Ivy House Winter League, Final Round, Sunday 13th March 2022

 Commented to Tony, as we had a very nice breakfast in the Wessex Flyer, that I couldn't think of any other time neither of us had picked up in a league and today was the last chance, Tony was on Heron, myself on Old Match Lake.

I drew peg 8, the wind was once again going to make things tricky (when hasn't it lately), I made a decision to just get 11m of pole out and set up a bomb rod and a waggler.  Bait tray was pellets, corn and a few dead maggots, no point messing around.

Plumbed up a line at 11m pretty much straight in front, the peg shallows up in a steady slope from the aerator on the left hand side,  Another two lines at 7m, one where I intended to feed 4/6mm pellets and the other where I put GB and dead maggots.  Also the margins either side were plumbed and a suitable area found either side.

The wind as predicted was a pain, I tried the waggler several times, but it wasn't right, so no more to say about it.  I started on the 11m line and had one skimmer after 40 minutes, I'd fed micros and 4mm pellets, fishing an expander over them.  I switched rigs and dropped 3 maggots over the GB line, nothing, over the line where I'd only fed pellets and had a carp almost immediately, that was the only bite from either of the short lines.

I spent the rest of the match alternating between bomb and corn over to the island and the 11m line, it was impossible to get more than two bites from one line without then resting it, I ended up with around 8lb of skimmers, a tench and 34lb carp, that was enough to win the lake, left it too late to save the league, but a little pride salvaged.

Ivy House Winter League, R4, Sunday 27th February 2022

 Travelled to this one as usual with Tony, over breakfast we did say it's about time the van had someone with a pick-up in it, as we have yet to manage that between us this league.

Tony was on Old Match Lake, myself on Kingfisher, I somehow managed to draw 50, completely the opposite end I wanted.  Ryan Ship on 48 kindly told me 50 was the worst peg on the lake, not sure it is, but it is a bit of a feast or famine peg and with the wind hacking against the end bank (50 is an end peg on a canal lake) I suspected famine today.

Set up to fish at 13m, 7m and down to my RH side just down the near shelf.  fed two lines at 13m, one with GB and maggots, one with micros.  The 7m line had GB and maggots, the short line had casters loose fed.

It took a while to get a bite and it was one of those days where working out a feeding pattern or what the fish wanted was nigh on impossible.  I couldn't get two consecutive bites from any line, I had a couple of carp on the short line on caster, one at 13m on soft pellet, one on corn, a few on maggots, I even started up a couple more lines round the peg, but that didn't help.

The roach and skimmers, if there were many in the peg, didn't want to feed, so it was sit it out for carp, the last 30 minutes was the best of the match, I had 3 carp including one about 4lb right at the end.

Sadly not enough to get that missing pick-up, as I was one out of the money, being 3rd on the lake, as was Tony on his lake, just one round to go for us to ensure we don't get a full house of no pick-ups this league.

Ivy House Winter League R3, Sunday 13th February 2022

 Back to Ivy House and back on Heron lake for me, not my favourite lake, but it's full of fish. so hopefully a few bites to be had.  As seems the norm lately, it was forecast to be windy, but I drew peg 15, which did see the wind off my back, allowing me to fish up to the 16m limit if desired.

Two lead rods set up, one for bread, although it was probably a bit too coloured for it, one for a cage feeder, 2 topkits were enough, with the depth being very even all over the peg, so a light rig with strung out shotting and a heavier rig with bulk shot and droppers.

Had a fish first chuck on the bread, but that was it, nothing else on it.  It took ages to get a bite, I finally had one on a topkit + 1 where I'd been feeding maggots, I alternated between 14.5m and the short line fishing maggots to weigh 14.08 which beat the pegs either side, but was no good, same fate for Tony on Kingfisher, so we were soon on our way home.

Ivy House Winter League, R2, Sunday 23rd January 2022

 Well, this won't take long to write.

Travelled up with Tony, his turn on Heron, mine on Willow, it was expected that 23 on Willow was the peg to draw, so I drew 20.

Set up two bomb rods, one for bread and the other to chop and change, a waggler and 3 pole rigs, one for carp, one for skimmers and one for roach.

Started on the bread, nothing, I can only sit for so long on the bomb, so had been feeding a roach line at 7 joints and a skimmer line at 14.5m.  Nothing on the roach line, in fact, no need to mention it again, as I never had a touch there whenever I tried it.  I did had a roach and then a decent skimmer at 14.5m , but that tailed off to odd small roach, caster or pinkie, same number of bites, same stamp of fish.

Went back looking for carp towards the end, bread again, waggler and corn, but nothing, ended up with 6lb odd, which was over 5lb more than peg 19 to my left, but nearly 70lb behind peg 23 - another league over....

Ivy House Winter League 2022 R1, Sunday 9th January 2022

 After yesterday ended my chances in one league, today brought fresh hope as it was the first round of a 5 match league at Ivy House.  Travelled up with Tony, I had been drawn on Heron 1, Tony on Willow, so I was expecting a few bites whilst he sat it out for a few bites and bigger stamp of fish - what do I know about fishing......

Whilst we knew the lakes and rotation we were on, the peg draw was done on the day, peg 7 for me, I don't know the lake so it didn't mean too much to me, but I was advised that its not usually been pegged in opens lately and the last time it was, it hadn't fished well.

The picture shows where you can fish to on the island, with peg 6 being able to get much closer with the pole to the island (6 fishes to the little spit to the right of my x where 7 can cast to).

I started on the pole at 16m, nothing, so tried bread on the bomb, nothing with 8mm punch, so dropped to 6mm punch and had two small carp, nothing else forthcoming so I switched to a small maggot feeder and had one bite on this straight away, briefly felt the fish and then it was gone, next cast a F1 gave me some hope I'd sussed it, sadly not, I tried the pole again, a method feeder, the bomb and bread, maggots, corn and soft pellets, all to no avail, those 4 bites were my only ones, another absolutely disastrous day.  I didn't see the weigh sheet at the end and haven't got a picture, but I will be very close to, if not last in the section.  so a nightmare of a weekend, been a long time since I had two days like that, where I just didn't have a clue what to do and never felt there were fish in the peg.

Ivy House Open, Sunday 2nd January 2022

 Ivy House today, not been for a while, just down to circumstance, no other reason, Travelled up by myself as Tony is fishing the Landsend Winter League and I just didn't fancy it.

When I texted the fishery to book on, I was told the only space was on the Heron match, as it's bound to be in the Ivy House Winter League which starts next week, I thought I'd give it a go for a practice as I haven't fished it since the festival last June.  I assumed that the summer tactics of fishing short wouldn't come into play today, but I really didn't have any up to date information.  I'd brought maggots, pinkies and pellets, the lake only has F1's and carp in (realistically) so no dedicated silvers rigs or bait.

Allan Oram told me I was most likely to catch at 16m, rather than shorter and possibly on the method.... Hmmm, not so good.  I drew peg 20 not that it meant anything to me, but 19 wasn't in so I had a bit of room to my right.

I did set up a method feeder, just in case I was absolutely desperate or saw others catching on it.  4 topkits set up, a Preston maggot float with a strung bulk, 0.10 hooklength and 20 hook for a line at 11m in the deepest part of the peg, same set up but a smaller size float for 16m, which was significantly shallower and optimistically a duplicate, but with a banded hook on for hard pellet.  Finally a rig for down the edge towards peg 19.

Started down the track tapping a few micros in and fishing a soft pellet, gave it 20 minutes with a motionless float before switching to 16m and a few maggots toss potted, it took an hour and twenty minutes to get a bite, then I had 3 F1's in twenty minutes, but that was it, no other indications.  I did have a look down the edge, in hope, not expectation and the hope was dashed, not a bite.

With three hours gone, the light being really bad (couldn't see any colour float tip out there) I had to try and make something work, so came back on the 11m line, upped the feed to a full toss pot of maggots every put in and started to get some F1's and an odd small carp.  This carried on - not manic, but at least it was bites - until the all out, no idea what weight I had, so was surprised to go into third place when weighed, with 26.00, but that didn't last long as peg 21 had 27.08, he'd stuck to that shorter line and it obviously paid off.  So one out of the money, but a useful practice for the upcoming league.

Ivy House W/L - Stand -In, Sunday 21st November 2021

 Standing in for someone today - no idea who, Kingfisher for me, great I like it, but bloody hell, my last 9 draws on there including this one have been 47,48,45,46,45,37,43,47,43 - a bit of variety would be nice.... 

I think my achievement was beating those either side, but too far away from the winners....  I've only added the weigh sheet sheet for my lake.

Darby's Pairs, Ivy House, Sunday 24th October 2021

 Ivy House for a pairs match organised by Jon Darby, one of the pair on the Old Match Lake and Willow, the other on the canals.  Fishing with Tony Rixon, we'd already drawn straws putting me on the canals, and Tony on the other lakes.

Tony drew peg 2, which can be OK and me on 48, not the peg of choice on the canal, but I'd usually back myself to catch a few off any peg on Kingfisher (the canal I was on), although the competition was tough.

Only a pole, so a few rigs, one for across with banded pellet, too deep really on the far side, I couldn't find any little shelf or area that was shallower.  A rig to fish caster short, another for the edge and two for down the track, one with a bulk and one light rig strung out.

I'm not going waffle on, I struggled, the worst day I have ever had on that lake, I had one bite across, whilst peg 49 had a few, pegs 47 and 46 were also struggling.  I tried short and that was OK if I had wanted to catch roach, but there was little else feeding there.

By now peg 49 had come down his track and was catching, whilst my float remained absolutely stationary.   I tried a line with negative feeding and another positive, neither worked, I was running out of ideas, this may well have been one of those days when I might have been better served just sitting on one line waiting for a bite, but I find that pretty much impossible to do, especially when others are catching.

It didn't even get good at the end, battered off the next peg (49) who weighed 70lb to my 17lb, I was close to being last in the whole match and I still have no idea what I could have done to change it, the lake was won with over a ton from the the area I would have chosen.  

I didn't get the result sheets at the end, as we left with both seats in the van empty handed...  Well done to the winning pairs and onto the the next match!

Ivy House Open, Sunday 3rd October 2021

 Over two lakes today, old match lake and willow, I didn't fancy drawing the bank by the speci lake, so where did I draw, 32, one peg away from where I dismally failed to weigh in in the spring festival.

Travelling partner Tony, drew peg 2 which I would have taken in preference to mine.  I did set up a method, a straight lead and a waggler - the two lead rods went away at the end unused, as I thought my best chance of picking up was fishing for silvers and I did expect the OML to produce the winning silvers weight, but decided to give it go, as for me it would be a bit of an unknown, not having fished for silvers on willow before.

Started well catching roach short on caster, then the sun came out and spoilt that, I had fed two skimmer lines, one with GB/maggot and another with micros.  Well I had a frustrating few hours, my bluetooth headphones were flat, so had to listen the the GP from the speaker on my phone (turned right down so as not to upset anyone).  But the biggest frustration was that there were skimmers in the peg, I was missing bites and foul hooking them.  I tried lighter rigs, heavier rigs, not feeding GB, corn on the waggler (not a bite on it) and I was pretty stumped, the one thing I didn't do was persist with expanders, which turned out to be a mistake.

I the last 30 minutes the trees and bushes behind me cast a shadow on the water and the roach came back, I had some decent fish (up to 10oz) amongst the smaller specimens, but felt I'd fall a long way short.

As it turns out there wasn't a big silvers weight from OML (17.12 being top silvers on there) and John on peg 31 to my right weighed 24.14 to my 17.10, he'd sat it out on expanders and caught plenty of hand sized skimmers  - patience is a virtue I am yet to learn..... (likewise having confidence in soft pellets!)

Ivy House Open, Sunday 25th July 2021

 Just a 13 pegger today on the Old Match Lake at Ivy, travelled up with Tony and had breakfast there, it's not the cheapest, but it's nice.

Tony beat me to the draw tin as I wasn't paying attention, he pulled 12 - nice you can reach the island with 16m, somewhat disappointingly I drew 13 out of the tin, same peg as last time on the lake where I managed 3rd, but that time there was a silvers angler on 12, who never went near the island, that wasn't going to be the case today.

Rather sportingly I did help Tony get his pole (Daiwa) up to the full 16m limit, perhaps I should have just stayed quiet... Last time I was on this peg I caught most fish on the waggler, so that was first out of the bag, I did get a method feeder out, but that stayed led on the bank and went away unused.

Topkits for margin, a short line where I intended to fish 5mm pellets as if they were meat, a rig for banded pellet at 11m and a silvers rig, jut in case I had to fish for bites.  Couldn't see the point in going long on the pole, as it's too far from the island, could probably do it with 17m and a metre of lash, but that's not allowed.

Started short on 8mm pellet hoping for  'mug' fish, but nothing, I'd fed two lines at 11m, 10 and 2 o'clock, GB/maggots on one, corn and micros on the other, the skimmers weren't queuing up and I probably spent 15 minutes too long trying to catch them whilst I primed the island to fish the waggler.  I did have a couple of skimmers and two small carp on it, but by now Tony had shipped out to the island and was catching carp.

The difficulty in fishing the waggler to the island was the same as the last time I fished the peg, to get a bite, it had to right up on the mudline and not be dragged away by wind, surface trip (which there was very little of in all honesty) or the ducks that were attracted to the pellets.

I caught intermittently, as the fish would disappear  after 2 or 3 had been caught, switching to the other lines was pretty much a non-start, even though the 5m line was fizzing, I tried worms over it as well, to no avail  I did try worm on the waggler over to the island, I had one on it, but I felt pellet was better when the cast and presentation were right.

Finally the edge started to give up a couple of fish, not frantic, but 3 or 4 better fish in the last 30 minutes, including one landed after the whistle.  I knew Tony had beaten me, he just caught more consistently across to the island. By the time the scales came round there had been a couple of ton weights and Stu on peg 10 added another, I didn't think I had that.  

Tony's fish went on the scales and he'd somehow manged to get 42lb in one net and 83 in the other, losing the second net by exceeding 80lb.  About 4 or 5 years ago we were pegged next to each other in a Viaduct winter league, I did exactly the same with the same weight over, that cost me a 96 peg match win, this cost Tony a 13 peg match win. I did have a ton, just over 105.10 which was enough for 3rd on the day, one out of the money, so a skint van going home....

Ivy House Open, Saturday 10th July 2021

 An open spread over Kingfisher and the old match lake, fancied Kingfisher, but drew OML - not much changes does it.....

Anyway, peg 13 for me, can't reach the island with 16m and that's where you need to be to catch consistently.  So I had to set up a method and a waggler, the pole was set up to try and encourage them short (and long, but 13 is the narrowest peg on the causeway, so is at least a single breakdown of the pole for shipping).

I really couldn't persuade the fish to come off the island and the waggler wasn't much use, so I picked up a method rod, I had one on this and the fish were rolling along the island and over the method, but could I catch on it, I had one and that was it, tried switching to maggots, that saw constant silvers bites, wafters, bigger pellets, smaller pellets and dropping it slightly short, all to no avail.

I fed a line with some 4mm pellets, GB and dead maggots at 11m, just a catch all line, this did produce a few skimmers, but I'd not really come to fish for silvers - unless they wanted to eat hard pellets, which today they didn't - so I spent the rest of the match fishing the waggler and that started to produce a few fish, maybe stopping several times to look on the 5m line and in the margin cost me winning the lake, as I never had a fish from either line.

Ended with 48lb for 3rd on the lake, missing out by 5lb for a lake win, the best weights came from Kingfisher, pretty certain I was never going to compete with those on the day, but should have won the lake, oh well, upwards and onwards.

Ivy House Open, Saturday 19th June 2021

Back to Ivy House for an open on the Old Match Lake, found a diversion set up as the road through Sutton Benger was closed, bloody hell, it was a 10 or 12 mile detour, I was so late Karen rang me to make sure I was still coming to the match! 

Peg 2 for me today, with the temperature having dropped and the threat of some rain, I wasn't sure that 2 was a favoured draw, although there were a few blows and signs of fish, so I was hopeful that I could get a few out.

With the island well out of pole reach I set up a method and a bomb - neither of which were cast in , so that's them forgotten about - those rods must get fed up coming along for the ride, being set up and then put away again at the end unused..... 😀  Also a waggler rod.

Pole rigs were a rig to fish the edges, one for pellets at 5m and one for pellets at 14.5m.  Nice and simple.

Started at 5m with 8mm as sometimes this throws up a fish or two, it did today, but skimmers not the expected and wanted carp.  After 20 minutes I switched to the waggler and gave that a good go, but never had a bite on it.  

Onto the 14m line and again. skimmers in place of carp, with two hours gone I decided to switch to fishing for skimmers and set up a new line at 11m with some GB and maggots, it wasn't manic and I had to sit and wait for bites, worm was the best hookbait and the fish were all a reasonable stamp.  I did land 3 smallish carp that muscled in on the act, but was never pestered by them.

Even though the bites weren't coming that often, I had to feed after every one or else they dried up completely.  Never felt there were that many fish over the bait, as you usually get liners and indications when you have skimmers in the peg.

Come the end, it proved to be the right decision to switch to silvers, as two corner pegs took first and second overall and I don't think I could have got to their weights.

Enjoyable day and it didn't rain!

Ivy House Festival, 7th - 11th June 2021

 5 days of fishing at Ivy House, I'd not had a chance to get up there so wasn't fully au fait with the current trends and what the latest developments Andy has done, as he's always tweaking something.  I decided that most lakes would be either a pellet or maggot approach, so that was my mainstay baits.

Its just under an hours drive - as long as I leave before the Bristol rush hour traffic, so an early start every day, the rotation was drawn before, so I knew which lakes on which days, Kingfisher - Heron - Willow - Heron - Old Match Lake.

Happy to start on Kingfisher, its been OK to me in the past, its a canal type lake, but it doesn't have a shelf across, so its tricky to catch over there without getting foul hookers, I tend to start over there and come off it when it dies off or the foul hookers start.  It has a decent number of skimmers in and they can be very much needed to make up the weight.  As I was so early arriving, I walked the lake and noted that 37 and 39 had plenty of signs of fish blowing, 41 and 42 are decent draws, whilst there wasn't so much activity in the higher numbers.

I drew 45, not my favourite area and I thought it would be tough to compete with Ryan on 41, as well as 37 and 39.  I started across on 6mm pellet and had a couple, but it was slow, so I switched to maggots short, this brought a run of skimmers and small carp, but was never going to last, it does come and go, like many canal lakes where you need to switch lines to keep fish coming.  I tried pellets down the middle and that was pretty much a waste of time, having just the one fish on it.

I had to go back across and I was catching odd fish, but Steve Hutter on 48 was now catching on caster, as was Ryan on 41 - problem was I didn't have any caster, I am sure if I had some and fished it shallow, I could have pushed for more than the 91.00 and 5 points I achieved.  Disappointing start and I could and should have done better, by at least a couple of points.

Tuesday and the first of 2 sections on Heron, which is the newest lake at Ivy and has a head of small carp and F1's - its a busy lake and probably the lake I'd consider my weakest, I'm not overly keen on these fish race lakes, especially when there are no lumps to drag you back in it, if fallen behind,  towards the end.

The info was you need to catch the F1's as they are a better stamp of fish, but they do live up to their reputation of pellet lickers, being the frustrating source of many, many  missed bites.  Peg 24 for me and a bit of space to my left, I set up rigs to fish pellets shallow and maggots short.  I started on the maggots short and had a run of fish on this, when it slowed up I tried for 75 minutes to make the shallow pellets work, but the bites were few and far between and I only hit 1/10.  I switched back to maggots short and putting some nuggets of GB in increased the number of bites and come the weigh-in  I was cursing the decision to spend that 75 minutes where I only put 9lb in the net, ended up with 103.04 which was equal 4th beaten by two fishing caster shallow and two fishing paste, I could/should have had more points had I not be tempted to try the shallow line.

Wednesday - Willow, this one I was looking forward to, proper fishing for bigger carp, the consensus was there were a couple of pegs you didn't want and 33 was one of them, 33 was where I ended up.  I was disappointed to find there was nigh on 4' in the margins and the bankside foliage meant that was only a topkit either side (if I had a say in it, the edges would be trimmed back to allow good access to the margins on all pegs).  The island point was within easy chuck of a feeder, bomb or waggler.

To cut a boring tale short, I managed on on the feeder and one down the edge after an hour or so, then went 3 1/2 hours without a bite and it really felt like I wouldn't get one.  Really couldn't see the point in sitting there when I could see Dave on 23 having one a bung down his edge and I knew my two 8lbers wouldn't be costing anyone any position in the section if I slipped them back and headed home 45 minutes early.  Found several cans of Double Punk (8.2%) in the fridge and polished them off.  Resounding last in section and maybe I could have fished 16m shallow all day and hoped something swimming past grabbed the bait, but that really isn't for me.

Thursday - Heron again!!  So after the caster thrashing on Tuesday, I purchased 4 pints of 'shells' and intended to empty the peg (9) of the pellet licking sods.  Peg 9 is one of the widest pegs on the lake, but I felt that only the pole would be quick enough, so rods left in the van.

Started short on maggots whilst I primed the shallow line, left it nearly an hour before going out shallow, had a F1, a couple of missed bites and then the fish backed off and were swirling just beyond the feed, added pole sections and chased them out, in the end, after a couple more fish and some wasted time, they backed off well past the 16m pole limit, so I binned it and went back on the short line fishing maggots.  Beaten again by two fishing shallow and a paste angler, although this time the shallow anglers had caught on pellets - I really didn't get this right bait wise and I either need to bin going to F1 lakes or learn how to catch them..... 100.08 for 5 points ( the sheet below is wrong...)

Friday - Old Match Lake

Peg 12, next to Venue owner Andy who was on 10.  

I suspect that as there was a breeze blowing towards the far bank, that I would have to fish to the island to catch.  I set up a waggler, a method and a straight lead, as well as a rig to fish towards the right hand corner of the island, but at 16m that was a metre or so off it.

I started short on 8mm pellets hoping for a quick fish, but all that produced was a skimmer.  Tried the waggler, feeder and lead to island to no avail, decided I needed to get as close as possible with the pole, so set up another rig and plumbed up in front of the clump of rushes.  

By fishing 16m, leaning forward on my box and holding the pole as far forward as I could manage, I did have a few fish on pellets right in front of the rushes, couldn't catch in the margins, so had to stick at it all day.  I do know I couldn't have done this with my Tournament, the Browning Sphere is a easier to fish at length.

I misjudged the size of the fish and thought I may have had 120lb, but ended up with 108lb odd, once again I cost myself points, as had I fished the same line right from the start, I'm sure I could have taken been second on the lake rather than fourth.

So, a great week for the weather, company and fishing, but not so good for being competitive, felt I was jut off the pace for four of the days and out of the game completely on the Wednesday.

Well done tp Trig for winning and the other framers, full details on Ivy House Facebook page.

Ivy House Open, Sunday 11th April 2021

 First trip back to Ivy House since the lockdown ended, only 10 fishing to day on the match lake, so more of a knock up.

The weather that greeted me as I set up on peg 4 was pretty horrendous, hail/freezing rain and a chill wind, so I set out to fish maggots and expanders on the pole to catch anything and everything, I did set up a waggler to fish banded pellet into the gap in the islands.

To cut out any boring waffle, I never had a bite on the waggler and had to rotate two pole lines at 14.5m and a shorter line at 7 joints, I tried soft pellet on one of these lines, with GB and maggots on the other long line and the short line.  I had one bite and one skimmer on expander and had to switch to pinkies to get bites, this gave me skimmers and a couple of roach for 8.10, which won the silvers, I did have one carp of 4.0 on the skimmer rig.  Tough day, but I do enjoy days like this when you have to work for every fish.

Ivy House Open, Saturday 31st October 2020

 Back to Ivy House today, the weather forecast was to be something like last Saturday, although they did promise it would dry up after a band of heavy rain traversed from West to East.  At one point with attendees pulling out it looked as if we would be a five peg knock up, but it ended up at eight.

I suppose that given my drawing record, I shouldn't have been surprised to be handed peg 46, in the last 6 matches on the canals I have drawn, today 46, then the preceding matches were: 45, 37, 43, 47, 43 one lonesome trip away from a five peg stretch....

Even though rain was forecast, it was mild, so I was intending to make hard pellets my mainstay bait, with a pint of casters and another of maggots to complete the bait tray.  Rigs were a Malman Roob with a eyed Kaisan 18 to 0.13 N-Gauge.  A Nick Gilbert Gimp, this had a 18 F1 to 0.12 Middy Hi Viz and a Des Shipp F1 Maggot float, with a F1 18 to 0.10, for caster short.  I also set up a feeder, a small Guru pellet feeder, with a 0.16 4" hooklength and a 18 LWG with a band.

Started just short of halfway across and had about 12lb in the first 50 minutes or so, toss potting a few 4 and 6mm hard pellets in, with a 6mm in the band.  Then the wind changed, the tow stopped and it rained, it then rained harder and rained some more.  This definitely knocked things on the head and I tried maggots just past half way off to the left, as well as caster short, I had one small carp over the maggot line and a few 'bits' on caster.

When the rain stopped and the clouds cleared away, the temperature dropped and I had to walk back to the van and get a windstopper,  Going into the last hour I had three or four more fish, but I think I concentrated on one line far too much and should have had another line started up with hard pellets, that cost me as I came home slap bang in the middle of the pack, with 46lb, I should have had enough to come in the top two, the other thing I should have done was open a tin of corn, still at least I was in familiar surroundings, maybe next time I can draw away from that little cluster of pegs.

Ivy House Open, Saturday 26th September 2020

 No fishing last weekend, had a great few days camping in Cornwall.  

Today's match was spread over the canals and the match lake (Willow), I was unsure how it would fish, I had the frost warning light come on in the van once I got into the lanes near Ivy House.  I was drawn peg 45 by Andy, an area I seem to draw often.

I left the rods in the van, today would be a pole only attack - although I would take a negative approach at the start, rather than attacking the peg.  Rigs set up to fish right across, which is 16m on this peg, a margin rig and rigs for maggot short and long, finally a rig for soft pellet at 11m and a banded pellet rig.

Started by feeding some GB and maggots short and at 11m at 10 o'clock, then picked up the rig for soft pellet, feeding a few micros and an expander on the hook, this seemed to work and I had 4 carp for about 10lb in the first 30 minutes.  I had a look over the maggot line as it was fizzing, but not even an indication and this was a feature all match, feed some GB, lots of fizzing and no bites, I tried maggots, worm, corn and pellets over it.

From the anglers I could see I was holding my own and the soft pellet/micro combination was best, I did have a look across at 16m, but this produced one small F1 and one small carp, hard pellet was just not working.

I'd switched the short line to feeding maggots with no GB and with two hours to go had 40lb on my clicker and about 5lb silvers, I then hooked a big common - biggest I've seen in the canal - and played it for 10 minutes on my skimmer rig (0.10 and a 20 Guru F1 hook), I thought it was tiring and I nearly netted it, it went off again and the hooklength parted, I can only thon it was constant pressure/movement on the spade knot, as I didn't feel I had put more pressure on.

Frustratingly, after that I added only 11lb in the last two hours, not sure if playing that common through all the lines had upset the few fish that were there, seems unlikely to be honest.

I put 59lb on the scales for 3rd on the lake and 4th on the canals, managed to get a picture of the weigh sheets before they weighed the main lake, so not sure what come from there.  Not sure I could have had another 40lb from the peg to win the lake, but maybe if I had landed that common it might have been a different story.....

Ivy House Open, Sunday 13th September 2020

 Back to Ivy today, on the old match lake for a change, cafe was open and I tried the Keto breakfast, very nice too.

Only 12 of us today, I was very happy with the draw, peg 10, a peg I have won from previously albeit 2 years ago.   I had no intention of fishing longer than 13m after yesterday and not wanting to spend a week in agony, but I could push it if I had to - I find fishing a long pole on the deck OK, it slapping and swinging that cause me issues.

So a rig to fish 8mm pellet at the bottom of the shelf, two rigs for 13m on the deck, one on 0.20 with an 0.16 hooklength and the other on 0.16 with a 0.13 hooklength and I was trying the eyed Kaizen's for the first time.

Two margin rigs, both the same except one with a band and one without.  A shallow rig and two lead rods, one for bomb and pellet and one with a method, as the point of the island looked fairly inviting.

Started on the short line and had some bubbles, a carp and a couple of decent skimmers were all I had to show for it.  I gave it nearly an hour, before the activity stopped on that line, switching to the bomb and pellet, that was pretty slow going and I had one on it before I got bored.....

Spent a bit of time on the 13m line fishing a banded 6mm over 4mm catching the odd skimmer and two carp.  I had fed some 6 & 8mm pellets down the edge and had a look down there about halfway through, but not even a liner.

Back on the bomb, nothing, so out onto the 13m line again, I hadn't seen much caught apart from Chris Davis on 9 who was having a few as well as a bit of a torrid time with foul hookers, I hadn't had the foul hooking issue, as I didn't feel there were that many fish in the peg.  Ryan Shipp was having a few silvers on his usual caster shallow, but apart from that I couldn't see much being caught.

With an hour or so to go I put some GB and maggots in down the edge hoping that would draw the fish in, I had two carp over it, but pestered by roach.  Chatting to Chris Davis afterwards he thought it was the wrong thing to do, I agreed, but it was a bit of a last hope attempt to draw some fish.

I was somewhat surprised to end up 4th with 66lb as I thought I'd be further down the results than that, maybe I could have fished harder for silvers and pushed Ryan, but I really don't see where anther 100lb was going to come from to beat Chris who won - or anther 80lb for second to overtake Mark Poppleton.

Ivy House Open, Sunday 23rd August 2020

 Ivy House run two matches on a Sunday, one on Heron, the newest lake on the complex and one over the two canals.  Heron is a bit of a fish race and the canals more of a sedate affair with carp and silvers featuring in the weights, so my choice is the canals.

Travelled up with Tony, who was making his first visit for a while, the cafe was open again, serving takeaway only, but the crusty breakfast baguettes went down a treat.  Onto the draw and I drew 37, end peg on the old canal (Kingfisher), never drawn down this end and was hopeful of a few fish,

3 baits for the side tray, pellets, maggots and corn, a rig to fish maggots short just up the near slope, I have been trying Des Shipp's F1 maggot floats for this and they are one of the better commercially produced floats I've used. 0.12 and 16Guru F1 hook for this.  Two rigs for down the track one for banded pellet and one for maggots or soft pellet, a Malman Roob for the banded rig and a HillBilly Chump for the maggot rig.  Two rigs for across, one 6" deep and one at 3' which was the shallowest shelf I could find - too deep really.  Finally a rig to fish the RH edge.

Fed the short line with a little ball of GB, two lines down the track with GB/maggots on one line and pellets on the other, then went across to the far side with a banded pellet, toss potting a few in, a couple of indications and then a small F1, it just didn't feel right, so I came off it and spent the next couple of hours rotating around the three lines short, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, with the maggot lines being better than the pellet line.  I kept the odd carp and skimmers coming, not hectic, but enough to keep concentrated on the job in hand.

As it was an end peg, I had a look down the margin earlier than I normally would, hooked and lost two foulers, one  of which was a 9lber in the wing, had him in the net once, he jumped out and shortly after the hook pulled. Had a smaller carp after but then the fish moved off again, I was getting bites I couldn't hit on corn - roach maybe?  A 8mm hard pellet was better but it did die off and I switched back to the open water, had some more skimmers, but felt they weren't coming quickly enough to trouble the silvers money.

I started feeding a line at topkit +1 down the edge and went back on my original edge line at 11m, I put a bunch of maggots on and had four better fish for 20lb in quick succession, before the line died off again, I had some swirls on the short edge line and I had a couple of fish from there, before I got all excited and overfed it.... bloody idiot.

I had been feeding 2+2 line straight in front with 6mm pellets and dropped in, I caught fairly steadily for the last 30 minutes, but it was smaller fish, 1lb-2lb.

I might have to change the name of this blog to one out of the money, as thats what I was again, 4th on the lake, 4th in the match with 110.06, beaten for the section money by 8oz and 2.08 for second.  It was a match winning peg and I should have won from it, a combination of trying to push the edge and impatience probably cost me, lesson learnt - I hope so. 

Ivy House Open, Saturday 1st August 2020

Back to Ivy house for this open on the canals,  fancied a day fishing for silvers, but it would depend on the draw.  43, I'd have preferred a lower number for skimmers, but there is always a chance of some.

My approach doesn't alter much, two lines down the track, one fed with GB/dead maggots, one with 4mm and micro pellets, a line tight across, a line at the bottom of the near shelf and an edge line.  Fed the lines down the track and the short line, before venturing across at 16m, this was as most pegs, deeper than I'd like and there wasn't much action across.

Some blows on the GB line and switching between this and the short line I managed a few skimmers, but it was slow and I was sure I wasn't catching at a rate fast enough to trouble to silvers payout.  I had been pinging a few pellets across and could see some carp moving around, now the minimum depth has been dropped from 12" to 6" I shallowed up to 6" and went across, had a several fish doing this. before hooking a root and losing the rig, set another rig up, but the moment was lost and I couldn't get the fish back.

I could see to my left that there were some fish being caught at 2+2 on paste, I didn't have any, so with an hour to go stated a line there feeding and fishing 6mm pellet, this was a good move and I should have done it 5 minutes sooner, as I ended up one out of the money and missed out on a lake win by 1.07, shame, but I was happy with the way I fished, just a slight matter of timing.

Looking forward to coming back here, its really enjoyable fishing, Andy and Karen are making Ivy House a fishery that is in my top three to want to visit.

Ivy House Open, Saturday 18th July 2020

Trying to keep a bit of sanity in my fishing, so back to Ivy House, I had just taken my pole, as I was expecting the match to be on the canals, but there was an overflow section onto the old match lake, so I should have put some rods in - just in case, lesson learnt for next time.  As it turned out, Andy drew me 47 on the Kingfisher, so no need for rods.

Plenty of time to set up, so I had a topkit to fish across on the shallowest shelf I could find, that was 3', which is too deep, but I left the rig set up.  A shallow rig,  a 4x14 Preston maggot float to fish worms down the track, a 4x12 version of the same float to fish short - at the bottom of the near slope, a rig for banded pellet and a margin rig.

Bait tray was caster, maggot, worms and pellets.  I expected to catch some carp across on hard pellet, skimmers short and down the track, with an odd carp mixed in and then some carp down the edge.  It turns out I was end peg, with 48 and 49 not pegged.  Not sure its always a benefit, as the fish can back off, but it does give an area to draw from.

Started across and had a couple of  small carp, but they soon moved off.  I had fed two lines for skimmers, one with GB and chopped worm, one with micros and 4mm pellets.  The worm line was best, not hectic, but a few skimmers, it needed regular topping up, I did think I may get a decent weight of them, but the sun came out and they disappeared.

I had been pinging pellets across and had some fish on the mudline, I went in tight with the shallow rig and had several fish, but with the rules (as I thought) that you had to fish at least 12" deep, I was under the fish. I gave it up and came back on the line over the micros, had a couple of small skimmers and a carp, but that was getting me nowhere,

With a couple of hours to go I fed a margin line either side, one with GB and maggots, one with pellets and corn, I expected the LH edge (maggots) to be best, as that was the side with no one pegged past me, but the RH edge was by far the best, the first of the last two hours was best and it tailed off in the last hour.  Another enjoyable day at Ivy House, I suspect the peg was worth a lake win, but I was pipped by Vince on peg 37 by 4lb.

 When Andy came to weigh in I commented that had I been able to fish 4 or 6" deep on the mudline I'd have caught a few more - he then told me he'd changed the rules last week and you could now fish 6" deep - shame I never knew before.  So my fish went 84.02, which was joint 4th and I sneaked a default section win - bout time, been a miserable run since lockdown ended.