Sunday 31st January

Manor Farm leisure open. 

Was praying for a good draw, and drew bang on! Peg 4 island pool. 

Started off by chucking 3/4 way across on bread and had 2 fish an hour in. 

Had a look on the pole and after a few minutes had a 12lb carp! Then couldn't catch on it! 

Chucked the bomb and bread to the island and never looked back. Caught steady on this, altering between this and the pellet feeder. 

Didn't have a fish for the last hour and 30 minutes though! 

Finished with 12 carp. 2 F1s for 70-1-0, 

Putting me 2nd overall. Had a really nice day. 

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Saturday 30th January.

Manor farm open, peg 25 middle pool. 

Started off on the feeder without a bite for 30 minutes. Had a look on the pole and caught steady for an hour then they disappeared! 

Picked odd fish off for the rest of the day starting new lines. 

Finished with 12 F1s and 3 carp for 

47-8-0 5th on the lake.

Well done Chris telling on the win. Legend! 

Sunday 24th January.

Frustrating weekend. 

Today I drew peg 10 windmill and was hoping for a better day after yesterday! 

Started catching some stockies on the pole then that died completely!!! 

Picked a few odd fish off for the rest of the day. 

Finished with 16lb. 2nd in section. 

I think the fish wanted to be in the shallower water and with my peg being 7-8ft deep it didn't feel right! 

Bring on next weekend! 

Saturday 23rd January.

Manor Farm Open - Middle pool peg 8. 

This can be a good area but can be very hit and miss and for some reason I didn't have a good feeling about it! 

Arriving at my peg I could see that the pegs on other side were all out of the wind and thought that could make a huge difference! (Which it did!!!) 

Kept things very simple as I always do. 

 

Couple of pole rigs. 

2 rods. 

Fed my pole line at 13 with pellets then chucked my Colmic Next adventure 45 rod with popped up bread. As i put the rod down it wrapped round resulting in a liner which was very promising! 

Anyway to cut a very frustrating few hours short I didn't have a single bite or liner until 1:00 when the float gentle dipped and a 3lb skimmer was in the net. 

I shipped my Colmic F33 back out and lowered in my rig... Fish on! Had 8 proper skimmers in 8 put ins so was glad of some bites! Then the skimmers completely disappeared so set up a new line to my right and rattling in a few pellets and sat on this for 15 minutes without a bite! 

Went back on my original line and after a couple of minutes of working the rig the float slid under and a 2lb F1 was soon in be net. 

With around an hour to go I knew I was well behind but continued on this line and the stockies rocked up. Caught around 15 of these tiny little bars of gold until the all out. 

Weigh in saw me have 24lb of skimmers and 6lb of stockies. Giving me 30-8-0. Nowhere overall but was glad of some bites late on! 

Sunday 17th January - Manor Farm leisure open.

20 people fishing spread over Island and middle pool. I had a feeling that middle would fish hard with it being cold but how wrong was I! 

At the draw peg 14 Island stuck to my hand. Which I did fancy for a few as you have a little bit of room which I felt could be key. 

Set up 2 pole rigs. 

2 rods. 

Fed my pole line at 13m at the all in and picked up my Colmic Next Adventue 45 rod and chucked the bomb and bread 3/4 the way across, I watched my tip very closely for liners and hoping for an early fish, next cast saw my first bite being a 2lb F1 so stuck at the bread till 1:30 when I'd had 3 carp and an F1. 

A quick changed to a pellet and little bag saw 2 more fish to end the day with 4 carp and 2 F1s for 31-8-0 winning my lake and putting me 5th overall. 

I did have a quick look on the pole but stuck with the rod as I had more confidence for a bite on that. 

Saturday 16th January - Manor Farm open.

I saw myself heading to peg 25. I don't really like this peg as you have a rope to your left and when peg 23 is in (which it was) your very boxed in. 

To cut a very long story short. Couldn't get a bite on the pole or anywhere for that matter! So chucked the bomb towards the Island and sat on my hands hoping it would go round and if it would, it would be big!!! 

45 minutes after being out the tip dropped back and I had a fish on! 

5 minutes later a chunky common was lay in my net. This was the only fish I had giving me 9-8-0. Just missing out on my section. 

Peg 25 Island. 

Sunday 10th January - Harsecombe

Harsecombe open on field lake. Peg 7.
I really like this lake and had only fished it once before this match and I had a nice day then so I decided to fish it similiar but feed it a big more negatively.
As a lot of my fishing I kept things dead simple.
13m pellet rig. x2. - 1 light 1 heavy.
Short line at top 6 to my left for fishing maggots.
Edge line (this time of year I wouldnt even give an edge line a think but with 4ft down there its worth a go)
At the all in I shipped my Colmic F33 pole out to 13m and rattled in some 4mm pellets fishing a 4mm hard pellet. I didnt really know how the lake was going to respond so I watched others carefully.
30 minutes in I had seen 2 carp caught then I had my first one.
So I upped the feed slightly and a quick change to fishing expanders saw me have another 3.
With 4 carp in the net at the half way stage I thought I was doing ok but the guy on peg 9 was catching.
With an hour and 30 to go I set up a new line at 13m to my left where I just dripped a few 4mms. This proved to be a good idea as this line saw me put another 3 fish in the net giving me 7 carp.
At the weigh in my 27-0-0 was good enough for 2nd overall with 35-0-0 winning.
I think 8lb extra for me was achievable but thats fishing.

Really enjoyed the day and learnt lots as always!!!
This was the first match I used my new Colmic F33 pole and must say it helped me. One major good thing is the top kits are long which was perfect as this lake is 9ft deep!