then could not get a bite so refed and went back on the feeder.

Just over 30 minutes from the end of the match I hooked something more substantial on the feeder but it made a mad dash into some fallen branches near my feet and transfered the hook.

I knew I needed a big Perch to do any good at this stage so I went in on the margin swim with a Lob Worm on the hook, after 10 minutes the float shot under and I was into my quarry, soon a Perch of over a pound (perhaps near 1.5) was in the net. I went straight back in hoping his big brother was waiting for me but no more bites.

I weighed in 3lb 12oz and as it had been a hard day for all this was enough for 2nd in the match, beaten by Rich on peg one with 4lb 6oz of Roach and Bleak. So, the lost fish had cost me winning but the one I caught propelled me from nowhere to 2nd.

We all wanted to draw pegs 1,2,29 or 30 as usual on this lake, I was drawn peg 10.

I set up to fish at 4m with pellets, 8m with pellets and the edge under a bush with pellets and Corn.
Starting at 4m wth hard 6mm pellet over some wetted 4mils I was soon into my first carp and in a decent first hour I caught about 30lb but I then had a terrible 2nd hour with just one small carp.

The 3rd hour was better but certainly not in bagging mode.
For the last 2 hours I fished in the edge with 1 or 2 grains of corn on the hook over 2mm pellets and some corn which was good until the last 30 minutes which was slower.

I ended up with 121 lb 3oz which was 4th in the match so not a bad result for that peg.

Back to our club lake at Frogmore for this Sunday match.

Only a dozen on this match so plenty of room for everyone, I was drawn peg 11 which is a decent carp edge peg. My plan was to try to catch anything I could for the first 3-4 hours then concentrate on the edges for the rest of the match.

I first tried at 5m with a light rig but in 20 minutes it only produced one very small Skimmer and a couple of small Roach so I then went out to 13m shallow where I had been pinging 4mm pellets since the start. Shallow was a stuggle with just a few Roach and two F1s, tried a jigger but no bites on that.

At this stage I was really struggling to get a bite so got off my box and grabbed my 8ft feeder rod, first cast across to some reeds with a method feeder and it went round after a couple minutes resulting in a nice 4lb Carp but to my surprise could not get another bite on this.

I alternated between trying the two pole lines and the feeder for a while with nothing much happenning except whilst out on the light shallow rig I spotted a couple of carp to my left so put the rig in front of them and one actually took the bait so Carp number 2 in the net.

With an hour and a half to go I started fishing the edge with pellets and corn, I caught 2 Carp in 10 minutes and thought I was going to catch on this until the end of the match but no more bites until half an hour to go, I managed another 3 Carp by the end.

My 7 Carp, 2 F1s and a few silvers went 43lb 10oz which gave me 2nd in the match.

Back to our lovely club lake at Riverside Road for this match.

I was drawn a peg with good potential but it turned out to be a tough days fishing for most, including me.

Not alot to report really, started on the method and had a small Carp first cast, lost one at the net 2nd cast and that was the end of that apart from 1 more Carp on this at nearly 2pm.

I also fed a pole line for Carp in front of the reeds opposite but never had a bite there, managed to catch a few silvers on the pole at 9m but even this was not prolific.

So, a bit of a disappointing day results wise with my 9lb 9oz, but the weather was nice!

Another new venue to me for our latest club match, Three Island Lake in Buckinghamshire.

I was first to be drawn for and out came peg 17, from what I had read/heard this was not the area to be in really as the middle area is favoured. When I got round to my peg I found myself hemmed in in a corner so no feeder/waggler chuck. 

With no rods coming out I settled on a 13m line and an 8m line along with a margin next to the reeds just past the end of my keepnet.

The swim was very shallow all the way out to 7m which is why I went for 8m for the short pole line, this was fed with corn, on the 13m line I fed 4 and 6mm pellets with a little corn. The margin would be micros and corn.

After feeding the 2 pole lines I strted at 8m with corn hook bait, this only produced a couple of 6oz carp then no bites so out to 13m with hard pellet in a band. The 13m line gave me a steady run of various size carp from 6oz to 3lb but it was hard going.

With an hour and a half to go I started feeding the margin and was soon fishing this spot with double corn on the hook which produced a decent run of fish for an hour and they were better average size with a couple of 5lbers in amongst the smaller ones.

I estimated about 60lb which I knew would not trouble the top 3 or 4 as the pegs along the middle area had caught well on the feeder.

Our set of scales started at peg 10 and came round to me on 17, for once I was good with my estimation as the scales read exactly 60lb in total which was top weight for pegs 10 to 17.
This put me 7th of the 20 fishing.

I was pipped by 5lb for the section by Neil on peg 18 but 18,19 and 20 were at the other end of the lake.

A nice little fishery with plenty of fish but not silly amounts which is how it should be.

My first match since lockdown, Frogmore Match Lake.

Peg 4 was drawn for me which is a decent peg with a floating island and the end of a small island to fish to but calm weather is needed to fish this properly with 14.5m of pole, unfortunately it was very windy all day which meant long pole was no good. I did try to fish 14.5m but very quickly discarded this as I could not hold the rig still enough for long enough to get a bite.

I had also set up to fish short pole, margin and a waggler rod.

Starting at 4m with hard pellets I quickly caught an F1 but no more bites so after attempting the long pole for a short time out came the waggler rod set shallow. Feeding 4mm pellets and fishing a 6mm pellet in a band I managed a few bites on the waggler, 2 carp of 2lb each and a few F1s of various sizes.

With an hour and a half to go I started feeding a margin swim to my right with micros and corn.
With 35 minutes to go I managed to tempt a margin dweller of about 9lb and that was the end of that.

I ended up with 3 carp and several F1s plus one roach which totalled 24lb 7oz, this was 6th of the 26 and a section win.

Another new venue for me for this week's silvers match, this is part of the River Colne on the Barnet Club Ticket.

I drew peg 31 which was in "the bowl" where the venue opens out from a narrow river to an area more like a lake with flow.
I was happy with my draw mainly because I really fancied fishing the waggler and the peg suited this so that was one line, I also fed groundbait and pinkies at 11m and a 5m line with chopped worm, a few casters and a few dead maggots.

After 2 hours nobody had had a bite in the bowl area, I had mostly fished the waggler but did have a look on the pole lines in the second hour. I then had another look in on the 5m line with single red maggot on the hook, the float disappeared and a Bream came to the net, I was just releived to avoid a blank at this stage!

No further bites on the pole (for the rest of the match) but I did start to get bites on the waggler, 5 of them to be precise and each of those bites produces a chunky Bream so I had a nice match in the end.

The venue had fished very hard with the Roach not feeding so my 19lb 1oz was the winning weight with 3lb 7oz coming second.
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Here is the results sheet..