Sunday 19th March - Manor farm

Back to manor farm for the open match. A good turnout of 30 anglers spread over Ash, Middle and boundary pool. 10 on each lake.

The wind was going to be a nightmare today with it being well over 30mph and some gusts over 40mph+!

I drew peg 8 on middle pool, with the wind howling at me so the chance of a pole match was going to be slim. Set up my trustee Colmic Airon F44 at 11.5m which I could hold just about in the wind.

A Colmic next adventure 60, usual set up with a 400 Zartan and 0.20 Method line, to a pellet feeer.

A Colmic next adventure 45 bomb rod.

Fed my pole line and started on the Pellet feeder just my sidd of half way. My peg is directly in the middle of the lake and sometimes it can be good for catching carp. After a few casts of building up a bit of bait my first fish was in the next a nice 7lb Common which fought really well but was no match for my Colmic 60 11ft rod.

A good first half of the match on the pellet feeder saw me doing well on the lake.

I had been feeding my pole line all match and had a look on it. This saw me catch 2 small carp and 2 big F1s.

By now my match was fading, pellet feeder line had slowed up, pole line was getting harder and harder to present in the wind, it was time to look on my pole line which again I had been feeding with 8mms when the wind allowed.

This saw me have a little run of fish for the next hour but nothing amazing.

Back out on the pellet feeder with an hour to go saw me catch a big F1 but was really struggling now.

Decided to spend the rest of the match on the pole and in the last 40 minutes I had 4 F1s.

My 12 carp and 5 F1s went 81-2-0 which was enough for second overall.

Really enjoyed catching on the pellet feeder and learnt a lot which is the main thing!

96lb won which was achieveable off my peg I think but felt that wind really wasn't helping me.

Saturday 18th March - Manor farm

With mild weather again and a decent turn out the open was spread across Boundary and Windmill pools, I drew peg 26 on Windmill not a brilliant area, I would rather be on one of the pegs either side of me. And with 10 on Windmill it was going to be quite hard.
I decided to just focus on a 13m pellet line, I would normally fish 14.5m but the wind was going to be a pain.
Then I plumbed up against a bush on the island where it was surprisingly deep, around 5ft which I thought maybe to deep!

I didn't have an edge on this peg really as you can't see past the brambles or to your left.

I caught steady on my 13m pellet line but soon chased them out to 14.5m, I caught the odd fish shallow but was just very odd fish. The deck was much better.

I caught quite a few small F1s with a couple of carp to weigh 56-0-0 which won the lake and put me second overall in the match!

Well done to Frank Donachie who blitzed the match with 130lb! There's no way I'd of caught that!

Sunday 11th March - Manor farm open

With warmer weather and a good turnout of 21 anglers it was set to be a good match. 

Island. Middle and Ash pools were all in the bag and I fancied drawing on ash. 

Peg 18 stuck to my hand, it's a good peg on the far side of Ash pool but your set back from 20 and if the fish are in the middle of the lake, 20 normally dominates it. 

After walking all my kit round to my peg as didn't want to get stuck in the mud I had already made my approach. 

I was fishing to win the match like I always do and in order to do so I was going to fish quite positively. 

With the water temperature above 10 degrees the fish were and wanted to feed shallow. 

I set up: 

A profiessional 25 Colmic waggler rod, coupled with a Zartan reel, 0.20 main line to an 0.152 Spider hook length. Size 16 B911 X-strong. 5gram drennan waggler. 

14.5m pellet line, 

Top kit plus 3 - short line as a banker. 

And 3 shallow rigs. 

The perfect match would be start on the waggler, catch a few, build up my pole line, then catch shallow on the pole....

And that's a little bit like how my match went. 

I began fishing at around 25m on the waggler firing 6mms around my float set 3ft deep. After a while of building it up I caught reasonably well and the first hour had gone and I'd got 7 F1s, all the while I had been pinging my pole line and was itching to drop on it. A quick look on the deck only saw me catch skimmers so back on the waggler for a few more. 

The waggler line faded and I was adament I'd catch on the pole. A short while of perfecting my rig, feeding and presentation I was soon catching shallow. 

At around 1:30 I probably had around 70lb and the wind was starting to pick up slightly giving me a nice ripple which is just what I needed, this gave the fish confidence and the shallow line, for an hour became solid! 

With an hour to go I was hoping it would get stronger but it faded slightly, so I pushed out to 16m and began catching again it they were noticibley smaller. 

The hooter sounded and the match was over, I roughly counted I had over 50 F1s and 2 Carp. 

My fish weighed 150-2-0 which won the match! 

Best rig was a Map SF2 to 0.152 Colmic F1 spider mainline to and 0.11 hook length. 

I fed around a pint of 4mms on my shallow line and half a pint on the waggler. 

Really enjoyed the day and learnt a fair bit to hopefully leave me in good stead for the summer!

Saturday 11th March - 2nd redhill pairs

2nd and final round of the pairs match
I drew peg 8 on Sophies right in the corner.
I really hoped Id catch down the edge and short... but I didn't!
Only place I caught was long at 16m but was really cut off by the pegs either side of me.
Corner pegs are either really good or really bad.
Managed 2 down the edge late on but wasn't enough.
My 12 carp went 34lb which beat 2 on the lake.
As a pair me and my mate James Allen didn't do any good but can't help but feel the draws we both had weren't the best.
Well done to the lads that won it and well done to Gary Donachie and Gary Watts who came 2nd as a pair.

Sunday 5th March - Manor farm leisure

Drew peg 36 on Island pool.  Had a nice day catching on the pellet feeder against the Island and on the pole. Caught mainly F1s with a few small carp. 

Weighed 76-0-0 which won the match! 

 

Saturday 4th March - Redhill pairs match

Redhill pairs match, I'm fishing with James Allen. 

I drew peg 17 on Mollies in the corner and struggled all day! Caught an odd fish all on pellets. To weighed 14-8-0 which beat 4 on the lake. 

James struggled on Sophie's lake and think he came 4th on there. 

With the system done on weight it could all change next week! 

Sunday 26th February - Manor farm

With a good turnout of 27 anglers it was set to be a good match.

Again with the wind howling across the complex that was going to make things difficult.

Island, Ash and Middle pool were all in the bag.

Middle peg 27 was set to be my home for the day. This end of the lake has been good recently but with middle pool they move so quickly you just never know where there going to be.

After fishing manor farm quite a bit I tend to keep my approaches very similar on most pegs.

A bomb rod, to fish bread to start then maybe change to pellet if needed.

A 14.5m pellet line.

An edge line. Normally I would only set and edge line up in summer but with this being an end peg I just had to set it up as a throw away line.

I kicked off on bread and didnt have a bite after 3 chucks in 30 minutes. So a quick look on the pole bought 2 skimmers to the net.

The odd fish was being caught around the lake so a quick change of rigs on the pole saw my first F1 in the net.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger and I had caught a few on the pole but it was making presentation really difficult!

So I decided to start pinging 8mm pellets at about 25m for the bomb. A quick look on that saw a nice run of 4 fish then nothing.

The next hour was terrible didn't really catch at all! And hoped my pole line would get good last hour. And it did! The wind eased a bit and I could present it nicely and had a steady run of fish. 

Didn't think I'd done enough to beat Chris Cameron next to me though. 

I weighed in 68-0-0 which was 2nd on the lake and 4th overall so a nice day!