Recent match results/event info

Rob's day

Hi all

So Wednesday we fished the Final Round of the Winter League on the Stort Backwater.

Eight on the match today so a bit spread out – the river had some flow but was clear as we have not had too much rain lately. Weather overcast with the promise of some showers and also sunny spells. Had to talk about the weather as struggling to mention anything of note regarding the fishing! I drew peg 10 – about 8 foot deep in the middle shallowing off towards the boat. Started off on bread punch for the first 30 minutes without a bite before trying pinkies then maggots. Back to punch for my only bite and a one ounce roach. To my left Jeff, John and Fred were having pike trouble – as was Tony apparently.

No signs of fish at my swim – looked completely dead, not even a pike. Starting the weigh in with Phil at peg 18 it looked a different river with fish topping in peg 17 - Phil and John Todd having bites all day. Phil weighed in a good 5lbs 8oz including some nice perch for an easy win. John had as many fish but smaller for 3lbs 6oz and second. John Carter came 3rd with a hard earned 10oz.

Picture is Phil with his catch.

Gary's day

Today was the last match of the season which saw us at a sunny and warm Hall Farm. With a few warmer nights beforehand hopefully the fish would be feeding. Out of the bag came peg 2 for me, a great draw with the weather warming up.

The plan was going to be starting on micros and expander on the pole and building up a couple of maggot swims for later. As well as a couple of pole rigs I also dusted off a waggler rod in case the carp and F1s wanted to come shallow out of pole range. A few fishing topping before the all in suggested they might come shallow.

It was a steady start with a small F1 in the net in the first 15 mins getting me off the mark. I had a couple more F1s then the expander swim went a bit funny as I lost a couple of fish on the trot. At this stage not a lot was happening elsewhere in the lake with only Phil on peg 6 seeming to have caught.

A try on the waggler got me bite straight away but only a small rudd and then a couple more rudd before they disappeared. A try back on the expander line did not work and my other pole line that I had fed with maggots was also full of rudd.

Before I knew it we were a couple of hours in and I was stuck catching rudd. A try back on the expander line produced a couple more F1s but it was slow going. Fred to my right was having a nightmare having just lost a big carp whilst trying to get a bite from anything. At the far end on peg 12 Mark was on 4 carp and I suspected they were bigger than my F1s.

A quick try on the method feeder whilst I had something to eat produced a decent carp but it was just the one bite. There were now quite a few carp cruising on the top - on the other side of the lake of course and showing no interest in the odd maggot I catapulted towards them.

Upping the feed on the pole maggot swim only produced more rudd so it was the expander swim or nothing. When that produced a rudd on the next try and then nothing things were not looking good. I then added a pole section to go to about 10m and that did the trick. Not quick but the bites were carp or F1. I reckoned I had about 50lbs so it would be close if Mark had kept catching.

The late flurry of fish was going to be vital as Mark had been catching a few more. 1st Gary Pickard 54lbs 11oz, 2nd Mark Halverson 42lbs 7oz with 10 carp and 3rd Phil Whitmill 8lbs 3oz with a couple of carp just beating Tony by 3oz. Picture today is me with a few of the obliging F1s.

Rob's day

Hi all – today was an Interclub match with Abbey Cross at our Hall Farm venue. Bit chilly to start but a promise of temperatures into double figures and no rain with little wind. But who knows how it was going to fish as it seems that all venues are struggling at present. We had 8 a side so nice and symmetrical with equal number of anglers both banks. With all the low numbers taken, I drew peg 23 – usually pretty good but was expecting a slow start.

One bite of the hybrid feeder with maggots brought a 3 lb carp but no more. Tony on 26 already had one and Peter over on peg 1 after a quiet start looked to have caught 3 early carp on the pole. Tried as I could on the pole long and short on different baits I could not get a touch. Everyone else around me was also struggling although Bob Fox on 25 landed a decent carp on the pole from the margins. So that looked to be it – I packed away the pole and all the bits and bobs in readiness for the weigh in – clock on 14:29 picked up the whistle and the rod went round!! – carp around 6-7lb.

So weighed in 10lbs 15oz for second on the high bank to Tony's 15lbs 7oz with Bob's one carp weighing 6lbs 2oz for third. On the low bank the end pegs were best with Peter’s 4 carp going 22lbs 3oz – Phil doing well from peg 12 with 16lbs 4oz (and today's picture) for second and John Carter third with 6lbs 7oz.

Bishops Stortford won the match with 75 points to Abbey Cross’s 52 – having just one DNW. Many thanks to Martin for weighing in the high bank today.
The fishing must get better soon!!!

Gary's day

Another chilly start with the car reading -4C at the draw but with a warm and dry day forecast. After seeing the Wednesday results a good draw was needed, and that was not peg 19. It was going to be a tough day.

It was a very simple plan: feeders of various types towards the middle; and a waggler line with maggots in case the lake had woken up. The water was a lot more coloured than expected but this was likely down to the many Canadian geese on the lake rather than fish movement.

It was the expected very slow start at our end of the lake but Mark on 16 and Fred on 10 had much better starts with a carp each almost straightaway. An hour and a half in and there were still no signs at our end of the lake with all 5 of us biteless. Fred had had another carp which he was thinking put him at 20lbs and John on 17 also had a bream.

With nothing happening it was time for trying to get a fish of any size and in went a small cage feeder with groundbait and maggot. Finally I had a small bite and a 2oz roach was in the net - blank saved. On the next cast the tip twitch turned into a full wrap around and a carp was on. The little 9ft feeder rod I was using was pushed to its limits but a carp of around 7lb was also in the keepnet.

Sadly the brief flurry of excitement was a false dawn and the next 3 hours produced 3 more small roach for me with no signs of any bigger fish. The rest of our end of the lake was having a worse day with only Rob on peg 21 getting any signs with 1 bite and 1 carp. Down the other end it was strangely quiet after their good start until peg 16 came to life in the last 30 mins.

It was clear that the winner was going to be coming from the other end of the lake today but would it be Fred or Mark? 1st Mark Halverson 41lbs 6oz with 6 carp with 5 coming in the last half hour, 2nd Fred Hunt 25lbs 5oz with 3 carp and 3rd Rob Calderon 9lbs 5oz with 1 carp beating John's bream and tench.

Rob's day

The Wednesday club were back at Beggar's Hall today with the promise of heavy rain throughout the day. With 10 anglers we had 5 on each bank. I drew peg 20, end peg of the 5 but that’s where the good news ended. With at least the rain holding off until we started, I went out on bomb and bread. John Carter next door lost an early fish, but sadly that was the last action he had. I tried all combinations, bread, corn on the bomb, method feeder with wafter, maggots etc for not an indication. Fred on 18 then had a carp after getting a few pulls which was also to be his last bite.

The day was getting colder with the rain continuing and a nasty wind coming down the lake – the only entertainment was seeing Bill over on peg 5 grapple with his brolly which turned inside out with one large gust.

With around 45 minutes to go the rain mostly stopped and the wind dropped – all of a sudden a different day! I had set the pole up and seeing Jeff on peg 3 land one carp from the margins, went out by the reeds with maggot on the hook. Immediately the float dipped and a few seconds later a 5lb carp landed. One more bite missed and that was it.

Very few fish caught today – on my bank Fred's one fish, Phil had a carp and a bream and Tony on 16 one good carp of 15lb 13oz enough to win the bank. It was equally hard on the low bank although Peter did well from peg 10 with 3 carp for 31lbs 3oz for top weight on the day. Bill had one carp, John Todd one roach, and Jeff the one fish. Picture is Tony with his carp.

Gary's day

Today was a trip back to the Stort's Backwater and another stormy but mild day was forecast. Out of the bag came peg 16 for me. With everyone having a bit of room and only the better pegs in the bag we all had a chance today.

With not a lot of colour but some flow it was the usual approach for me of breadpunch to get some bites and then hopefully a couple of perch near any cover. With most of the depth in my swim being my side I tried a short line down the bank and one over by the boats with worm for the perch.

It was a slow start with a few roach on breadpunch but not very big ones before it faded. A try by the boats on worm gave me a few odd bites I could not hit. The mangled worms revealed the culprits - crayfish. A try on the inside was marginally better with a small perch followed by a 6oz pike. Then nothing more.

Back to the punch line and a sail away bite on the drop led to solid resistance on the strike before it moved. A couple of minutes later pike 2 of about 2lbs was in the net and another walk to peg 18 to release it well away from my peg.

And so it continued. A try on worm on the inside found another pike of about 3lbs and then a struggle for a bite. Another pike on maggot down the middle and then more hunting for a bite.

Mark on peg 14 was also having some pike issues but also getting some decent roach and the odd perch. With Phil on peg 12 (again) also getting a few good roach. The last couple of hours was a real struggle with micro roach plaguing the punch line and only the odd fish worth catching coming to pinkies fished hard along the edge of the boats where the fish must have felt a bit safer.

With us spread out down the river it was going to be tricky working out how everyone had done. 1st Mark Halverson 5lbs 5oz with a couple of good perch boosting his weight, 2nd John Todd 3lbs 13oz and 3rd Phil Whitmill 3lbs 1oz. Winner of the Stort Cup was Mark on weight with Mark and John both having 4 points.