Tuesday 08/09/2026 - Harescombe - Hobknobs - Match Lake

I had boked into the silvers match on Field Lake, however, the Old Gits had it booked. So booked into the Match Lake.

Told best to have an end peg at mo. So middle peg 9 would have to do! Had head Hobknob next peg. As can be seen a lot of work has been done to shore up the crumbling bank with thick steel shuttering. Just under 50% done waiting on delivery of more. Understand that platforms will be re-established. Nice drop of rain this morning and low rolling clouds over the the top of the valley. It got a bit chilly.

When fishing the Field Lake last week fed some fishery hemp down the edge and found the Carp were soon colouring up the water. So thought an experiment with the remainder on the hemp today would be worth a try over corn.

Plumbed up a 4x10 winter in 2 1/2 foot of water at top set plus two barrels. The new margins are just a a few inches shallower, with a bit of a slope. So set up a 4x10 Speedy for this. 

Potted some hemp down the RH margin and some corn with a dash of hemp on the long line, where I started. With ASDA corn on the hook had a decent Skimmer on the drop. Kept kindering a few grains of hemp and corn. Had a 3 lb F1 and that was it other than foul hooking Carp. It was clear that the Carp were preoccupied with the hemp so stopped feeding it leaving just corn, which didn't help. Tried down the margin with corn over the hemp and although Carp were coming in they spooked as soon as the rig went in. Two hours in and struggling. Tried the margin again and had the fish of the day - a 2 lb Barbel 😀. Decided to change to paste, so got up and wetted some micro, knocked up some paste and set up a 0.3 gram paste float to fish top set plus one barrel. Kindering the micro over the paste started to produce decent Skimmers and the odd big F1 to 4 lb. As the end came nearer the better it got especially when the wind got up. Didn't want the match to end.

Weighed 11 lb of Silvers and 27 lb 3 oz of F1's for 38 lb 3 oz. Wasted two hours, not good precticing in a match but where else better to try things. Really enjoyed the day.

The match was won by John Smith (pictured) with 73 lb 8 oz from end peg 25. John initially caught four F1's on the method feeder into the far corner. Switched to paste which proved slow, switching instead to the 6 mm banded over fours which produced the lion's share of his catch at top set plus one barrel. Well done matey.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 06/09/2026 - Alcove Club - The Clamp

Looking forward to this match. Lovely little venue close to home and well kept and a great pleasure fishing venue. However, very hard match fishing. Arrived and found some golf balls for my neighbour. Told the two best pegs 5 and 6 were under repair so not in. Was hoping to draw anywhere from the middle up to the far end. Pulled peg 2 and with only 9 fishing was surprised it was in. Any chance of a pick up gone. Very shallow with 2 foot of water and in the shade all day. My target was to try and have a days fishing catching small Ronnie's worth 3 lbish. Don was opposit pictured in the sun, who was hoping for 5lb.

Set up a 4x12 Drennan Pinkie, had it ready to go and broke the tip putting in the roost. Duh, plenty of time to set up another. Also set up the Ronnie rig not sure why - it didn't get used. The light was terrible for float visiability. Settled for yellow tips.

Fished single Pinkie over dryish GB fished on the drop at top set plus three barrels. Took 40 minutes to get a bite which I bumped in the excitement. Had two 1 oz Ronnie's straight after and thinking I might have a days fishing. Alas not after three hours and no more bites threw the towell in. Don opposite was also on two Ronnie's when I left. Scared the wife when I walked in early - never heard of.

Did see a Carp about 3 lb sucking air, so wondered if the oxygen levels were low at this end?

John Amato was catching the odd Ronnie, but was being hindered by a blue rope hanging above his head - pictured. Some expletives followed from John which isn't unheard of 😂.

Tony Welsby won the match from peg 10 with a very good weight of 10 lb 3 oz. Runner up was match organiser from peg 9 and Andy Gard third with 4 lb from peg 7. Well done to threm.

Tuesday 01/09/2026 - Hobknobs - Harescombe - Field Lake - Silvers only

About a year ago Rich Powell suggested I fish some of the Hobknobs Silver matches fished on various Harescombe lakes. So with no Glenn fishing today decided to give it a go. The match was on Field Lake, which is a beautiful looking lake and a nice place to send the day silvers fishing.

Gary and Katherine were away today, luckly still got a breakfast served up by head Hobknob Tony and Wife. Very good, and thanks.

Only five of us booked in usually about ten. Plenty on the doughnut though.

Told they had been catching on Hemp but could only use the venue Hemp.So bought a pint.

Best pegs were put in, peg 18 for me. Told there were loads of Ronnie's and Skimmers. So set up two Ronnie rigs - short and long and a 4x14 Winter to fish top set plus two barrels in 4 1/2 foot of water a line out in front and a line to my left at 10 o clock.

Fed some chopped worm in wet GB on the in front long line and just 5 grains of corn to the left long line. Started feeding the hemp on the long Ronnie rig, however, the Hemp was very small and hardly any with a curnel, so no good for the hook so fished LR's over it, coud catch a 1/2 oz Ronnie every put in with the hook bait not reaching the bottom, there are lots of big Roach in the lake, but the 1/2 ouncers get there first. Tried the short Ronnie rig down the LH edge with LR's fished over same loose feed. Same again but did have a 4 oz Perch. I was going nowhere. So out on the worm line with a worm head and had a few of Skimmers - 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb. Kept topping up with small balls of CW in wet GB. It died due to Carp taking too much liking to the worm feed. But frustrating loosing  couple of hook lengths. So switched to the Corn line and started kindering in 4 pieces of corm with a pinch of Hemp hoping to catch some bigger Roach, wishing I had some small Tares. Well started to catch Skimmers again and had a decent spell - wasn't ever manic but nice and steady, Loosing the old hook length to Carp and some flying Skimmers. Come the last 45 minutes I found my self surrounded by Carp and the eigth Carp took the complete long rig so spent the last knocking thrashing out 1/2 ounce Ronnies with LT's over loose fed Hemp up in the water must have added 1 lb!!

Weighed 19 lb 6 oz for the win. Very enjoyable days fishing with some very good silvers anglers. To be fair it was a close match with Rich Bowd weighing 17 lb 12 oz of beautiful Roach and Hybrids caught on edlerberries over Hemp - envious of the Roach. Rich said i'm not to come again though!

Weigh Sheet:

Tuesday 25/08/2026 - Harescombe - Hob Knobs - Doughnut

Glenn loves fishing the Harescombe Doughnut, so with the Hobknobs on it this week got Glenn to come, he needs to get out fishing. So Breakfast - Fishing - Pint and a curry on the way home was planned.

Chat on the way was about the GAS match Saturday. Podge miss his usual goal just before half time - wonder where he was?

We havn't been to Harescombe for some time so out of touch with the fishing. However, the Doughnut has been fishing very well. After a chat with the locals and a breakfast into the draw and peg 17 for me and 9 for Glenn a peg he has framed off previously, my peg has also been decent in the past. Had Lionel Legg next door so good company and had a good chat. Dont think he's a GAS supporter though!!

Bait wise had Micro, Paste and Maggots of which the price has gone through the roof with the quality gone down, after one day they started to turn. Probably now paying for John Alexander's holidays. There is only a few Eels and Perch in the Lake so Maggot can be good, but probably best in winter.

The water level (pictured) is well down similar to last year so set my box up on the dry margin enabling to get my keep nets into deeper water. No one likes being hgh of the water, nothing worse than looking down on your float.

Set up a 0.4 gram paste float and had a good plumb around. Umm, margin was from nothing slopping to 3 foot before dropping off to full depth at 5 foot at 3 metres out. Set the paste float at full depth at top set plus one barrel. Carp were coming in clsoe to the bank and darting out again not sure they would be catchable with this behaviour. Set up a 0.3 g RJ slim for the deapest part of the margin - 3 foot for the left side and and at a similar depth a 0.3 gram paste PC float on the right.

Fed a pot of Micro on the long line and similarly down the right, loose fed some maggots down the left. Started long on the paste whilst watching Carp darting in for the maggot feed. Soon lost a fouler then had one about 3 lb, surprised me how hard the fish fight here. Was expecting a bit of just playing fish all match day, but it was proving very hard. Had three Carp and pulled out another, plus a few lost foulers before trying the maggot and had a Carp first try. Then nothing other than a Bootlace Eel and a couple of Perch. Shallowed up to 2 foot and had another Carp before it died again. Tried the paste in the right side not one indication. Spent a few hours catching the odd Carp on the long line, but it was slow. Kept picking the odd fish off on the maggot rig. Into the last hour the paste long line showed some signs of Carp so decided to fish it to the end. Unfotunatey having foul hooked five Carp on the bounce lost another which snapped a well worn rig line. Couldn't be assed to set up another instead fished the maggot rig shallow and had a very late burst on it but needed to feed heavy then leave it.

Weighed 55 lb 6 oz for last! Did enjoy it, did learn a few things for next time. This comes from being out of touch with a venue.

Local venue expert Mick O'Brian (pictured with some of his catch) took the match out from peg 19 with 167 lb 11 oz. Mick caught all his fish from both margins with his rig set at 2 foot with banded pellet over loose fed same. He certainly got this method sorted, bit like mud bank fishing in oppoite. Well done matey nice to watch.

Our Over 55's member John Smith (pictured) came third with 129 lb 14 oz from peg 7. John caught long on paste - very good result for a pellet head! Well done matey saw you wheel spin out of the car park to the call of Chedder Valley.

Nice to round the day off with a Khurka chicken curry at the White Harte and Glenn explaining the story how he met Jane his wife and the Elephant dance at his wedding reception - both remembering this one 😂. Thanks for the company.

Over 55's got the Doughnut booked for the 24/09/2026. Details to follow on the group chat.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 23/08/2026 - Alcove Club - Whitehouse Farm - George's Lake

Bit nippy this morning loading the car - it wasn't to last. Twenty minute drive to George's to see plenty of early birds already unloading.

The day before the club had an 8 hour Carp match on George's. Didn't see any results but told it didn't fish that well.

Most wanted peg 1 as certain winner at the moment. It came out first for Tony Welsby. Game over.

Peg 5 for me, with Steve Sewell - "the Big-un" on peg 4 and match organiser Jason on peg 6. Bit disappointed to find on the right a over-hanging Willow - so no margin there and on the left similarly a Bramble bush which went out into the lake about a metre. so limited margin fishing. A bird cage without the canopy.

With now bright sushine and flat calm I didn't fancy the Skimmers would show in numbers. However, set up a paste float to fish top set and three barrels out in the white water in 4 and half foot of water to cover both options, the lake is at least 18 inches down at the moment. It was going to be hard work in the heat to fish the Ronnie rig, but set it up anyway. - good job I did. 

Tried the paste over micro and incredibly not one indication!!. So picked up the Ronnie rig and caught small Ronnie's, Rudd and the odd Perch steady over GB laced with LR's. The Big-un was who was catching F1's and the odd Skimmer on chop worm and caster most people were catching the odd skmmer and Carp on corn. Too late for me to change. Couldn't see a Wasp nest but three of the buggers hanging out with me.

"Hindsight holds a level of perfection that real-time decisions can't provide".

Now here's a thing a phone call with a family emergency only second time ever out fishing. Which wasn't really, by time I got there someone in Sainsbury's car park had got the car started with jump leads.

I tipped back about 5 lb of spratts and was unlikley to get anywhere near 10 lb of silvers. Did  lose a Carp in the brambles - would be very difficult to land an angry Carp from this peg.

I don't have the results sheet but when it appears I will add to the blog. However, walking past Tony on peg, was playing yet another decent Carp so took a video for something to blog. Tony caught at 10 metres using corn over corn. The beautiful Common Carp in the video weighed in at 14 lb 7 oz.

I predict that The Big-un (pictured) would have the highest silvers weight as claiming 15 lb -3 F1's and some Skimmers.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 02/08/2026 - John Treasure Memorial Match - Joint with the RBL Club - Whitehouse Farm - Margret's and George's

Not been fishing for four weeks for various reasons. So at last had a chance to go to the Alcove match at Whitehouse Farm. Both Georges and Margret's were both in the draw, both have been throwing up some big Carp weights especially George's peg 1. The Carp are mostly double figures and too big for me to wrestle with in the landing net these days especially with the water levels down. If I drew the peg I would still have go though it's in the DNA, but hoping to avoid the known Carp pegs.

The match was split into two with top 3 and 1 silvers on each lake.

But first had to follow instructions and pick my annual helping of the Special One's Blackberries for her pies. So with mission accomplished it was Into the draw bag and peg 8 (pictured) on Margret's for me. For company on the next peg 9 was matey Andy Gard - now a serial match angler who does more miles than an Uber driver. Had this peg before and always fished for small Ronnie's of which there are millions add the millions of tiny Perch it's a bit of a physical effort in this hot weather. I had bought some worms but had left them home - hope they're OK, so only had LR's and Paste. So went for the waggler to fish for the Chub and a paste rig - simple.

It's very wide to the island on this peg but had waggler's that could do it, but would not be able to loose feed it, so settled for an 8" Drake bodied waggler. With the water level really low had just 4 and a bit foot of water. So a 0.4 gram PC paste rig with yellow top selected. That was it so had 45 minutes to hang around for the 10 o clock start - a few more Blackberries it was then.

Having mixed my paste and making a right mess of my trousers fed the paste line at 10 metres with micro and the waggler line as far as the catty and wind conditions would allow - about half way!! No wind can be worse than a side wind for loose feeding.

Started on the waggler with double DR and had a 1 1/2 lb Gold fish fan tail second cast. Good start. Then it was the usual small Ronnie's and Perch afterwards. Occasionally I  was getting the complete ragging of the maggots which I'm sure were Chub. Didn't connect with any though, smashing the hook bait on the way down me thinks. Shallowed up to no avail. I had planned to leave the paste until I saw some fizz, but tried it anyway and was surprised to catch a 2lb Skimmer first try. I then had problems with the platform being too far off the water, the elastic being too strong and shipping back into bushed and jamming up causing the loss of a couple of Skimmers. Switched to a lighter elastic and adjustment of the pole roller helped considerably. Had a couple of hours picking off the odd better Skimmer and one F1. The peg was by now showing a lot of fizz caused by tiny Skimmers which were becoming a nuisance they are hard enough to catch on natural baits let alone paste. Had a common and Mirror Carp both about 5 lb each which herald the end of the Skimmers fishing. So upped the feed to try and catch more Carp alas only one lost foul hooker. On hindsight wish I had rested the line in favour of the waggler for a while, think the extra feed buggered it up. Struggled the last hour which I spent catching small  silvers on the Waggler.

The two Carp weighed 10 lb 4 oz and my silvers 18 lb 7 oz for a total weight of 28 lb 11 oz and the lake silvers win. Our side of the lake wasn't fishing that well so pleased with my result - bollocks to worms. To be fair a nice day's fishing and the Special One thought the Blackberries were excellent.

Pete Watkins (pictured with the lakes silvers winner) won our lake with 76 lb 5 oz from peg 17. It took the last hour to catch, starting with a 20 pounder. Kev caught down his left hand margin using double corn

Over to George's where the lake record was nearly broken by Kev Murch (pictured) who weighed an impressive 155 lb 14 oz from peg 1. A;ll pole caught - well done Matey.

Bill Knight picked up the silvers on George's from peg 13 with 14 lb 2 oz. You will no doubt read more of today's exploits by visiting "Billy's Blog" which is always an excellent crafted blog - very enjoyable read. Just google it.

PS: John Amato didn't get his net bag back which fell off his new motor bike last match - luckily the dog wasn't in it.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 02/07/2026 - Viaduct Cost Cutter - Campbell Lake

Back to Viaduct for the cost cutter with Geoff. Lucky to get in it's a sell out every week, so full house with 21 fishing. Had the SH1T's for a couple of days and was hoping to be OK for the match.

We had breakfast in the White Hart in Somerton, and met up with Steve Denmead and Leon Hubbard. The breakfast is "interesting" and expensive. The talk was about the cost some anglers will go to for a match Silvers win with the record being beaten again on the Tuesday using copious amounts of maggot, told 8 pints were fed. Not for me.

Nice to catch up with a few more anglers Rich Coles was in attendance and we had a chat about the old days and the miles we travelled on the weekends for our teams. He mentioned a numerous time he didn't want to draw peg 135 😂. Also nice to meet up with Dave White, does Dan still fish I wonder?

Into the draw coffee tin and peg 130 for me. Not an area I particularly fond of, I certainly have had my share of the pegs in this area over the years.

Just paste, corn and micro on the table and see what transpires with the Silvers.

One corn rig for down under the tree to my right about 5 foot out in the shade. A paste rig for the left hand side margin and similarly a paste rig for top set plus two barrels.

Two visits to the toilet before the all in and luckily that was it for the the duration of the match.

Fed the corn line with a few grains and a smidgeon of micro and the long line with half a pot of micro. Started on the corn and had a one pound hybrid first try, then pestered by small silvers with the odd better Ronnie to 6 oz. With the long paste line settled went over it with a small piece of paste and had seven decent Skimmers in seven put in's so things starting to appeared better than I thought. I could hear a few moans opposite on the decent Skimmer pegs. I then got carried away with the feed and now think I over done it as I started to hook Carp which proceeded to beat up two paste rigs. Landed the third one. I left the line alone in favour of the corn line and had some more decent Ronnie's and one decent Skimmer then another Carp. Back out on the long paste line over Kindered micro and just could not get the Skimmers back , but increase the feed and it was Carp city adding just two more Skimmers. Each side had been catching Carp regularly on the tip so last couple of hours put on a heavier paste rig and fished for Carp - cripes they fight hard catching five losing a few foulers.

Silvers weighed 19 lb 1 oz with a total weight of 64 lb 10 oz fro nowhere. A days fishing though.

Well done Dave White (pictured) showing the way on the pole with 284 lb from peg 121, pity Howard wasn't here today, be nice to see him cry - nice to catch up - still got it matey.

How Dave caught in his own words:

"Viaduct today for an open and I drew peg 121 which is a good edge peg so I was happy with that. I’ve caught 24 carp and a few skimmers for a total weight of 284lbs which was enough for the win so happy with the result and I would like to thank everyone who helped me today hopefully for not much longer lol 😜 before you asked me I caught all my fish on the pole who knew lol 😎"

The Silvers was won by Leon Hubbard (pictured) with 79 lb 2 oz from peg 118. Leon caught short on worn, maggot and GB. Well done matey.

Geoff and me stopped in the The old station Inn. Quirky place but good food at a decent price.

Overall:

1. Dave White - 284lb - peg 121

2. Steve Macdonald - 241lb 5oz - peg 131

3. Tony Wittcomb - 200lb - peg 114

Silvers:

1. Leon Hubbard - 79lb 2oz - peg 118

2. Nick Ewers - 59lb 11oz - peg 111

3. Mat Rowe - 45lb - peg 112

Weigh Sheet: