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: