Recent match results/event info

Gary's day

With the Backwater being weed choked it was to MBL today. After a quick rake on Saturday to help out, thanks Mark, we had just enough swims.

It was peg 3 for me today which I was happy with. A horrible peg for shipping the pole but usually a few fish to be caught in it. Hopefully the pike from last time in had moved on - turns out they had headed to Bob on peg 28.

I decided on 3 main lines: long with hemp, dead maggots and micros to try and tempt some tench later; a short line in open water for silvers with some groundbait; and a short line near the lilies for anything just with maggots.

30 mins in and the float had not wobbled on the short line and only a couple of micro perch had been caught elsewhere. Time for plan B and it was out to 13m pinging a few maggots near the weed. There was a little wobble on the float and I had a micro perch - blank saved.

By constantly searching along the weed line I was getting the odd bite but only from tiny perch which I am not sure would even register on the scales. By the mid-way it was getting desperate with only an occasional silver fish being caught over on the other side and with Darren on 10 and Peter on 8 both having had a decent fish of some sort each.

The short lines were now ditched and a quick try on a method feeder whilst I set up a lighter rig showed no signs. You guessed it, after a couple of small rudd the float dipped and this was not a rudd. After a few runs into the weed a very welcome tench of a couple of pounds was in the net.

30 mins on the float dipped again and another decent fish was. After a tour of weeds it also made it to the net and looked a good 3lbs. I was back in the race. As the day wore on the bites got fewer and fewer and even adding another pole section only helped briefly to get a small rudd or micro perch.

The low / wood bank did not fish well today with most people really struggling for bites - quite a lot of bubbling seen but deep in the weed - so it was going to be the high / railway pegs that looked like they would take the honours today. First up was Darren on peg 10 with a tench and a few bits and pieces for a bit over 5lbs. Then it was Peter's turn on peg 8 with a couple of tench and bits for over 7lbs and finally myself on peg 3. Peter's tench looked a lot bigger than mine so when the scales went 7lbs I was pleasantly surprised. Well done Peter on a tough day.

Rob's day

Another Inter club match with Abbey Cross today at Taylor's Top Lake which has recently been de-weeded. The promise today was rain all day and for once the forecasters were right. The day didn’t start well with my glasses snapping even before I got my tackle out of the car (it would only get worse!).

I drew peg 39 – in the corner and not always put in but apparently one of the more fancied pegs. After bending my seat box leg on the way to the peg on a divot, I was all ready to start – pole at 11 meters to the right where it was less weedy, and a short whip to start just to get a few small fish in the net. After rethreading the pole elastic after it snapped at the connector setting up, started on the whip. A few small roach and perch followed by something a lot bigger which only lasted a few seconds on the 2½m whip before departing.

Onto the long line and 5 ¾ hours later just a few small roach and a snapped catapult to show for it – weighted in a disappointing 3lb 11oz, really wanted some of the nice F1s that live here. At the weigh in I wasn’t the only one to struggle in our team, Bill’s 6lb 7oz the only catch on our team to include a bigger fish – in this case a 6lb F1. The rest of us just small fish.

No such problem for Abbey Cross: Peter stormed the match with 26lb 10oz – tench, bream and F1s; Bob Fox next to me on peg 38 had two good F1s for 10lb and second; and one or two other F1s caught. Bill's fourth our only top five finish. The match was one sided, Abbey winning 67 points to 39 – thanks to Alan and Abbey for hosting the match and well done for showing us how it's done at Taylor's – especially Peter. Sorry no photos today as it was so wet.

All I wanted to do was get home after a wet miserable day, but even this was delayed due to punctures to both my front tyres on the way home! Had to wait till late for the RAC ironically just outside the Hall Farm entrance.

Gary's day

Today was back to Sawbridgeworth's lake for the annual Brandon Shield match with teams of 12 battling it out. The lake is rather interesting with a good head of silvers but they seldom get a look in with the carp bullying them out.

Out of the bag was peg 7 for me which was opposite the peg I had in last month's Triple Cup where I saw Darren having a nightmare with large carp charging off at high speed. The peg is a bit tucked away on a spit so, apart from my neighbours on the spit, I could only see a couple of other pegs.

It was going to be pretty much the same as last time: a long line with 4mms for anything; a shorter line with 6mms hoping for carp; and something in the margins which plumbed up a lot better than the other side of the bay.

There were some encouraging signs on the short pole line early on but foulhooking a big carp that charged off was not a great start. Thankfully there were still some around and I was off the mark with a nice carp landed. Again it was catch and release with each carp at 10lbs today.

The next couple of hours were then steady. After bumping a couple more decent fish they started to stay on the hook and I had a great run of half a dozen carp and a skimmer by a couple of hours in. The rest of the little bay was not fishing well and nor did it sound like the main lake was either although Mark on peg 6 was getting a few carp too.

The middle of the match went very odd with few bites and bumping fish. A replumb found the fish had dug out 6 inches of the bottom - that would explain the fizzing then. Sorting out the depth helped convert some bites. Mark was now starting to catch up and Steve on peg 8 was also starting to catch.

Into the last hour I was on 10 carp and Mark 8. A swap to the margins after seeing a boil was the turning point with the carp rocking up. It was pretty scary fishing with the margin carp being even larger and really pulling back hard and pushing the pole to its limits. At the whistle I had 14 carp and 2 bream with Mark getting stuck on 8. I ended up with the all important section win for the team and managed to pip team mate Rob to win the match.

The lake had fished a bit tougher today than on the Triple Cup with a lot fewer silvers showing - although the pike seemed to be feeding well with both Peter Green and Darren Cope bagging one each (sadly they did not count). With the weights being lower a few small silvers here and there were going to make a big difference. It ended up neck and neck with Bishop's Stortford winning with 76 points to Sawbridgeworth's 80. Photo today is Ray and Mark my neighbours on the spit.

Rob's day

Wickham Hall for today's match – warm with the forecast of showers. The lake looked ok but still low and very clear today. Eight on the match today so spread around the near and right hand bank.

I drew peg 20 just at the bottom of the slope. No feeder or pole today, just a couple of whips and a waggler rod for out further. Started the match by balling in 6 balls of groundbait (not sure if this is wise or not) and out on the 5 metre whip in around 7 foot of water. Started getting bites from the off but couldn’t connect – think these were from the micro carp (had around 15 of these today) amongst these also had a few roach – a good size today, most around 3-4oz and very few of the really small roach I have caught before here. After a reasonable first hour, as usual here, the fish disappeared and I struggled to get any bites.

A couple on the waggler thinking the fish had backed off to the deeper water, then nothing. Elsewhere Bill on peg 13 looked to already have the match sewn up with a couple of carp and a bream on the feeder. Jeff on 16 also doing well with a couple of bream. To my left Dan was catching roach steadily on the long pole line although the size seemed to be small. Hardly any bites until the last hour where suddenly a few fish returned on the whip line and had a couple of nice roach and two chublets, then that was it.

At the weigh in some mixed results, Peter on peg 3 2lb 5oz including a couple of 8oz carp, Dan doing well with 4lb 3oz and mine going 6lb 5oz, enough for third. Jeff’s fish went 8lb 4oz for second but Bill ended up easily winning with 5 carp and a bream for 22lb 13oz. Tony and John both struggled for bites. Bit frustrating for me today – some nice quality roach, but I can’t seem to keep them in my swim long enough for a big weight – maybe the was feeding wrong – but still nice to get a few bites. Today's photo is winner Bill.

Gary's day

Today was the first match for a while on MBL. It was a good turn out and we just about found enough relatively weed free pegs for us all. For me it was peg 2, a lovely platform but with a high bank that makes shipping the pole hard work. The shoulders were tired by the end of the day.

I decided on a couple of lines along the left hand lilies at about 8m and then 13m with another swim over in the open water. It was going to be maggots today to catch anything swimming with just loose feeding the shorter lines and a bit of groundbait long.

The first hour was a struggle for everyone with not a lot being caught. Changing to a much lighter rig finally found a few bites and I had a couple of small roach and a micro perch in the net. The next dip of the float met solid resistance before it shot off under the lilies and shed the hook. Tench 1 Gary 0.

After that it was even slower going with the odd roach on the 8m swim and just 1 small perch out in open water. Then the pike issues started with a pike of about 6lb taking an interest in every fish I hooked. It ended up taking 4 fish and was close to getting netted a couple of times before biting through the hooklength.

Elsewhere the odd silver fish was coming out and Kevin over on peg 8 was having some issues with carp gate crashing his tench line but had 1 tench landed. Mark over on peg 20 then netted a good tench after battling it through the weed.

Into the last hour things had really slowed down and getting any bites was hard work. You guessed it another tench came out of nowhere and after managing to get it out of the lilies it then went into the weed and chance 2 was gone. Into the last 30 mins and it was desperate but then I saw some bubbles over on the long line. Out went a beefier rig and the float went under and for all of about 2 seconds I was into a third decent fish only for the hook to pull as it slammed into the weeds. And that was it.

Phil next to me in peg 3 had had a difficult day too and Fred, Darren and Tony down our end of the lake had had a real grueller of a day. Going round with the scales showed how hard it had been with Mark's nice tench and some silvers taking him to 5lbs 1oz and 1st. Then Kevin's smaller tench pushed him to 3lbs 10oz and 2nd and then myself with 2lbs 6oz of bits. Photo today is Phil concentrating hard about mid-match.

With apologies to Rob who sent me a lovely Excel spreadsheet but the website does not speak Excel so you have a photo of a print out instead.

It was another hard fought Summer League with 3 in the running as they headed into the last match. Bill though led the pack at the end with a solid 67 points following by Jeff on 62, Rob on 61 and Peter on 54.

Well done all for toughing it out in a sweltering Summer.