Sunday 23/11/2025 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round One - Taylor's and Shipp's

Here we go, first round of the winter league and all hopeful of a good start. Weather has been variable in the extreme - weeks worth of rain, three days of hard frost and now back to damp weather. The pools had subsequently lost some colour, Fish sure to be bunched up.

Into the draw bag and peg 23 on Taylor's for me. Glad we got two droppers which was my  immediately thoughts. It's not been good during any of the winter leagues. I have said previously that peg 24 would be a better choice as you can fish along the reedy edge, a holding place for the bigger F1.

However, kept positive and plumbed the RH margin and found it idea - nice and flat. Feeling better about the peg as Lee caught some nice fish down this edge during practice. So a 0.3 RJ Slim to fish down to the bush, a 4x14 Winter Titan to fish top set plus one in 6 foot of water - thought it was a bit deep especially with all the cold water that has gone in, but had little choice as it kept gently sloping off. Finally the short Ronnie rig. 

Mind made up to target Silvers. Fed the Ronnie line with loose fed Pinkie and the Titan line with GB and Pinkie and DR's. Started on the Titan line with a DR and a Pinkie and couldn't get a bite. Meanwhile Dave on peg 22 already had five Carp! Had a look on the Ronnie line, which resulted in one Ronnie. Cripes definitely going to be a struggle for some, John on 25 was also struggling and biteless. Fed the margin with GB and DR's my banker for Carp, but probably not until later. Going to be waiting game today, so back out on the Winter line and some indications which resulted in two small Skimmers and a Ronnie. Perked up as thinking might catch a few more. Next fish was a 5 lb Carp followed quickly by another 5lb fish. Subsequently couldn't get another bite on this line. Pretty sure the Carp chased any remaining silvers away, so fed it with loose GB and DR's to rest it. Down to the bush with double DR's and two bites and two small Perch, umm. Spent a lot of time in the margin to no avail. Water too clear perhaps. Waited until the last 20 minutes to try the Winter line again and first put in hooked a Carp which trashed my rig down by the tree. New rig and next put in a 3 lb Carp netted with 7 minutes to go, back out but no further signs.

Weighed 14 lb 14 oz beating three. So my expectations met with the first dropper. I did enjoy it and surprised I could write so much about my day. Well done to Dave (pictured) on peg 22 catching 66 lb 8 oz during the first have of the match on worm heads over GB coming second on the Pool.

Taylor's pool was won by Ricky Mills (pictured with the Shipp's winner - seen this picture before!) with 73 lb 12 oz from peg 26. Ricky caught along the end bank Reeds with maggot hook bait, over tapped maggot.

Shipp's was won by Bela Bakos with 97 lb 13 oz from fancied peg 8 catching mostly down the track towards empty peg 7 with meat over meat. Well done both.

Good to Ron Hardiman out fishing and coming second on Shipp's. He even put an appearance in at the pub.

Weigh Sheets:

 

Tuesday 18/11/2025 - Harescombe - Hobnobs - Match Lake

Back to Harescombe, just a shame that we don't have a fishery like this closer to home. A bit nippy this morning with some car ice scraping before the off.

Another decent breakfast and into the draw bag and for second time on the trot - peg 5 for me. Couldn't help noticing John Smith aka "Cliff" or "Foggy" on peg 29 again!!

Whilst setting up there was a lot of Roach topping on the crease of the wind. So set up the short Ronnie rig to fish down the right, a 4x10 Roob Wire for down the left margin in-between the reeds and a 4x14 Winter Wire to fish top set plus three barrels.

Loose fed the Ronnie line with Pinkie, the left side some DR's and the long line loose GB and DR's and Pinkie. Had a quick look on the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie 100% certain would result in one first try. Well, after 10 minutes not one indication - cripes. So a quick look down the left in the reeds with double DR's and again not a sign! So out on the long line with various combinations of maggot/pinkie and one indication. Persevered with this line for nothing. Two hours in and nothing. So decided to set up 13 metres to fish tight over.What surprised me it was exactly the same depth as the the shorter line. Not fished 13 metres for about twenty years - in fact the end two sections hadn't been used on this pole. However, I was to severely regret doing this, with a reminder why I don't do long pole fishing. Fed some loose GB and DR's and had indication first try - liners? Well the upshot was five foul hooked Carp lost (probably due to towing into into them with the flow going both ways) and one Skimmer and one F1 in the mouth and netted. The consequences of this frustrating excursion was a painful back and hip - never again. Last hour back on the three barrel line and surprise awaited - four more F1's on the bounce plus a lost decent Skimmer before the line died - still haven't got the feeding right convinced this was the cause.

Weighed 13 lb 9 oz for section win and 5th overall. Yes fished hard as most fisheries are at the moment. Left thinking why I didn't have one Ronnie from a lake that is stuffed full with them. Very enjoyable even though it nearly crippled me. Considered a few times leaving the 13 metre section home but it does give some protection to the rest of the pole.

The previous match fished here John Smith (pictured being photo bombed by head Hobnob) was on peg 29. I went and had a pre- all in chat and recommended he fish the waggler up the leg. It surprised me that an angler of his class didn't have one with him. However, he didn't make that mistakes this match fishing the wag and mag into the leg taking the match quite convincingly with 50 lb 11 oz. His first cast caused a chuckle resulting in a Moorhen which was safely returned. Well done matey can't beat waggler fishing.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 09/11/2025 - Westerleigh Winter League - Practice Match

We were all looking forward to this nine match series starting again. Great bunch of match anglers to be fishing with.

This match is classed as a practice match, don't know anyone fishing that needed this. Nice to see the water levels up, yet still more rain required.

Met "Six Sheds" (AKA Geoff Francis) at Wetherspoons for a decent breakfast. A 09:00 draw allow us to easily fit this in. Fishing 10:15 to 15:15 mostly -  dependent on Shanksy. BBC 91% chance of rain - going to rain then!! As usual waited until we were packing up.

Didn't have a preference to which peg. Draw bag chose peg 25 on Taylors Pool. Only issue from experience not a very good silvers peg. So today would be mostly Carp.

I have been experimenting making my own soft pellet and thought I would give them a real match try out. So set up a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus two barrels in 5 foot of water for the trial. Also set up a 0.3 gram RJ to fish top set and four barrels which was plumbed down the LH edge and over to the island.

Fed the pellet line with a small amount of micro, over to island a combo of DR's and Micro and down the edge DR's and GB.

Started my trial with a 6 mm round soft pellet and was satisfied that they stayed on shipping out and lifting and dropping. It was soon clear that it was fishing hard our end of the Pool after 10 minutes had a decent F1, but whilst netting it the hook caught in the landing net and pulled out. I spied a carp rise over to the island and satisfied my pellets worked couldn't resist trying the island with double LR on the hook. Having liners straight away with decent Carp bowing waving out towards me. Refed neat DR's and went back on my pellet and had a decent Carp after which the line went quite. So back out to the island and by topping up through the kinder pot had a decent run of small Carp and F1's. Tried the margin and had some small Carp and two Skimmers but was much slower than over. So back on the island and had a run of four decent Carp before it went quite again. So rested it for the margin again and a couple more small Carp. Definitely helped resting the lines. Back on the island had a decent Ghost Carp and lost another Carp though not taking enough care shipping the pole over the roller totally missing it. However, the Gods forgave me landing a decent Carp in the tail.

Weighed 40 lb 3 oz for third on the pool and sixth overall. Really enjoyed today. It was also great to see Ron Hardiman having a walk around who has been through a lot recently - to say the least. He's hoping to be back out with us soon. 

Ricky Mills (pictured with the Shipp's canal winner) won our pool with 76 lb 11 oz from peg 20. Ricky caught most of his fish down his right margin fishing 6 mm over 6 mm's fed moderately.  

Bela Bakos won Shipp's with 58 lb 13 oz from peg 4. Bela fished meat on his top set out in front. Well done to both.

A shout out to Mark Taylor who is retiring for the fifth time this year for winning the silvers with 5 lb 14 oz mostly made of a a quality Perch.

Back to the pub with the usual suspects. Now here's a thing, Bela was trying to explain to Six Shed's why the water in the Canal is not in level end to end. Six Sheds was obvious confused as to what the change in levelness effect the canal corners - all this before they had a full pint.

Weigh Sheets:

Sunday 02/11/2025 - Alcove Club - Poppy Match - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's and George's

Today's match was primarily for the British Legion annual appeal. So £10 pools and £10 for the good cause.

Steady drive down the Ring Road as I had a nail go in my tyre at Harescombe and had fitted the 50 mph get you home spare wheel.

19 fishing so 9 on Margret's and 10 on Georges. Hoping for Georges as not hemmed in by trees and bushes.

Into the draw bag and disabled peg 14 on Margret's for me. Great feeder peg albeit a very long chuck. Toyed with setting up the maggot feeder for five seconds, choose to fish for Ronnie's instead - my favourite target and method as it keeps me busy on a colder windy day - get bored very easily.

Next to John Amato on end peg 15 and judging by the expletives throughout the match was having a bit of a frustrating day 😀.

Geoff drew peg Margret's 7 - another feeder peg. Margins not that as good - full of snags.

Long and short Ronnie rig, 0.3 gram RJ Slim for the very short RH margin where I was advised by Bill Knight to fish for Carp, Finally a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus two in 5 1/2 foot of water, hopefully for some Skimmers.

Only tabled live and dead reds. Had some Pinkies curtesy of Fred Welsh, but thought it too early to use them - proved a mistake.

Fed the long line with GB and DR's but started on the short Ronnie rig with single LR over loose fed same. Had an amazing 15 minutes catching a Ronnie or Perch - one a bung. It suddenly went completely dead so had a quick look on the long line which was only producing the same fish as the Ronnie rig but slower loosing a 1 lb Skimmer which may have been fouled. Picked up the long Ronnie rig to fish closer to the bush down the left. Feeling a Carp had disrupted play attracted by the sound of the loose feed and first try on the long rig foul hooked a Carp which halfway across the lake the hook pulled. Subsequent started to feed the LR's in loose GB to silence the feeding. Things picked up but it was slower. About 2 hours to go we had some light rain and the temperature dropped drastically recovering after 30 minutes. Had a short look for a Carp with a bunch on LR's down the right where I had been loose feeding DR's steady all match. Upshot never had a bite. Back on the long Ronnie rig but with Pinkie over potted Pinkie and the response was remarkable catching quicker until the end.

Weighed 8 lb 8 oz and due to Georges fishing really poor this put me 6th overall! It probably looked sacrilege to most that I didn't set the feeder up - perhaps next time!! Definitely should have started on the Pinkie.

Tony Welsby (pictured - smiling!) double bubbled today winning over weight and silvers from peg 8 with 27 lb 15 oz. Tony caught at top set plus 4 barrels fishing various baits over GB, Micro and Corn. Well done matey impressive 

Weigh Sheets:

Tuesday 28/10/2025 - Hobnobs - Harescombe - Match Lake

That time of year when it takes me two weeks to adjust to the time change. Match now down to 5 hours with weigh-in at 3 pm. Back to the Match Lake this week, looking forward to it -17 fishing.

These matches are great value you can get a decent breakfast and match for £21, but don't expect payouts to boost your pension. Traditional match anglers know it's not about the £ winnings, but the fishing, camaraderie and competition. We soon get weighed in by Gary and Kathryn the excellent fishery management team (pictured).

Peg 5 for me found myself between the two Phil's so expect conversations to get confusing. Unlike many venue's there are no flyer pegs and impossible to predict the best pegs on the day, which is a great attraction.

Looks like a decent days weather wise. All ready for the all-in (picture looking up from peg 1 picture taken from Smithy's end peg 29).

Bait tray today Live Red Maggot (LR's) and a bit of GB.

Three rigs - A 4x12 strung our 4x14 Winter yo fish at top set plus two barrels with double LR's over loose GB and LR's - result one early F1 and a lost fouler, then pestered by small Ronnie's. A  0.3 gram RJ Slim to fish down the left up to the Reeds with the same feed and bait - result one decent F1. A  0.25 short Ronnie rig fished down the left towards the empty peg would have preferred the right side as it was clear of Reeds but too close to peg 6 Phil. Same baits and caught small Ronnie's with the odd 3 to 4 oz ones and one Skimmer plus four small F1's. It was very hard today, but enjoyable with plenty of close weights again.

Weighed 22 lb 1 oz for 4th and section win just piping Phil Auger peg 6 whom I thought had twice my weight. Used 1/2 pint of LR's today 😁. Very enjoyable day's fishing - when is it not?

The match was won by "Stitch" (pictured) with 41 lb 12 oz from peg 19. Stitch caught one metre off the far bank using pellet over loose fed pellet. Well done matey decent weight on a hard day.

Back to the Lamb with the usual suspects. Found a pub that doesn't sell Guinness 😕.

Bloody traffic a nightmare around my home at the moment, closed one of the roads I use coming home.

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 14/10/2025 - Hobnobs - Harescombe - Doughnut

Last time this year on the Doughnut for me and probably the last time at Harescombe for Glenn until the Spring when the paste starts working again. I'm currently thinking of fishing the silver matches on Thursday's on Field Lake.

Eighteen fishing today. Into the draw bag and peg 28 for me. Not seen this peg in before but explained by the numbers fishing today. Its the last number on the Nut, subsequently next to peg 1 occupied by matey Rich Powell. To my right had a decent gap to Tony Welsby peg 24 who started off like a train and thought it was on the cards for a win. Quite liked the look of the peg, very narrow. Flat calm though but the tow wind effected.

So just the one rig a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus one barrel at 1 o clock with maggot - simple.

Fed a small pot GB laced with LR's with double LR's on an18 hook to 0.14 GLine in five foot of water. First put in had Carp catching me by surprise - usually got to wait a while for the first bite here, so, is a red letter day on the cards? Four tiny Perch later, the answer was nope! Everyone was struggling. With two hours gone and three Carp in the net faith in my method started to vane. So put on another barrel and added the 6 inches difference reaching full depth, but after five minutes regained my composure and reverted back to the one barrel 😕. Glenn came round with two hours to go who had just the one Carp and by which time my tally was five. Good job the exit gate was locked!! The last hour came and I started to string a few more Carp together and thinking I had another half hour refed the line only to here the all out - 3 o clock finish from now on. 

Finished with ten Carp and four Perch 😁 for 30 lb 15 oz taking 3rd spot. What was interesting the peg tow's in both directions probably due to being on the end on the Nut. Very enjoyable day, love this hard fishing after all I was brought up catching next to nothing on the rivers and canal fishing winter leagues etc...

Phil Auger came out clear winner by miles with a catch of 87 lb 1 0z from peg 14 (pictured with his catch and the mud bank). Phil caught long over the mud bank fishing 12 inches deep with maggot hook bait and feed. Will done matey

Back to the Lamb with the usual suspects to end another memorable day.

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 07/10/2025 - Hobnob's - Harescombe Fishery - Doughnut

Travelled on my own today which always makes the journey appear longer. Nice breakfast again with John S, Chris G and Pete G. Jock reminisced the three days he lost after fishing the super league for Swindon on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. Apparently he Disney drink anymore.

Hoping to be over the far side for a change and was rewarded with peg 19. As with last week on the Match Lake found myself next to Mick peg 18 and Richard peg 20 aka Teabag - little less coughing and spitting today.

There are lots of different baits you can take to matches which causes confusing and switching around resulting in reduced catches. I choose a bait and try and make it work. So far that has been paste here but have now switched to maggot, in my opinion the best bait if no silvers around.

At last conditions were good for the waggler so set up a 6" Drake. A 4x16 Winter to fish up the slope in nearly 5 foot of water at top set plus one barrel at 1 o clock and the short Ronnie rig. All to fish maggot.

Fed the inside lines and the far bank. Started on the waggler with double LR's hook bait with the depth set at 3 foot. Soon found that the far bank had collapsed with the depth being just a few inches. Shallowed up to 18 inches and was soon foul hooking Carp. Hooked three in the mouth and had lost five and time to ditch the waggler - at least got that one out of my system - bit ridiculous trying to fish a mud bank with a waggler - but fun. Thanks to Mick for retrieving my waggler 😁.

Had a short go on the Ronnie rig with single LR over loose feed which didn't feel right, so spent the rest on the match on the one barrel line and from there on had a steady day catching some beautiful looking Carp to 4 lb. Played about with the feeding which was informative, get it wrong and foul hooking follows. Can't emphasise enough how important it is to take time plumbing up on this lake.

Weighed 56 lb 8 oz which included a 1/4 oz Perch for second overall. Fed about 3/4 pint so not a lot of bait required. Enjoyed the day but did get a tad cold near the end.

The match was won by Rob Pass (pictured) with 66 lb 5 oz from peg 9. I'm sure paste played a big part for him today. Well done matey.

Chris Gay took our section by default, fishing 16 metres with worm over micro - cripes hard work that. Nice one matey.

Back to the Lamb with the usual suspects and another good laugh.

Weigh Sheet: