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.