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FAS - Lodge Pond, 21st October 2018

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Lodge Pond set in the beautiful Alice Holt Forest offers the promise of some great bream sport mixed in with plenty of silvers and carp too and it happens Sunday morning turned out to be a beautiful day with bright sunshine and a little wind. A totally new venue to me and an outing with the Farnham Angling Society guys. The Draw There were enough of us for two section payouts split by which bank you where on. Most people wanted the far bank, 16 through to 21 which is home to the larger bream. My home would be Peg 2, so the near bank for me with Tommy on 3 and Terry on 1 as neighbours. Set-up Lets just say that the set-up did start that well for me, especially as I was positioning my seatbox and my sunglasses fell off my head into the murky water... 5 minutes fishing round with the landing net and I gave up. I'll grab them at the end of match by stripping off a little is what I thought. My second mistake was to leave my power kits for the pole at home! It's only

FAS - Stockbridge Pond, 14th October 2018

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It's been sometime since I've managed to get out on the bank and today was the next match in my diary. Fishing with Farnham Angling Society (FAS) at Stockbridge Pond. The weather had been pretty bad after Storm Calum did it's thing on the country and of course it had rained overnight introducing cold water to the stream fed pond. So on arrival the water was pretty gin clear. Fourteen of us fishing today and the draw was quickly underway after the usual discussion about which pegs to use. The Draw  Peg 29 would be my spot for the day over the far bank and also happened to be the end peg! Set-Up Feeder to target the centre of the lake and two pole lines at 13 metres. I did contemplate setting up the waggler and in hindsight maybe I should have. Bait consisted of maggots, caster, small tub of worms, sweetcorn, special 'G' Dark groundbait. All-In I decided on a double negative approach today given the rain last night and the water clarity, so I cu

Bury Hill Fisheries, 29th August 2018

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A facebook post from Hathers looking for some volunteers for the Wednesday retiree, self employed and builders match at Old Bury Hill made me put in a day of unpaid leave, its just too good a place to miss and the fishing was reportedly very good. Arriving at the fishery it was raining and quite overcast, given our summer, rain was last thing on my mind. The Draw We all gathered round the cabin jostling for position.  Eventually my turn and peg 13 would be my home for the day.  Neighbours Hathers and Shedders, so plenty of friendly abuse to be had. Set-up My initial thoughts given the wind blowing across the peg was to sack the pole and just fish the rods. Choice of rods were: 12' Bomb and tea bag clipped up at 50 metres 12' Method, also clipped up at 50 metres 10' Method around 20 metres I was setup very quickly and the weather was clearing so plenty of time to get the pole out and setup a line at 14metres. Bait was mainly pellet and groundbait however I

Fly Fishing, 11th August 2018

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A 60th birthday present for a friend turned into a boys day out for three of us at the weekend. Graham turned sixty in May, his present, a day's fly fishing tuition with Trevor Coxon at Surrey Fly Fishing . It was a great excuse for me to also learn to chuck some fluff!  Our third member is Carl, neighbour, friend, chef and drinking buddy to us both. A number of calls to Trevor and a few dates where booked in to the diaries and finally we settled on August at Albury Estate Fisheries . What do you get? Trevor outlined what we would expect of the day over the phone calls.  Our package consisted of the following: 90 minutes casting tuition 2 hours guided fishing Hire of all equipment As for Trevor's fishing CV, it's very impressive, he has been fly fishing for 45 years and fishing in general since he was 6.  With Trevor celebrating a very big birthday this year he has been on the bank for almost 74 years!  I'm sure Trevor doesn't mind me giving his age

How End Fishery - 2 Dayer, 5th August 2018

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After a great nights entertainment consisting of beer, bbq and many laughs, mainly at Mr James around the table and a night on the sofa I was up early for another day at How End.  Breakfast was a quick run to the village shop to stock up on provisions and most importantly water! Remember Darren to check the bottle of gin to see whether it's neat or premixed... here end the lesson. Today I'd be on Yasi's and to be honest a lake I enjoy more than Dani's.  The weights on Yasi's yesterday had been quite up and down and one area that I didn't want to end up on was peg 1. The Draw Third last out of the drawbag and I just knew that I was getting Peg 1, not really where I wanted to be if I'm brutally honest however today Pebs had repegged the match as one of the lads had to head home.  Peg 1 it turned out now had a free peg either side of it. Set-up No rods, all pole and a different choice of bait today.  So the lines where quite simple. Shallow rig R

How End Fishery - 2 Dayer, 4th August 2018

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2 years have past since I last fished the 2 Dayer at Phil and Tarnya's place, How End Fisheries. I was certainly looking forward to the weekend after reading about the every increasing weights coming out of both Yasi's and Dani's lakes. Random draw for partners this weekend however that would be after the main draw had taken place.  As the lakes where closed for the weekend fishing was 1130-1730 and the sun was beating down on us. Plenty of banter in the club house and great to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too. The Draw The big red bag produced Dani's Peg 18 today which was a very good draw according to the locals. Plenty of local knowledge to help out too especially as it had been sometime since I was fishing a match here.  The best advice from Darren James, aka "Parker" to Lady Carla. Neighbour for the day would be the lovely Kathy and we would be the only two on this side of Dani's. Set-up I'd been given som

FAL - Pairs 2 Dayer, The Glebe, 7th July 2018

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Day 2 on the pairs, after a night in the pub with the lads trying new drinks such as double vodka and strawberry slushies it was back to a day in the lovely Leicester sunshine and the Glebe Fishery. The Draw Yesterday saw me drawing Peg 2 on Pool 1 which I fished two weeks prior, today when I put my hand on the strips bowl, Peg 90, Pool 6 came out, guess what, yep, that was the other peg I fished two weeks prior.  Now what are the chances of that?  Same two pegs drawn from two week earlier, I reckon its about a 1 in 1152!  Maybe I should get a lottery ticket on the way home! Set-up After my blow out yesterday and trying to keep things simple I decided to try the same approach as 2 weeks ago again, so feeder to the far bank, pellet waggler for the cruising fish, 5 metre pole line and left and right hand margin lines. All-In Determined to perform better today I was setup with plenty of time to spare and sat on my box for a good 20 minutes before the match simply observing what