Fishingclass

31/05/2026

Coaching Saturday, Zac's 10th birthday party , a fishing trip with three friends. sadly the heat had made the fish go right off the feed and even the little Perch and Roach were not biting. In desperation I filled in one swim with groundbait and Zac was rewarded with a foul hooked bream of about 4lbs which fell off. At the end of day with all 4 boys getting fractions in the heat we managed a 7lb carp which Zac landed with assistance. Mum's comment "you have exceeded all expectations!" Job done.

30/05/2026

Following on from Wednesday's win, Yesterday was a silver fish pairs match with one of each pair on small and one on middle at Willow Park.
I drew peg 13 on Middle, a good skimmer peg usually. As it was a float only match and the aerator was running between pegs 14 and 15 , I wasn't sure the skimmers would come in close. I fed three pole lines, two plus 2, 9 and 14 meters . I also feed loose groundbait and maggot on a top 2 immediately in front of my platform and put some chopped worm and caster under the bush to my left.
From the off I caught little perch and roach on the top kit with an odd 3 oz fish amongst them. Nothing else worked, the only bites on my long lines were from micro roach ands 50% of those fell off on the way in.
By 1pm I had around 8lb in the net, which looked to be a good weight with only peg 20 potentially beating me having had three proper bream early.
I topped up all the swims, did a loo run and on my return started fishing a waggler over my 14 meter line. Fish instantly and slightly bigger roach too, but it only lasted about 10 minutes when up popped not one but two cormorants in my swim, one on each side and each with a 6oz fish in its beak. Despite banging my empty groundbait bowl with a bank stick and shouting abuse at them they continued to fish around the aerator and in my swim for a good 30 minutes effectively ruining my day. Then the carp turned up in large numbers and swirled at my loose feed. Needless to say the next 2 hours or so were very difficult and it wasn't until; 3.30 that I started to get bites again adding another 1 1/2lbs in the last 30 minutes of the match to end up with 10 3/4 lbs comprising around 120 fish with no fish over 6ozs. This gave me 3rd on the lake beaten by peg 20 whose bream and a few roach went 17lbd and Peg 21 who caught quality roach for 11lbs. Thankfully my partner Reg, on peg 28 on small, won the lake with 7 1/2 lbs of skimmers and roach giving us 4 points and the win.

29/05/2026

Not often I get a good draw when the peg actually has fish in it. Its also rare for me to draw the golden peg and actually manage not to stuff it up. Less rare is winning the silvers pool as i usually end up fishing for them when I can't catch Carp.
So on Wednesday I drew Peg 1 on the small lake at willow and was delighted to see it was full of fish on the top and in the margins . It was also drawn as the golden peg.
As the whistle went a large fish popped up in front of me and obligingly ate my bunch of maggots. 5 minutes later a second did the same. 20lb in the net with 10 minutes gone.
Things went quieter then and I only added one more mugged fish and one on the pellet wag before it all switched off as the day got hotter and hotter.
Any visible carp were now spooking at the bait . No one was catching so I dropped in on my throw away silvers line and for 30 minutes had one a chuck, mainly small
Perch but with the odd better fish and one good skimmer. Seeing Tony West start to catch I went back onto the Carp and tried my edges. Fishing worm head over Caster, I had just more small Perch to my left but the right hand side was solid. 8 small carp in the last hour gave me 75lb in total for a win and my silvers went 5lb to scoop that pot too. £185 better off and a nice days fishing. What more can one want? Hint of caution. Put sunblock on well up into the legs of your shorts. I have two very red bits where the sun block didn't reach.
park than hades ://www.facebook.com/willowpark.fishery

02/01/2026

So the last match of 2025 saw me pick up a few quid for 2nd overall and the Silver fish pool. Well today I went one better in the Silverfish pairs and picked up a winners envelope! Of course this was mainly due to my partner who was one of only two people to catch anything and his three fish easily won the day on small lake at Willow Park fishery.. On my lake (middle) all of us blanked, not a single bite between us apart from one lost carp (which wouldn't have counted anyway)
So back at the lodge, we drew for the winner takes all prize from my lake and my peg was drawn from the hat so my partner Tony and I walked off with all the spoils. Nice day in the sunshine with not a single indication that there was a fish within half a mile.
Looks like the lake may have a lid on for Wednesday so I'm waiting before committing!

31/12/2025

Last Match of the season out of the way . Willow Park small lake frozen, so several went home. The rest of us had a walk off over both lakes and the stock pond. I drew 9th away and took up residence in peg 18 on Middle. First cast a a 12lb Mirror made its way into my net, it was so sluggish I thought it was a bream. Ten minutes later I missed a bite, then on the hour I had a small bream 2lbs or so before the tip flew round and a very large bream came to the net. At around midday a Cormorant appeared in my swim eating a half pound skimmer and I had no more action. Those three fish went 22lbs and a bit for 2nd overall and the Silvers pot too. Nice way to end the year.

22/11/2025

21/11/2025

I never did like fishing in the cold, last Wednesday was beyond funny. 5 1/2 hours fishing for 6 bites, 2 small perch which fell off, 3 Roach and a carp which broke my hook length. Roll on the Spring

30/08/2025

29/04/2023

Just back from the Veterans event at Barston. This match , run by Match fishing magazine was well run with 80 anglers spread out over the whole of the big lake. As anyone who knows me will confirm my ability to draw a good peg is almost non existent . When asked which pegs I wanted my reply "anywhere but the low 100's" was the kiss of death. Out came 105 . The bonus was that I caught probably the prettiest carp I've ever seen as part of my 37lbs of fish

24/07/2022

Just received a sample of a new bead from Scottie products, the "Tungsten Head Turner. " This is an offset bead designed to make any hook fish like a jig hook with the point uppermost. First impressions are good, I have no idea of pricing yet . Colour range is good and there are 3 sizes 3mm 3.5mm and 4mm.