27 August 2012, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Today's match was organised by Godalming AS regular Roy Fiander and was a charity event in support of the local air ambulance with a good attendance of 30-40 anglers. (My understanding is that this will be a regular August bank holiday event so if you are in the Surrey/Hampshire/West Sussex area look out for it via the Apollo Marsh Farm tackle shop next year.)



Today's match organiser Roy Fiander

I drew peg 33 on Richardson's Lake at Marsh Farm, which is at the far end of the complex and has the left-hand end of one of the three islands on this lake to cast to at approximately 30m.



Peg 33 on Richardson's Lake

I caught approximately half of my weight today on the pellet feeder cast tight to the far bank trees - as the foliage on these trees hang right over the far margin at this time of year the closest you can get a feeder to the far bank is probably about 3 feet, but that isn't an issue as it is only inches deep tight to the bank and it is more like 2 feet deep where you can cast to.



Chianti pole rig used today

The other half of my catch was caught on a 4x12 Preston Chianti rig fished at top kit plus 4 with a 4mm expander pellet. (This rig was made-up on 0.11 Reflo Power into a hooklength of the same with a size 20 Tubertini 808 hook, shotting was shirt button style with 5 or 6 number 10 stotz.) As I was focusing on the feeder today I only fished this rig over one line straight in front of my peg (I normally use the same rig on two different lines - one at and angle to the left and a second at an angle to the right into the same depth of water).

Things started slowly on the pellet feeder, and my first fish actually came after switching to the pole after 45 minutes - in fact I had a nice run of crucians and the odd bonus tench over softened micro pellets to get me into the match. This line eventually died, but a switch back to the pellet feeder saw another run of fish (mainly tench).

As a last gamble I fed some groundbait on the pole line and this did lead to some more fish, as did a switch to the method feeder with groundbait. In the end my 30-13-0 saw me one out of the prizes, with 36lb winning the section and 42lb top overall.

Keith Arthur - the mystery raffle prize!

There was a presentation and raffle after the match with lots of great prizes - Bagger scooped the mystery envelope which happened to be a day out with Sky Sports' Keith Arthur!!! Well done to Roy for organising such a good event - maybe see you on this match next year?

18 August 2012, Melksham (Bristol Avon)

My first Division 1 National - a bit different to your usual club match as this one included Raison, Shipp, Cox, Edwards, Scotthorne, Kerry and Ashby to name just a few!

5 times world champion, Alan Scotthorne

This match was held on the Bristol Avon and I drew H section which was the Melksham stretch - thankfully this turned-out to be much narrower than the downstream sections we walked the previous evening!!! (Some of these pegs frankly looked dangerously unfishable with the river carrying extra water, and the muddy fields and styles didn't look too suited to the heavily laden barrows the modern match angler likes to push around.)

Due to recent rain the river was up a little and really pushing through with a lot of colour - especially in my peg where I had 2 or 3 different dogs go for a swim along the far bank prior to the all in!

Drennan Team England regular, Alan Scotthorne

I decided to stick with what I know and I focused on the stick float today - fishing the long pole over groundbait on rivers is something I've never done, so even though it seemed to be the fashionable thing to do in this match I steered clear of it.

I don't mind admitting to being a little nervous at the start - and as a result I was amazingly relieved to have my stick float pulled under by a small roach on the first trot through! In the end most of my fish (roach and dace) fell to double maggot on the stick float - some shallow and some on the deck (which was at least 8' directly under my feet). I also managed a perch and and 6 ounce chublet on the straight lead with double worm during the final 30 minutes.

In the end I weighed 860 grams which gave me 17 points from a maximum of 51 - not bad considering that this is the country's premier team event, I hardly ever fish rivers and the concept of practising was never, ever considered! Unfortunately my Godalming AS team could only manage 49th place in the overall team standings.

Daiwa Dorking, victors with 433 points

Congratulations to Daiwa Dorking who dominated and won by 30 odd points - but just look at the line-up in the photo above! Calum Dicks (back row, far left) was 3 pegs upstream of me today - below is a link to this blog if you want a more technical write-up of the day:

Link to Calum Dicks' blog



Alan Scotthorne - beaten on the day by yours truly!



Ostudying the results in the Angling Times on the following Tuesday I discovered I'd drawn in the same section as Alan Scotthorne and beaten him by 10 points - get in!!!!! In all seriousness this is one of the best things about the sport of match fishing - it's very easy for the average angler to fish the same matches that the superstars do and if you have a bit of luck drawing the right peg on the right day you always have a chance to beating them!

Finally a big thank you to Dave Woolgar for organising the Godalming AS team and to Steve from Apollo Marsh Farm for helping out with the bait.

05 August 2012, Harris Lake (Marsh Farm)

After our annual away day to Monk Lakes last week it was back to my home venue of Marsh Farm for another Godalming AS club match, and I found myself on Harris Lake peg 29 - this is one of the widest on the lake and as a result it is a nice feeder peg for chucking to the overhanging foliage that surrounds one of the central islands.

The key to today's match was working out the best approach on the tip (I didn't even set-up the pole today as I don't see it being a match winning tactic on this lake at this time of year) - in the end this turned-out to be the method feeder (not the pellet feeder) with pellets (not groundbait), though I did catch one fish on the pellet feeder and one on the method with groundbait! Best hookbait was a white 8mm pop-up, though at one stage I did have a run of fish on a hard 6mm pellet! (As you can tell I'm trying to be scientific here but unfortunately fishing is not an exact science!)

In the end my 10 tench and 4 crucians weighed 28-3-0, which was well clear of the chasing pack (16lb was the next best weight) and enough for a satisfying victory.