For our last spring warm up match of 2019 we were at our lovely club fishery at Riverside Road, St. Albans.

This match was also designated as the Champion of Champions match so match winners from last season had a place on the match then it was opened up for any other club members to join in as the fishery can easily accommodate around 35 anglers on the 60 pegs.

I was near last to draw and out came peg 45, a peg I have had once before a couple years ago. Quite happy with this peg as it normally holds some carp at the end of the bay but not an easy peg to fish as it is 16m to the bank.
There is also a small patch of lillies in the middle which held a good amount of silvers the last time I had the peg. My plan was to use chopped worm and casters by the lillies at 6m, pellets at 6m a little to my left and the 16m line would be groundbait and maggots.

I fed some worm and caster then went in on the 16m line with double red maggot, after 20 minutes I had my first carp which was about 3lb or so, in the next hour I continued to catch a few carp feeding groundbait and a few maggots via a large frenzee toss pot each put in.

I then had a quiet spell with no bites for a while so I put in a big pot of bait and tried the chopped worm line thinking I would catch a few pounds of silvers whilst resting the 16m line but the silvers were not forthcoming, I managed 1 skimmer and 1 crucian, I had also fed the left 6m line with micros so I tried there but only had 1 small skimmer.

Back on the 16m line and I soon had a few more carp but then for the last hour or so of the match nothing.
At 16m in between the carp I also had a gudgeon, 2 perch, 2 crucians and a goldfish.

I thought I had about 30lb so when they went 38lb 4oz I was pleased with that although I was fairly sure it would not be enough to win the match. I was right as this put me 4th with 55lb winning.

The full results can be seen HERE

A change of scenery for me this time, the Snake Lake at Puddledock Farm Fishery for the Sunday Open.

I have not fished on this snake lake for many many years.
I checked the last couple results, the winning weights had been 120-140lb.

I drew peg 39 and after getting directions from a regular off I went, it was one of the longer walks but with the good paths round the lake it wasn't a hard slog at all.

My peg was 13m across in front and a few metres to the left and right could be reached with the half-butt on so I found 3 spots with the same depth across, 2 spots left and right at 6m and 5m to my left in the margin there was a cut-out which looked perfect.

For across I tapped in Sonubaits 4mm pellets and tried different hookbaits, starting on corn I foul-hooked several carp in the first hour landing 3 of them but just could not seem to get one in the mouth even when I tries a shallow rig.

I then tried the 6m lines, to the left I had potted in corn with a few 4mm pellets and to the right 8mm cubed meat. First bite on the corn resulted in a skimmer but that was the only bite I managed at 6m, I did foul-hook and lose 2 carp even though I had gone several inches over depth.

At 13.50 I still just had the 3 carp and a skimmer so it was time to try down the edge which I had fed a few times with corn, I stayed on this to the end of the match as it was quite good with a further 11 carp going in the nets.

The last 90 minutes was enjoyable but I was sure the angler to my left would have more and so it proved, I weighed in 70lb 12oz which was 3rd in the section.

The top 2 weights came from the area around peg 60, the winner had 140lb.