Saturday 31st December - Manor Farm

Manor farm open today.
24 people fishing.
I drew peg 22 on windmill and had a lovely days fishing catching loads of stockies and a few bigger f1s on 2 different pellet lines on the pole.


Had around 40 fish for 75-0-0 which was enough to win the match!

This week has been a lovely way to end 2016. Its really been a great year for me, ive enjoyed every single bit!

Happy new year to you all and thank you for all your support!

#Colmic

#Marukyu

Thursday 29th December - Manor farm

Manor Farm open today.
23 people fishing.
I drew peg 3 on middle and had a lovely day catching on the pole fishing pellets.

I had around 40 f1s for 115-10-0 enough to win the match!

After my long run of seconds its nice to finally win one!

Probably one of the most enjoyable matches Ive had considering how cold it was!

Wednesday 28th December - Manor Farm

A very cold and Icy Manor farm today.
18 of us fishing.
I drew peg 22 on windmill pool and had a nice day catching loads of small stockies and a few bigger ones amongst them.
I weighed 58-8-0 and 58-14-0 won the match.... needed 6 more ounces to win. So I was second overall.
Last 5 matches ive fished ive come second 4 times

Monday 26th Decemeber - Manor farm

Back to manor farm today for a bit more! 14 people fishing. Drew peg 18 on ash pool and had a nice day catching on the pole at 14.5m. Caught loads of little F1s about 40 in total to weigh 61-0-0 for second overall. Fish were to small!

Saturday 24th December - Manor farm open

Drew peg 27 on island pool.

Started on the bomb and bread and caught early fish buy they backed off.
So I fed a bit of bait on the bomb and came onto my pole line where id been pinging 4mm pellets.
This resulted in 3 quick f1s but the win made it really difficult trying to present my rig.

Then I caught a few on the lead in the next hour and couldn't catch the rest of the match. I virtually had 90% of my weight in the first 2 and a half hours then caught 3 fish second part of the match.

I had 6 carp and 7 f1s  which went 56-0-0 which put me second overall.

Roll on next time!!!

Thursday - 22nd December - Manor farm

Manor farm open - Peg 4 island pool.

This peg is the shallowest on the lake with the deepest part being around 4ft, so I didn't expect to catch on the pole but just set up 1 rig to try it.
Started chucking around on the bread and had my first fish, a tiny F1 2 hours in and with 3 hours gone I had 2 fish so wasn't looking good.

I then had a really good spell catching on the lead where I fed 8mm pellets to my left at around 30m where I could accurately feed them with the wind.

Managed 12 f1s and a mirror carp for 51-0-0 which won my section and put me 4th in the match.

Wednesday 21st December - Manor Farm Leisure open

Manor farm leisure open
I drew peg 33. A good F1 area and thought Id catch on the pole.
The majority of my fish came on the bomb though. Only had 6 fish on the pole which was strange!
I had about 28 fish for 60lb which was 2nd overall.
64lb won so wasnt to far away.

Sunday 18th December - Harsecombe

Harsecombe fishery - Christmas match
Drew peg 22 on the match lake.
Caught 8 fish dobbing first hour then didnt have another bite!
Weighed 12-4-0 which was 5th on the lake of 14 and 2nd in section. Needed 15lb to win the 12 man section.

Saturday 17th December - Manor farm boundary pool

Today was the annual Fur and Feather match for the club I started with, Evesham Youth.
With a good turn out of 22 anglers it was set to be a good match and the draw was soon upon us.

With an overcast morning and no wind, it meant there was no ripple... boundary normally fishes better with a bit of ripple on it so I thought this would have an effect.

I drew peg 14, which is never normally in, but we all had a little bit of room to make it fair.

Colmic Airon F66

I kept my approach dead simple.

Maggots + Micros at 14.5m, the rig consisted of a Colmic Sam float. 4x14. 0.13 spider line to an 0.08 stream hooklength to a B911 F1 hook. With a 1.2mm Colmic hollow elastic.

Maggots at 5m. 4x12 strung out rig where Id try and catch through the water and loose feed maggots over the top. Same float just a lighter size, 0.13 main line to an 0.08 hook length and again a 22 hook.

My match started off slow. I struggled to catch for the first half an hour, but then started catching a few small skimmers.
Between 12:30 and 1:00 I was flying... I probably had around 20-25 skimmers in that time and it was clear they were there and feeding confidently.

Manor Leisure - Boundary pool

But they soon backed off and I followed them out another half a metre.

With an hour to go I had around 35 fish. But it faded and needed to do something so I had a look on other line at 14.5m that id fed for an hour but to me left.

I stayed on this till the end catching the odd skimmer but it was really strange... the whole lake just switched off.

Colmic UK

I managed 40 fish. Mainly skimmers for 12-4-0. which won my 11 man section and was enough for 4th overall.

I really enjoyed the match, was nice to fish for silvers for a change and just get a few bites.

Sunday 11th December - Larford

Today I stood in on the Teams of 4 winter league at larford lakes.
Drew peg 22 on the Grass bank.
Ive only ever fished larford once before so didnt know what to expect.

I had about 3ft at 16m on the pole line and with it being quite cold I thought I wouldnt catch here so my time would be best spent on rods, further out in the lake.

I started on bread and had a nice chunky common within 15minutes.

I stayed on the bread for a while then decided to have a look on the pole which resulted in a small skimmer.

I then decided to see if feeding a bit of bait was the way forward so I chucked a little pellet feeder in the middle of the lake on my Colmic Next Adventure 3 piece 45 rod. Coupled with a Zartan reel to 0.18 Colmic method line.
Without a bite on this I had to make a decison. Catch what I could on the pole or spend the rest of the match on the bread.

I thought my best chance of beating the end pegs would be to fish for carp.

I perceivered on the bread. Changing the length of hook length every few chucks.
3 discs of 10mm at 8" was best.
The bites were really finicky. Either small drop backs of tiny rattles on the rod tip, which means these are educated fish.

I think breads perfect in situations like this... when the carp dont want any bait and the best way of catching them is just to be patient.

It really is a confidence thing and I have a lot of confidence in the bread.

I managed 5 carp. 1 of which was really small.
They went 27-0-0. Which for the area I was in was good.
The chap to my right had 16lb and left had 8lb.
The guy on the end peg had 33lb so I only needed 1 more fish and there was a 28lb further down the section so that put me 3rd in the 14 man section.
So one fish could of swayed it all.

I feel I did the right thing and sometimes even though its a boring match you just have to be patient.

Saturday 10th December - Manor farm winter league round 3

Peg 19 boundary.
Now this pegs been almost last both rounds up till now so I wasnt expecting a lot.
Had 1 carp. A couple of f1s and some skimmers to weigh 28-0-0 which beat 2 on the lake.

Sunday 4th December - Manor farm leisure

With all the lake frozen it was going to be tough!
I drew peg 6 on boundary pool. Only 2 pegs down from where I was last week.

I decided to fish 2 lines.
Maggots and micros at 13m to my left.

Pellets to my right at 14.5m.

Fished the maggot line for just over 4 hours and caught some nice silver fish.
Then went long on pellets last 30 minutes and caught some of the F1s to boost my weight up. Ive normally always caught well late on the pole on boundary pool.

Saturday 3rd December - Harsecombe Fishery

Fished a match on Field lake today at Harsecombe Fishery. I really like this lake. I feel u can catch something from anywhere.
I drew peg 5 which is a bank ive never been on before.
I managed 3 carp long on maggots and some silvers at top 7. To weigh 18lb which would of been 5th overall.
I didnt feel there were many carp in the peg and you couldnt line any of the roach up either and there are some lovely roach in there!

Sunday 27th November - Manor farm

Manor Farm open.
Peg 8 boundary pool.
Had a few nice fish on bread and some skimmers on the pole.
Weighed 68-0-0 which was 3rd overall and won my section.

Sunday 20th November - Manor farm

Drew the best peg in europe!
Peg 6 island.
It won the match the day before so I was quite confident.

With having an F1 first chuck on the bomb and bread I thought id have a good day...

I struggled all match.
Had to be really patient and wait for bites on a little pellet feeder against the island.

My 11 f1s and 1 carp went 39-0-0 which was enough to win the lake and put me second overall.
61lb won which may have been possible if id of caught some of the carp that normally live in this peg.

Saturday 19th November

Round 2 of the manor farm winter league.
After struggling in the first round only beating one angler my chances of a frame place were very slim.

With it being really cold the week leading up to the match and a frost in the morning I knew it would be a difficult match.

Peg 33 Boundary pool was to be my home for the day.

I have a love hate relationship with boundary... ive had some really good days on there and some not so good.
I would rather of drawn peg 17 of 38.

I decided to fish pellets on the pole at 14.5m. Hard and soft pellets.
Both on 0.152 spider mainline and an 0.10 stream hooklength.
Coupled with the 1.5mm colmic white elastic.

A very painful first hour passed and I hadnt had a bite.

Decided to try and catch some skimmers on the pole but after catching 3 of a decent stamp they soon faded.
With 3 1/2 hours in I was going no where. Had an f1 and a few skimmers but nothing major.
So decieded to play it safe and catch what I could in the last hour. This was by far my best hour.
I caught skimmers steadily till the end. Some were a decent stamp but youd catch 2 or 3 then theyd back off.

I weighed in 15-4-0 which was basically all skimmers.
That beat one on the lake. I needed another 6 oz to beat another.

Sunday 13th November - Manor Farm

Drew peg 25 middle. A good area normally.
Fished a really negative pole match and caught on pellets at 14.5m on my Trustee Colmic Airon F44.
Fish a JW float. To 0.15 mainline to and 0.10 hooklength. Size 20 B911. Coupled with the colmic Pink elastic.

I caught all F1s. Didnt hook a carp!
I weighed in 41-12-0 which was second on my lake. 45lb the lake so I need 1 or 2 bigger fish.
Roll on next time!

Saturday 12th November - Hillview open.

I was reall keen to draw on one of the lakes at Hillview and today I did!
Peg 7 on moorhen.
Started off on the bomb and bread and caught a few f1s then went 2 hours without a bite. Then caught a few fish late on the pole at 14.5m.
Weighed 30-0-0 enough to win the section by default.
Well done Gary Donachie on the win.

Sunday 6th November- Manor farm leisure

Peg 23 middle pool.
With a sudden drop in temperature I thought it would fish hard... I was right!
I fished a really negative match. Fished a little boilie and bag on the bomb and had to be really patient for bites.
The wind was far to strong to fish the pole however last 30 minutes it did drop and I caught a few F1s on it.

I weighed 31-12-0 which to my surprise was enough to win the match.

Sunday 30th October - Hillview open.

Today I decided to go to hillview. A venue ive never been to.
A good turnout saw 27 anglers fishing.
With 1 lake (heron) and 3 canals in I fancied drawing on the canals.
I drew peg 58, which is on canal 2.

Decided to keep my approach dead simple. Maggots up and down at top 5 which is almost down the middle of the canal.

And 2 pellet lines against the far bank.

A margin rig for a top kit to my right.

At the start of the match I filled my cad pot with micro pellets and fished a 4mm hard pellet on the hook. Caught 3 fish on this really quick. But the guy on my left was beginning to catch really well short so I came onto my maggot line earlier than Id of liked to. Just throwing in a few maggots by hand I caught some on the deck on this line. Then they began swirling for the maggots..... time for the shallow rig.
It took me a while to sort out the rig and feeding to get it how they wanted it and I was flying. Catching some decent F1s really quickly and I probably put 50 F1s in the net in an hour.

By now it was beginning to fade which i expected. So i rested it. Caught a few fish against the far bank hoping theyd come back... however they didnt! They seemed to vanish. From then we had about 2 hours left so I had to work really hard catching a few fish down the edge and shipping some small fish from the 2 far bank lines.

Felt this is what cost me framing as the other anglers down the other end began catching really well last 2 hours so maybe they just drifted down???
I clicked about 80 decent f1s but had loads that I didnt click as they were only ounces. So had over 100 fish.

They went 97-8-0 which was only good enough for second overall.

Great venue with some great weights! Will be going back very soon!
I forgot how much I enjoy snake lake fishing!!!

Saturday 29th October - 1st round of the manor farm winter league

Drew peg 6 middle and got it totally wrong. Struggled with foul hooking fish. Weighed 49-0-0 which beat one in the section.
Must try harder!

Sunday 23rd October - Hawford Bridge team match

I had been looking forward to this match for some time. The banks' team match. 15 teams of 4 fishing. Which last year was held at cob house fishery which we managed to win so wanted to retain our title this year!

Hawford Bridge is a venue im not familiar with. I fished it maybe 2 years but couldnt remember a lot about it.

The team consistes of me. Iain Jennings, Will Beasley and Simon Pickering.

The draw was done prior to the match and our team drew peg 9 on the 4 different lakes.

I was on Penn. Peg 9.
Iain Jennings - Broomhill Peg 9.
Will Beasley - Bridge Peg 9.
Simon Pickering - Riddings Peg 9.

After we had all had a walk round togther to look at our pegs I loaded up my trolley and was soon at my peg.

It looked really nice. The reeds as you can see above were about 14.5m away and I had my own water. The only thing I was concerned about was if the fish werent in my little bay id struggle to attract any fish in, becasuse there was pressure on the lake I thought they could back off.

The lines I set up were as follows.

Top kit plus 2. Whered id feed hard pellets by hand and fish a banded pellet.

11.5m of my Colmic Airon F44. Where again I would feed pellets via a catipult.

Top 6 to my righ down the edge. Where I had a bit of cover where id feed micros and maggots.

I began the match with half a pot of bait down the edge. A small offering of pellets short and a similiar amount long.

I began the match short where I could just to watch what everyone else was doing. With not knowing the venue I didnt know if anything I was doing was right. It was clear there were some fish there as I had indiactions straight away. I foul hooked one which came off. So cut down on the feed by hand slightly. This resulted in 3 quick carp as quick as I could get in. Then they soon disappreared.

Had a quick look down the edge without a bite so decied to look on my long line. And after 20 minutes I didnt have a bite.

By now and hour had past and a couple of people were catching off fish and the one chap I could see was really catching!

So I put my plummet on and set up a new line to my right nearer the reeds. This resulted in one quick fish and I hooked and lost 2. Didnt really know where to go from here so I potted another bit of bait on each line and decied to go back to my original 11.5m line and sit there and be patient. It tooked 20 minutes to get a bite which turned out to be a little mirror about 3lb.

It was around 12:45 now and I was reslly stuck. Id set up 2 new lines and still couldnt catch so I could only think that I caught the few fish that were there early then they disappeared resulting in no fish coming back into the peg!

As a bit of a gamble I put half a pot of pellets in on my short line, give it 10 minutes then go straight on it.

What a decision that proved to be! On the first put in my float barely settled and I was into a fish. I couldnt get in quick enough by now and I knew I was chasing the guy who had been catching all day so played my fish quite hard in a hope to narrow the gap. For the next hour and half I was flying. I must of had 25 carp in that time.
All the while I had been potting a bit of bait down my edge in a hope to catch on it late as I thought my short line might die.

With 20 minutes to go I had a look down the edge and foul hooked one. So put some more bait in to try and pin them down because it was around 3ft down there. I manged another one that was a better stamp maybe 7lb and hoped id get chance to have one more. But it wasnt to be. The hooter sounded and I didnt have another fish down the edge.

But had I done enough?
I knew id done ok but I felt I was always chasing the chap who caught all day.

I managed to weigh 102lb which was 2nd on my lake of 15. I needed 146lb to win the lake so was way off. However if I could of found a few more fish earlier on I  could of got a little bit closer. But I honestly felt there were no fish in my peg to begin with.

As a team we managed 2nd overall which I was really pleased with!

Iain came 3rd on his lake.
Will came 5th on his.
Simon came 4th on his.

I really enjoyed this match and hope to fish it again next year!

Saturday 22nd October - Larford lakes.

This is my first visit to Larford and seeing some of the recent weights its been fishing really well.

I drew peg 45 on the match lake and deiced to fish pellets short and long.
Margins to the next pallet
A method feeder and a Bomb.

Caught a few short to begin with then caught long on the deck and a few shallow.

Weighed 61lb which was 7th overall.
Will deffintly be going back though!

Sunday 16th October - Manor Farm Leisure

I knew I was up against it as soon as I drew peg 25 on island pool. Not a very good area.

Couldnt catch on the pole so had to be really patient and catch odd fish on the bomb.

Weighed 37lb which was 6th overall.

Saturday 15th October - Priory pool

Havent fished this venue much.
Had a really slow start having to rotate lines to catch one fish and then switch lines.
But a few fish turned up late on my long line.

Weighed 55lb which was 4th overall.

Friday 14th October - Alders farm team match

Today ive been to Alders Farm. We "Team Colmic" were invited to fish the Joseph James Law match amongst some very good teams.
Our team consisted of Chris Telling. Frank Donachie. Gary Donachie, Glen Picton and myself.

I drew peg 6 on pines lake. Chris was also on pines. Gary and Frank went on ash and Glen on the speci lake.

I really wanted to draw peg 5 but 6 I was still happy with.

1 hour was shocking to say the least! Didnt land a fish. Lost 3 fish. All foul hookers.

Eventually i landed my first fish on the pole on the deck at 14.5m fishing expander pellets.

A few fish had been topping at about 30m so i bagan pinging some 6mms pellets in hope to catch on the waggler. 15 casts on the waggler resulted in 2 fish, then nothing.

So i picked up the shallow rig. One thing i have learnt about pines in the couple of times ive fished it is they dont like slapping. You may catch one fish on it but there to wise. So i found laying the rig in was best and catching the "cleverer" fish. Normally a better stamp!

I tried feeding my edge line but they didnt come in on it. So I spent the rest of the match on the swinging rig.

I managed to weigh 61lb which was 5th in my section.
As a team we finished 5th out of 12 teams which wasnt to be.

Sunday 9th October - Woodland View fishery

Today I went to Woodland View. The match was held on Arles pool.
This is my first visit to the venue so didn't know where you wanted to draw.

29 of us all round Arles was always going to be a hard match. 

We all lined up waiting to take our draw.
Peg 22 stuck to my hand.
Didn't know where this was so had a quick walk round to have a look at my peg.  It's on the end of the island and towards the corner of the lake. But 21 was in so he had the long edge line.

I was told it was an out and out pellet venue so I based my approach like this:

13m of my Colmic Airon F44. 0.15 Spider line and 0.13 hook length.  To a Jon Walker .4 float. With the Yellow colmic elastic. Where I'd feed hard pellets.

Top 5. Same line and float and the same elastic. It was around 4ft deep here and maybe 5ft at 13m.

I did set up a half depth rig just in case I felt the fish were coming up off the deck slightly.
This was a Colmic Mike float. 0.15 mainline to 0.13 spider. To an 18 B911.

Next Adventure 45 rod. Set up on a little pellet feeder for chucking to the island.

I fed my short line and long line on the whistle and chucked the pellet feeder against the island. It mustn't of been in much more than 2 minutes after the tip dropped back. Just the start I needed!
Played the fish really carefully as it's nice to get off to a good start. Got it under the rod tip and it felt quite big. I managed to get his head up and it was a big mirror about 8lb which I could see hooked in the top lip..... next minute. You guessed it. Hook pull! Not what I needed!

Decided to go back on this, but didn't have any indications.
Looking round the lake no one was really catching but a few fish had been caught on the pole.

So I shipped out my long rig and began catching a few. I started off cad potting in some dampened 4mm pellets and fished a hard 6mm on the hook.  I probably caught 3 fish in a short amount of time. But they soon faded.
By now we were probably an hour and a half in so decided to have a look on my short line where I'd been throwing a few pellets. 

Had another small carp on this but it was very clear that you seemed to catch a fish on one line then you would have to do something else.

By now I had around 20lb ish which was doing ok.

From about 12:30 - 2:00 I couldn't get a bit anywhere! Everyone was struggled and the lake just seemed to switch off. But I didn't do anything stupid and kept feeding a bit of bait.

I put my plummet on and plumbed up a new line at 14.5m.

This proved to be really good. I caught steadily on this. Mainly F1s and a couple of carp.

With 20 minutes to go my long line seemed to die so I dropped in on my short line and had another 3 f1s.

My mixture of carp and F1s weighed 54lb which was enough to win the match!

Really enjoyed it. As funny as it sounds, I like fishing negative and thinking about where I'm gonna get my next bite.

Roll on next match!