I was really looking forward to this match, especially after reading the reports from the MFS 2-dayer the week before.
Temperatures had certainly dropped the last couple of days so that may effect the fishing.

I drew peg 28 on the back bank, not really a noted area and no island chuck to try for a few carp.
I fed at 5m with several balls of groundbait with a few dead maggots and a few cubes of meat in it at the start, then chucked a "bomb and T-bag" of pellets towards the left side of the island but only to around 10 metres short of the island.

After a few chucks on the bomb with not a twitch or liner I had a look on the pole line. I knew meat had been producing good results so I had plenty of cubed meat and kindered some in and tried meat on the hook. 

It was very slow going with just occasional bites and it took quite a while to get the first bite, I decided to try dead maggots on the hook, this did seem a little better with more regular bites but still having to wait some time for each one.

I put in another ball of groundbait after every couple of decent sized skimmers and decided to cut out the meat completely so just a few dead maggots in each ball. In the last hour or so of our match I started putting groundbait after each fish and steadily put a few more in the net. I caught mainly good sized skimmers with a couple roach and one big perch which came in backwards!

When the scales got to me there had been a 46lb by Simon on peg 11 and the next best so far was Allan with 26lb, I thought I might have 30lb and I was right with a weight of 30lb 8oz recorded, this ended up being just good enough for 3rd on the day.

Here are a few fish from the match

Time for my annual workout!

This lake produces some incredible match weights, it is hard work though.
Carp of 1lb to 10lb are caught on a top kit with pellets/corn/meat, whatever you prefer to use really.

I drew a peg in the middle of the end bank, not really a noted area for winning weights but there are lots of carp wherever you sit.

I set up a couple of rigs that could be used for fishing anywhere from 4" to 2ft deep which meant I could fish on the bottom or very shallow if I started to foul hook fish.

I started on banded pellet then tried meat as hook bait and found that a little quicker to get a bite so fished with meat on the hook for most of the first half, feeding regularly with 6mm pellets.

Sensibly,we always have a split match here, weighing in after 2.5 hours then starting again for a further 2.5 or so hours. At the halfway mark I weighed in 187lb, Alan T next to me had 212lb so I would already have my work cut out to catch him. Then we heard that Stan weighed in a little over 300lb a few pegs to my right and Allan B had 380lb already!

In the second half I started with meat again on the hook but soon tried corn and this seemed better so stuck with it, still feeding 6mm pellets and now and then a few grains of corn too.

As is normal I caught a bit more in the second half, ending up with a total of 480lb, Alan T had not had a smooth second half and I had managed to overtake him but I was still only 4th (again)!!

Allan B had continued where he left off, finishing up with 831lb and Stan had some good fish in his 608lb total.
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Club match report and results can be seen HERE.

Here is some video of the bagging action.

Our second visit of the year to Newlands Hall and I was running a little late for the draw, I notified Allan of this and asked for my peg to be drawn for me.

After finding Allan he let me know peg 13 was to be home for the day. I was happy with that as Allan did well from there on our previous visit. I started by pinging a few pellets at 13m and with a banded pellet hookbait I was putting a few in the net steadily, nothing big but if I kept catching that would do for me until the last hour, I did have some very quiet spells so had a look in the margin a couple times.

In the last hour I tried to catch in the margin but it didn't really happen, just a couple better carp then nothing.

I ended up with 47-4-0 which put me 4th, 4th seems to be my position no matter where I draw on this lake!

Club match report and results can be seen HERE.

Here is a video of some of the fish I caught.

We were booked onto Stepfield Lake at this nice Essex Fishery, after a very good breakfast we got the draw done, collected the fishery provided nets and drove round to the lake. 

Stepfield is a canal type lake with a lot of F1s and some carp stocked.

I set up a rig for on the bottom at 6m and a couple of shallow rigs.
I started the match on a top kit in front of me with banded pelet and caught a few F1s but it certainly wasn't as hectic as we all thought it was going to be, when bites all but stopped I ventured out to the 6m line.

Firstly trying on the deck I caught a few F1s and a carp. I had been throwing sloppy groundbait regularly on this line so I now tried the shallow rig, this got me a few more fish but again just bursts of a few fish then nothing for a while in between.

I had been feeding down the edge where it was very shallow but had not seen any signs that the fish had moved in, I had also started pinging pellets further across at around 12m whilst fishing the 6m line, a few carp could be seen cruising around so I went out to the 12m line, I managed an add carp now and then, sometimes in the feed but some of them were "mugged" away from the feed.

I had not caught as well as I thought I would and I had not had that many carp, mostly F1s and most of them were very small so I did not expect to be in the frame.

The scales showed 56lb and that put me 6th.

Club match report and results can be seen HERE.

 I had my new toy with me today, a GoPro camera. A video of some of the fish I caught can be seen below.

Visiting a new venue is always nice and this place looked really good when I pulled into the car park.
After speaking with a few members that had pleasure fished here recently, it seemed we should be able to catch a few nice skimmers and bream with a few carp mixed in too. I drew a peg with a bush in the water on my left which was reputedly a good carp holding spot.

I fed at 11m with groundbait with a few dead maggots and a bit of chopped worm in for the bream and a spot near the bush with pellets and corn. The match turned out to be a real struggle for bites, it seems the venue does not handle this many anglers very well, I did not have a bite over the groundbait at all.

I did catch a couple of small brown goldfish type things by the bush and hooked 3 proper carp, unfortunately despite strong rigs and tightened up heavy elastic all 3 managed to break my hooklength on the snags. Landing 2 of these carp would have given me 2nd in the match instead of the lowly 13th my 2-11-0 got me.

Club match report and results can be seen HERE

I like the club's own Frogmore match lake, it's a nice place and not far to travel BUT you do need to draw the right area sometimes to compete.
Unfortunately for me I drew a peg which was in the wrong area at this time as is obvious from the results, everyone in the same area struggled for a few bites.

So, not much to report. A decent skimmer and a few bits to weigh in 5-3-0.

Club match report and results can be seen HERE