Tuesday 05/05/2026 - Hob knobs - Harescombe - Match Lake

Back to Harescombe with Glenn to fish the Hob Knobs match on the Match Lake. Sixteen fishing. Another decent breakfast which had to be devoured quickly as head Hob Knob was enthusiastic for an early draw. Effects of holidays.

Was nearly last to be called up to the draw bag. Good way to draw, no mass gatherings and time for a recorded draw.

Peg 1 for me. Hopefully peg 29 wasn't in - it wasn't so plenty of room - pictured.  The wind was blowing quite hard down to the end bank and was quite cold. 

Applying learning last match I dug out four Speedy float rigs - 4x10's and 4 x 12's to try out. Love these floats, designed for Malman by Nick Speed - not sure what he used them for but I like them for long lining in margins when windy.

Bait wise had 7 mm meat, micro, GB and LR's. Once again don't' have the patients to wait hours for fish to turn up on it and that was how it was today, so no more discussion on this. Has to be instant to keep me interested.

Set up a 4x10 Speedy. A small margin bush had attracted me on the top set and plumbing around was perfect depth and slope. Could easily reach the end bank with three barrels so chose a line with the same depth as the bush line.

Started by loose feeding micro and LR's down to the bush. But wasted time fishing out one barrel over loose fed meat and after 30 minutes gave it in. Went down to the bush with singe LR and expected to be pestered by small silvers. I was getting indications which was liners from Carp and soon had a 3 lb Carp in the net. Next put in hooked another that was really angry and took ages to get in close, thought it was fouled - it wasn't, started to pull harder which resulted in the rig line snapping above the float. Close inspection revealed I had put on a silvers Speedy with 0.12 rig line which I attached 0.16 hook length thinking it was 0.16 rig line. Duh. Set up again and back to the bush which had gone quiet so went over to the end bank where I had been loose feeding LR's. Presentation was perfect as the strong wind was causing the rig to swing round and away from the bank. I was soon in to a purple patch catching regularly decent Common's and Mirror's and the odd big F1's. Did foul hook a couple. The wind dropped leaving the rig becalmed which certainly slowed the catch rate. So back to the bush and two more there. Back out to the end bank which had really slowed but had a 1 1/2 Skimmer on the drop. Last hour was really difficult only catching one more, losing a foul hooker on the all out.

Weighed 36 lb 14 oz for a close won match. That's it now until Whiteacres in 11 days time with plenty of tackle sorting to do.

Here's a thing had a Common Carp which looked really sick so isolated it in a separate net for Gary to diagnose. Apparently it had Carp Pox and would be fine in a few weeks. Apparently similar to human Herpes.

Back to the Lamb with the usual suspects for a pint or two in my case.

 Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 03/05/2026 - Ron Hardiman's Summer League - Round One - Westerleigh - Taylor's and Shipp's

Round one of Ron's Summer League today. Weather looked reasonable, with hardly any wind which would likely effect the silver fishing. However, on the start on any league it's only sensible to start to catch the heaviest weight and get some good points. So Carp targetted.

Nineteen fishing with one "unavailable".

First round is a random draw following matches swop between the two pools. So you stay fishing with the same ten anglers throughout the league.

Into the draw bag and peg 16 on Taylor's for me. Far from being the best peg. it's been poor for some time usually last on the pool. However, you never know - staying positive. For company on 15 was Shaun T and peg 17 Tony M. Our pool had the full 10 fishing with the absentee being on Shipp's peg 1.

Well had to give the paste a go. I should know this peg well by now, drawn it a few times and fishing any closer than three barrels you are fishing over a rocky bottom and difficult to plumb. Sensibly it's best to fish just short of the bar at 13 metres. So set up a 0.4 gram PC paste float to fish top set plus three barrels. The peg does have a good margin to the left so a 0.3 gram paste float was set up for that. The usual short Ronnie rig in case! Finally set up the waggler to fish on the bar in 30 inches of water.

Fed half a pot of micro on the long paste line and plopped in the paste and had a fouler first attempt, which didn't reach the net. After which the paste was getting pestered by I think were small Tench, too small for the size of paste, so put on a small piece and had a 8 oz Tench, so refed and had a few casts on the waggler with double LR's over loose fed same and once again foul hooked a Carp which broke me. Subsequently got pestered by small Ronnie's. Meanwhile Paul Elmes opposite was catching well short (good short peg). All along our bank was struggling. So on to the Ronnie rig to put something in the net fishing single LR's over loose fed same and caught small Perch and Ronnie's for a couple of hours before trying the long paste line again but with no sign of a fizz it was soon abandoned back to the Ronnie rig. Nick S on 14 was blanking at this time Shaun T had a few F1's long on pellet. So stayed on the Ronnie rig and had three Skimmers and a couple of Tench when the rain started and the line went completely dead. It was either due to the rain or Carp had moved in. Luckily it was the latter had a 5 lb dumpy Carp on the Ronnie rig with single LR. So time to pick up the margin paste rig, so fed some micro and with great expectations as it was plopped in and it just sat there without any indications!! Shaun was now bagging in his margin on meat. So went back on the Ronnie rig and had three more decent Carp and some F1's (well F0.5's as they were so small). Shaun T and me needed another hour as Paul E opposite had stopped catching at the same time we started to catch.

Weighed 40 lb dead with 9 lb 9 oz of silvers enough for the pool silvers win. I would have settled for 6 points off this peg at the start. Very enjoyable day's fishing.

Taylor's was won as expected by Paul Elmes with 87 lb 11 oz from peg 20. Paul caught short on meat and 14.5 metres out to the bar fishing pellet. Well done matey.

That man on fire on this venue Bela Bakos (pictured with the winner on Taylor's pool) easily won Shipp's with 102 lb 8 oz from peg 11. Bela started short with meat and had a few F1's, switching to long over to the end of his right side island with pellet and started to catch better stamp of Carp. He later dropped back short on meat and was rewarded with a beautiful 12 lb Grass Carp (foul hooked apparently). he also manged to properly hook some munters that do come in close to your keep net on this peg late on and are very difficult to hook properly. Well done matey.

Couldn't help noticing a number of anglers now suffering with injuries from fishing very long. Think it's time to introduce a 13 metre limit. Even the best pole you can buy are heavy fished long.

Back to the New Inn for a pint and the usual banter.

Weigh Sheets - Rain effected:

Tuesday 28/04/2026 - Hob Knobs - Harescombe - Match Lake

Back to Harescombe with angler and good friend who needs  no introduction other than looking at his roost - pictured.

The day before the match the temperature was comfortable enough to sit in the garden tying hooks. Looked at the forecast for today and it did say expect the temperature to be 5 degrees colder. Should have considered the wind chill factor as arriving at the fishery there was a very cold NE wind blowing. It was bloody freezing.

Head Hob Knob wasn't available today so Katherine did the honors with the draw etc...

After a nice breakfast, into the draw bag and peg 18 for me. Luckily Glen was next peg 20 so parked behind empty 19. My other next peg was 16 occupied by matey Chris Gay. The fish were attempting to spawn - certainly going through the motions particularly in peg 16. Sat on my box to find the wind blowing it at me at 11 0 clock - bloody freezing.

Glenn and I haven't been here for a good few months so were well out of touch and will be fishing with good bunch of anglers that fish the venue two to three times a week.

Had paste, maggots. micro and GB. I was doubtful about the paste. Fish spawning up edge of the sedges, so didn't bother with a margin rig as thought it would only lead to fouling. So a short Ronnie rig, 4x12 Winter to initially fish top set plus three barrels and a 0.3 gram paste float to also fish long to the left of the Winter rig.

Fed some GB and Maggot on the right Winter line and loose fed some maggots on the Ronnie rig line. Started with a small ball of paste over some micro and had a bite first put put in, well not a bite exactly but a fouler that came off. Never mind gave some enthusiasm for the paste. Well an hour in and having lost seven foulers and nothing in the net except a speared micro Ronnie, so gave it up. Tried double maggot on the Winter line and lost a Skimmer which might have also been foul hooked! Plenty of moaning going on about how cold it was and how poor the fishing was. The wind was a pain long to sulked on to top set plus one and batten down the hatches. Fished double LR's with GB and experimented with different feeding and started to catch some F1's, some skimmers and one decent Roach and was surprised when a Bream (not a Skimmer) flew off the hook, indeed if it was hooked, Learnt a bit about the feeding for next time. The Ronnie rig was left in the roost today due to the poor presentation due to the strong wind.

Weighed 12 lb 12 oz for seventh from bottom, lost 10 foulers - final score 10 - 7 to the Carp -  duh. On hindsight should have set up a margin rig.

The match was won by regular Phil Auger (pictured with his catch) from peg 11 with a great weight on the day of 42 lb 15 oz. Phil caught mainly long over to the island at 14 metres fishing either maggot or caster hook bait fished over loose fed same. Well done matey.

Back to the pub with John S, Pete G and Glenn B for the usual moans.

Weigh Sheet:

Thursday 16/04/2026 - Avalon Open - Match Lake

Had a call from Kev Winstone offering a lift to Avalon. Definite yes otherwise I would have spent the day tearing my hair out setting up a new phone. Happy to put that off.

We had breakfast in Lillypool Cafe. It's had a complete refurbish since last there. The breakfast was excellent especially the sausage. Expensive, but only get what you pay for.

Didn't expect the need to give Kev instructions on how to get to Avalon from the cafe. Yep, he took the wrong turning - Duh. Never a dull moment with Kev's driving - very exciting white knuckles come to mind.

Nice to catch up with Vic Bush, Steve Kedge, Incognito and others

Twenty four fishing so every peg in on the far in on the far bank where you can now park behind every peg. I was being over watched by a large Heron, it didn't come down after my flying Ronnie's - pictured

Into the draw bag and peg 40 for me. Arrived at the peg which was on the end of the second island and thought might have a day on the pellet waggler but was deterred by the wind. So silvers it would be.

Set up a 4x16 winter to fish for skimmers at top set plus three, short Ronnie rig (Mutterless rig?) and a 4x12 for tight into the edge which is very deep hopefully for a bonus Perch or two.

Potted a few casters down tight to the RH margin, fed the long line with a ball of hard GB laced with caster, micro and chopped worm. Started down the edge with double caster and had a few small Ronnie's with no sign of Perch went out long with a worm and although the wind was strong presentation was good. However no signs, not even from a Ronnie. Looking around a fair few were fishing for silvers and all struggling early doors, so fed the long line again a kept an eye open for any sign of a blow. Meanwhile started on the Ronnie rig with single caster over loose fed caster. It was a bite a chuck from mainly small Ronnie's and the odd decent Rudd and bloody loads of Mutterless Minnows. Kept trying the long line with worm but no signs and topping up afterwards. The upshot was I don't have the ability to sit 6 hours for 5 bites so with no signs of Skimmers spent the last last couple of hours on the Ronnie rig trying different feeding etc.. to avoid the Minnows.

Had around 300 fish for 12 lb 4 oz. which surprisingly left me one out of the silvers pool.

The match was won by Incognito (pictured with the silvers winner) with 73 lb 5 oz from peg 26. Howard caught on his usual Tea Bag method. Well done matey.

The silvers was taken by Phil Dodds with 21 lb 8 oz from peg 34. Phil caught on the cage feeder with micro and worm feed with worm on the hook. He caught four big Bream and one Perch. Well done matey.

Well done to Kev for second in the silvers with 19 lb 3 oz. Kev got platformed by a foul hooked Bream using knicker elastic.

Back to Wells Spoons for a couple or three pints of Guinness's with the usual lads.

Weigh Sheet:

Sunday 12/04/2026 - Bela Bakos Open - Westerleigh - Shipp's and Taylor's

After a short break was looking forward to today's match. Usual twenty pegs and hoping for a peg on the far side of Taylor's. Into the draw bag and peg 4 Shipp's again! This peg can throw up a Carp weight once in a while but not of late, so no need to cut up meat or mix paste today. However, it's an OK silvers peg - so that will do. Nice to have fishery manager next door on peg 3.

Simple set up 4x14 winter to fish two barrels, Short Ronnie rig and a 6" slim bodied drake.

Plan was to initially fish the two barrel line for Skimmers then switch to the Ronnie rig and if things got hard onto the waggler for again Ronnie's. Every time I fish this peg the first 30 minutes is spent catching F1's and can guarantee one first put in. So fed a knub of GB laced with Pinkie and yes the Winter rig hadn't settled and a F1 took the double Pinkie and was soon in the net. Kept topping up every fish and after four F1's had two small Skimmers and a couple of Crucians (which don't count as silvers). Had a couple more Skimmers and some Ronnie's before it was time to test for the Ronnie's on the short rig. Had a good couple of hours regularly catching 1 - 2 oz fish. Thought I would rest it and try the waggler with single LR over lose fed same. First couple of cast was getting indications, then the heavens opened with a barrage of hail stones making the waggler invisible, so abandoned that and went back on the Ronnie rig. Last hour thought I would have an experiment on the two barrel line by dumping a big pot of LR's in. With single LR on the hook and had two instant F1's and foul hooked two decent Carp.  Experiment over - thinking paste might have worked today. Spent the remaining time on the Ronnie rig had slowed but did add two better Skimmers.

F1's weighed 12 lb 4 oz and the Silvers 8 lb 13 oz for the lake silvers win. Mission accomplished.

Shipp's and the match was won by Vince Shipp (pictured) - AGAIN - with 90 lb 1 oz from peg 8. Vince struggled early on fishing soft pellet and micro (thought I heard some moaning) . He later switched to corn hook bait over micro fishing short down his right margin and caught decent Carp. Vince had also had a go with meat which didn't produce much - guessing it was due the highly coloured water. Well done matey.

Taylor's was won by Mike Etheridge (pictured) with 74 lb 10 oz from peg 20. Mike tried catching long which didn't produce switching to both his margins fishing meat in both. Well done matey.

Taylors silver's was won by Matt Tainton with a decent weight of 14 lb 12 oz from peg 25. Matt caught mainly Skimmers on either maggot or worm over chopped worm. Well done matey.

Now here's a thing Ricky Mills was on peg 11 which was on my sight line and his yellow topped float was a right distraction. Then relised Ricky must of borrowed some of Geoff Francis special floats also explaining Geoff's absence.

Well done to Bela for running the match today and thanks for putting peg 4 in 😉

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 26/03/2026 - Windmill Cost Cutter - Match Lake

Asked one of the senior fishery managers if the access road had been repaired. Told it was, so booked in. WRONG the road was far from decent condition. However, this wasn't going to be the worse part of the day. With 21 fishing expected it was going to be tough fishing, but nowhere near as was to transpire.

Into the draw box and peg 21 for me. Have drawn this peg a few times which is tough most times, especially after high winds. It's a  deep peg as is the margins and over.

The silvers is usually won with one 2 or 3 lb skimmer so might as well fish for Carp with maggot which is as good as any method to catch one of the elusive skimmers.

Set up a 8" drake small bodied waggler to fish over and found the depth 4 foot which was the closest I could get with out hitting the reeds. Set up the maggot feeder - that was it.

Whilst setting up 6 pairs of Canadian Geese flew up from the bottom end and took a fancy to pegs 22 and my peg 21. Not one of my favourite birds, very aggressive. But what got to me was the noise it was like being at a vintage car event where they were trying to beat the record for how long the could blow their air horns. Strange Birds. No doubt they were looking to nest opposite us on the island but couldn't gain access.

Started on the waggler with double LR over the same loose feed. Had indications from small silvers hooked one which fell off, landed one then a 4 lb 9 oz Mirror Carp. So good start. That was it for the next two hours during which I lost one float when the group of Geese decided to have a squabble flying into my line. A hour later lost a hook for the same reason. Went for a Mars Bar walk and I was equal top with one Carp!! Went back and had a micro Perch. Subsequently hooked a large Carp which just wanted to sit in front of me on the bottom going around slowly in a circles. Wise Carp must had some inside information about my inpatients as I pull a bit too hard to get it up and broke the line beneath the waggler probably worn line due to me having been moving the waggler up and down. Spent the last very long 2 hours on the maggot feeder for nothing.

Weighed 4 lb 10 oz for nowhere. The lads each side of me didn't have a bite all match. As there is a Cormorant issue here, suggest they forget stocking silvers, instead stock with 2000 - 2 to 3 lb Carp which is needed in my opinion.

The match was won by A Bright (pictured with the silvers winner) with five Carp for 39 lb 11 oz from peg 4. He caught two on the feeder and later three in his margin all caught on maggot over maggot. Well done matey.

Silvers went to Hughie Evans with the one 3 lb Skimmer caught on the maggot feeder over to the end on the island. As he said - "lucky". Nonetheless, well done matey.

Finally, a big shout out to Stu Barnet on peg 12 who discovered a Roe Deer on disused peg 13 with sever broken leg. He tried to involve various official bodies including the RSPCA all of whom offered nothing. Private help was obtained to humanely put it down. Well done Stu.

The day took a turn for the better with section winner Geoff Francis and me having Gurkha Chicken meal in the White Harte. Recommend this one.

Weigh Sheets:

Result:

1. A. Bright          p4    39lb 11ozs

2. K. Winston      p5    33lb 8ozs

3. H. Evans          p23  31lb 4ozs

4. S. Gilman        p1    28lb 4ozs

5. G. Francis       p11  25lb 1oz

6. S. Fillingham  p8    19lb 5ozs

Silvers

1. H. Evans         p23  3lb

2. S. Gilman       p1     1lb 2ozs

Sections

A. J. Smith         p2    18lb 12ozs

B. G. Francis     p11   25lb  1oz

C. G. Bedford    p16   8lb 11ozs

Sunday 22/03/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Final Round 8 - Taylor's and Shipp's

Weather set fair again 😊. It's the best health wise I felt for some time - joyous.

My turn on Shipp's. Into the draw box and "Scull Corner" - peg 8 for me. Umm, can be a very good Carp peg, wind dependant, with very few silvers coming from it. Arrived at the peg and could see pairs a big Carp on the surface. So thinking it might be a Carp day. But first need to test it for silvers.

No chance of pick up in either the pairs with matey Johnny Wintle or the league.

Holstered the Long Ronnie rig, 4x12 Winter to fish two barrels and a 0.3 gram RJ to fish four barrels down to the LH side margin to the tree. The island was 13 metres so out of my physical reach.

Felt if the Carp were to have a go I would catch one very early. Started on the two barrel line feeding some GB with Pinkies and a single LR on the hook and had a Ronnie first put in and started to miss bites so went on the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie. Had a nice couple of hours catching small Skimmers and Ronnie's - no sign of Carp. It started to slow and had two F1's before the peg completely died so thinking oxygen crash. Struggled for the odd small silver. Had a go down the margin with a bunch of LR's on the hook over kindered DR's expecting Carp, just two more Ronnie's. Went on the two barrel line with double Pinkie over GB and had a 8 lb Carp spending the rest of the match on this line had one more decent Carp getting beat up three times.

Silvers weighed 5 lb for the silvers win and the two accidental Carp and two F1's took me to 26 lb 3 oz for 6 points. Really enjoyed the day. Picked up the highest weight silver prize, so mission accomplished.

Our pool was won by Dave Monks (pictured with the silvers winner) from peg 10 with 56 lb 7 oz. Dave initially caught tight over at 14.5 metres fish maggot over loose fed maggot mainly catching small Carp and F1's. Later Dave switch to down his margin catching a better stamp of Carp again on maggot. This also elevated Dave to second overall in the league and a decent pay day. Well done matey well deserved.

Taylor's was won once again by Vince Shipp (pictured). Drawing peg 20 Vince initially fished long, switching later in the match to his RH margin. His all Carp catch came on meat fished over meat. Well done Matey.

Silvers went to Marcus with a lowly 2 lb 3 oz from peg 25. Well deserved.

The individual league was won by inform Vince Shipp with 10 points, also the pairs with Ricky Mills with 604 lb

Thanks to Mark Taylor for the use of his lovely well kept fishery and Brian Shanks for running a well manged league. Already looking forward to the 2026/27 league. Lots of fish caught in some very difficult conditions.

Back to the pub for the presentation and a pint.

Weigh Sheets:

Final League:

Vince 10.   326-12

Dave. 14    309-14

Paul    15.   284-8

Ron.     15.   238-12

Bela.    16.    294-4

Ricky.    16.   278-4

Mike E.  19.   187-4

Brian.     20.   245-10

Mark.      23.   197-8

Steve R.  30.   129-9

Lee.         32.    162-4

Mike N.    32.    156-8

Geoff.       32.    154-5

John W.    33.    106-1

Tony.        33.     104-12

John C.    36.    139-5

Glen.         38.    120-5

Marcus.     45.    78-1

Steve S.      46.   62-8

Andy.          50.    58-2 

Pairs

Rick & Vince 604-0

Dave & Ron.  548-9

Mark & Bela  491- 12

Thursday 19/03/2026 - Over 55's Trial Match at Player's Golf Course - Wide Water

Over 55's have been thinking of giving Player's Widewater a trial match which has 18 pegs. With 17 fishing we left out peg 6 which was unfishable, but being on the point would give peg 5 more space. Lots of talk about the Lake before hand, reality was most of us didn't know what to expect. I love fishing new venues which adds extra excitement.

Into the draw bag and peg 16 for me which put me in B section pegs 11 to 18 which was on the right hand bank - picture looking from my peg looking across to A section pegs 1 to 10 on the left hand side. As can be seen it is a large lake in comparison to some of the ponds we fish these days, looks a bit "natural".

Peg 16 was under a bloody tree which wasn't too much of a nuisance, only caught it twice. It was nice and level with the water though. Pegs 11, 12 and 13 are at least 3 foot above the water - not good - Tom Daley's. For company on peg 17 was Tony Welsby - wish he'd get his hearing sorted! Mick Gale was on end peg 18. The wind was blowing hard straight into our pegs. You wouldn't want to fish this venue in wind and rain.

Three rigs - 4 metre whip with small home made waggler, long Ronnie rig and a 4 x12 Winter to fish top set plus two. 

I plumbed about for ages on two of the lines and got fed up adjusting the depth, could not find a flat spot anywhere. Branches and stones everywhere. With the match about to start settled on fisdhing 6 inches off bottom on the Ronnie rig and would take my chances with the Winter rig.

Fed some GB laced with Pinkie on the Ronnie rig line, starting with it with a single LR. Getting bites straight away, catching a few but also missing bites, so switched to single Pinkie and had a good 2 hours catching a small Ronnie every put in. However, if the wind blew the rig in too close I would loose a hook - in fact lost 4 hooks, plus caught a few branches. It slowed remarkably as the wind dropped and changed direction slightly causing heavy tow. So went out on the Winter over the same feed and had a couple of decent Ronnie's. It didn't last though. But caught a Gudgeon, a Perch, a Hybrid, a Ruffe, and a Rudd!! Brought the 4 metre whip into action which improved the catch rate but loose feeding was impossible do to the wind, so had to loose feed in GB. Most of the fish were anything from micro to 4 oz, but mainly 1-2 oz.

Weighed 11 lb 13 oz for 5th overall and a second in silvers pick up. The weather was really kind to us nice and warm and dry. Spring is here, plus some Global warming hopefully.

The match and the silvers was won by Gary Etheridge (pictured with his catch) with 31 lb 4 oz from point peg 5, Gary initially caught on his top set, later switching to top two to keep the fish coming. Gary caught on either Pinkie of maggot over loose feed - no GB involved. Well done matey nice to see you out with us.

The silvers was picked up by Hughie Evans (pictured with the match winner) with 23 lb 12 oz from peg 3. Well done matey some nice Roach I hear.

Big shout out to Geoff Francis for weighing most of us in on his own. His mastery over the scales certainly impressed me. Plus he had two near misses with golf balls.

I'm not sure it's a going to be a regular venue as the match fishing is a bit patchy with some DNW's (caught but didn't weigh). Only 4 small Carp caught.

Back to the Holly Bush with Geoff for pie, veg and chips - nice pie loads of beef. Couldn't quite eat all mine but luckily had dusty bin with me.

Wife - "hello matchstick head" - bloody wind burn again.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 05/03/2026 - Over 55's Silvers Pairs League - Round 6 - Bitterwell

A minutes silence for Leyton  Palmer aka "Any peg Palmer" who passed away Wednesday after a massive heart attack. I travelled with Leyton for sometime fishing the Carps midweek matches. Leyton was an excellent angler and good fun to be with back then. He was to become the worlds renowned conspiracist. Leyton pictured right with his catch of silvers at Sedges Brick Lake. A double bubble match for him and the van. RIP Bright blue eyes, you will be missed for many reasons.

Full Result:

1. Leyton Palmer 55-06-0 peg 7
2. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 4
3. Rich Coles 28-0-0 peg 5
4. John Dursley 24-08-0 peg 12
5. Ray Wickham 20-12-0 peg 15
6. Colin Golding 15-02-0 peg 13

Top Silvers:

1. Leyton Palmer 47-07-0 peg 7
2. Mike Nicholls 41-08-0 peg 4

Last match today and all to still play for. 

It was fitting that it would be warm and dry today, we have all sat through some horrendous weather. A contrast today to our first match at Landsend - lakes iced over with non stop heavy rain.

Into the draw bag and peg 23 for me and peg 3 for my partner Tony Ponting. Good draws. 

It was bright and flat calm so set up a 7 " Drake straight waggler, a 0.3 gram RJ for down the edge reeds with caster over caster for Tench, finally a 4x12 Winter to fish three barrels and five barrels. The depth was 4 inch different between the two lines so marked the two depths on the same rig.

Soft pellet over micro has been the most successful bait recently, so would be my starting attack. Started short kindering micro with a 4mm Mainline expander on the hook and had two Ronnie's and two skimmers quickly and thought I was on for a good day alas no more bites/indications. So switched to the long line where I had dumped a handful of micro earlier. One more skimmer before that appeared to die. So kept switching between the two lines for the odd Ronnie on expanders. Our section was fishing really hard, so switched to GB and Pinkie on both lines and had a skimmer from both. After which it was just the odd Ronnie. The edge rig produced one small Perch on caster. The waggler had up to the half last hour produced nothing until I decided to start blasting LR's to see if the skimmers would follow some Carp into the peg. Hooked three Carp and near the all out had another Skimmer and was definitely getting indications from them.

Weighed 6 lb 8 oz for a section win. Mission completed. Turbo Tony also did well coming second in his section. However, we would have needed to beat Tony Rixon and Kev Winstone by two points to win the league, but that didn't happen as they had the same section points as us. Well done to them even they tried very hard not to win..

The match was won by Tony Rixon with 26 lb 8 oz from peg 8. Tony caught at both 14.5 and 13 metres fishing micro and soft pellet. Well done Matey.

Pictured above is some of the lads that endured some horrendous fishing conditions, that said I think we were all winners in one way or another.

Back to the Ringer for some of Lucy's Juicy baps. 

Weigh Sheet:

Final Result:

Sunday 01/03/2026 - Westerleigh Winter League - Round 7 - Taylor's and Shipp's

If you have not watched "Dirty Business" on Channel 4 - it's a must watch for anglers, and follow up by contacting your MP. That said the sewage system is intended for pee, poo and toilet paper only. So stop flushing other crap, this is down to us.

Only light rain today and signs of warming up. Wind still with us though.

My turn on Taylors and peg 20 for me. Happy with this one for a number of reasons, primarily because the wind would be off my back.

Good company with Nick on 19. With the Carp bunched up on the far left hand corner pegs 25, 23 and 22 decided to fish for silvers for any chance of coin. With the wind off the back set up a 8" Drake to fish the bar with maggot over loose fed maggot. A 4x16 Winter in full depth in 7 foot of water at top set plus one barrel, finally the short Ronnie rig.

Fed the deep line with with GB laced with some pinkies. No good loose feeding in this depth. First put in on a single LR had a decent Carp about 6 lb. Initially thought it was fouled but it was just fighting hard in the deep water. Umm, might have to switch to carp fishing - nope it was the only one caught on this line, later was to catch two F1's shallow. Had a nice run of small Skimmers and Ronnie's before picking up the Ronnie rig to rest the line. The Ronnie's were at last feeding catching some decent ones on single LR over the LR's. Switched between the two rigs adding some very small Tench on the deep line plus a 12 oz Perch. The last hour switch to fishing shallow - 3 foot - and was wishing I started it earlier as the catch rate and quality of Ronnie's increased. Even though I fed LR's onto the bar the waggler didn't get used as it was patiently waiting for Nick and Ricky opposite to catch there - it didn't happen.

My silvers weighed 14 lb 10 oz  and the Carp 9 lb 2 oz for 23 lb 12 oz and the silvers win, mission accomplished. Very rare to beat Nick, so had to give him the poke in the chest. Very enjoyable day.

Taylor's was won as expected from peg 22 by Paul Elm's (pictured with his catch) with 79 lb 10 oz. Paul caught over to the island at 16 metres with pellet and 14.5 metres with maggot. Well done matey.

Shipp's was won again as expected from peg 2 by Vince Shipp (pictured) with 77 lb 1 oz. Vince caught on his usual soft pellet and micro. He does have a knack of drawing this peg regularly. Well done matey.

The silvers was won on Shipp's from the dreaded peg 13 by matey Geoff Francis (pictured) with a lowly 3 lb all caught short until the Carp arrived taking him to third weight on the canal with 43 lb. Nice one.

Felt for Lee Waller fishing peg 17 where the wind was hacking into, he was fishing 13 metres down the edge, during gusts Lee could be seen walking round to the tree to recover his rig.

Back to the New Inn for a well earned pint with the usual suspects.

Weigh Sheets:

Thursday 26/02/2026 - Over 55's - Silvers Pairs League - Round 5 - Acorn - Paddocks

Nice to have Kev Winstone back out after his hospitalisation. Needs to put on a couple of  pounds. Kev was like a kid with a new toy being so excited to be back out fishing.

Driving down with Kev there was something nagging at me. The penny dropped had my Carp pole instead of the silvers pole. Which meant the lightest elastic was the Drennan 9 to 11. My concern soon evaporated realising there are not many small Ronnie's so this elastic would probably do.

Bought my bait at the fishery. Have to say it was high quality 

Into the black bag and and peg 23 for me. It's a strange peg as it's in between to bridges and the middle of three pegs which were not occupied. It's like a small pond all to yourself.

Got to the peg and the SW wind was blowing in to the peg at 11 o clock. and landing in my peg with peg 24 being sheltered by the wind. I would liked to have fished the waggler over to the far bank to the corner but would have been passed peg 24 which was close to be fair. So thought about setting it up but finally decide not. Just two identical rigs 4x14 Winters one to fish caster at top set plus on barrel with a 18 hook and the other to fish two and a bit barrels with a 22 hook for double/single pinkie. Running both rigs through was disappointed to find both were going with the wind - towards me - hate that.

Fed half a pot of casters short and would loose feed a few throughout. Fed the long line with pinkie crammed in GB only enough to get the pinkie near bottom - thinking loose feeding them for full depth would bring up the fish especially the Ide.

Took a while to get my first Ide, after which I had a good half of the match catching decent skimmers, Ide and three Tench, just one coming from the short caster line - a 5 lb Tench on double maggot 😊. The last  2 hours was a struggle. only adding a couple of Ronnie's and Ide. Thought it might have been due to the arrival of Carp but didn't hook any.

I weighed 20 lb 12 oz for second section. Very enjoyable day slightly spoil by more rain late on.

The fishery fished exceptionally well with only one angler under 10 lb, plus one angler on peg 3 would have weighed 73 lb catching short with maggot over maggot had he not gone over in one net - twat.

My pairs partner Tony "Turbo" Ponting (pictured) won the match from peg 5 with 38 lb 5 oz. Tony caught on maggot over loose maggot at 10 metres down wind at 11 o clock initially catching Ide then small Tench. Both the Ide and Tench moving in and out moved in and out. Well done matey.

Back to the Prince of Waterloo for a pint with the usual suspects. Bloody diversion at Chew Magna though.

Weigh Sheet: Bit messy

Pairs Results : One match Left: Pays top 5

Sunday 22/02/2026 - Bela Attila Bakos Open - Westerleigh - Shipp's and Taylor's

Bela has lined out the floor of his van with artificial grass which included parts of a goal line! Just wondering how well the next football match went! Glenn would love this (pictured).

Bela has gone solo running the match today. Must say in nearly all went superbly well. A nice touch was his environment friendly peg cards made of corrugated cardboard ideal for recycling (pictured).  Well done looking forward to the next one.

As the bread is allowed in Bela's matches, decided to do some liquidised bread. Very long time since I done this, didn't know we had a new liquidiser. However, as it turned out won't be doing it again any time soon.

Into the draw bobble hat (another nice touch) and peg 12 for me - Oh, that's not normally in! However, peg 13 was left out. Happy with the peg for for the potential fishing, however, it's a right quagmire. All my gear now a bright red. Good company with Geoff opposite on 2 and Tim "Calamity" Ford next door on 11.

Peg 12 is a good small silvers peg, but can throw up some big Carp, that's what the bread was supposed to be for, that is, if they were at our end of the Pool - they weren't so no more about bread and bread rigs Ronnie nibbling. Just the two rigs fished in earnest - 4x12 Winter with a black sleeve on the tip and a long Ronnie rig.

Fed top set plus three barrels with GB laced with Pinkies and bread down the right in 3 foot of water - last mention of bread. The wind was hacking into my peg so the Ronnie rig was left in abeyance until better conditions. Had a few decent

Ronnie's and a 12 oz Skimmer, all on double Pinkie. It went a bit iffy, stayed a while on the line thinking it might be a Carp - alas not. The wind had eased a bit so tried the Ronnie rig with single Pinkie over loose fed Pinkie. Started well catching much smaller Ronnie's but the wind was hindering feeding - most of it going in the keep net!! Now here's a thing when the wind permitted sensible feeding the catch rate fell missing lots of bites, however, when increasing resulted in much more positive bites and higher catch rate. Stayed on the Ronnie rig for the remainder of the match.

The only match that I can remember at Westerleigh that I didn't hook a Carp of any description. My 50ish Ronnie's weighed 7 lb dead, for the silvers win. Love this type of fishing.

Shipp's was won by Martin Rayet (pictured with the silvers winner) with a decent weight of 76 lb 13 oz. Martin started slow, it wasn't until he started loose feeding caster that he started to catch on double maggot. He most probably pulled fish from peg 6 probably drawn by the sound of caters being fed. Well done matey.

Taylor's was won by tackle dealer Matt Challenger (pictured - yes that him smiling) from peg 22 with 59 lb 10 oz. Matt fished 16 metres using 6 mm hard pellet feed and banded. Well done Matey a good weight on the day. 

Matey Dave "Rodney" Monks won Taylor's silvers with 6 lb 3 oz from peg 21.

Back to the New In for a pint with the usual suspects and a few stragglers form the Bitterwell match.

Weigh Sheets: