Four days running

A mammoth task but out of bed yet again before 6am and at the venue for 6.45am. A contrast to yesterday all match lakes open and only two others there. Went safe and headed to Serpent peg facing the cafe in the corner. A short trip to car making two trips. Fishing far side fish almost immediately. Carp about 2lb.



Messed around in the margins and near the aerator to try and pick up catch rate, when I should have stuck at far side. Carp and skimmers followed on far side. Weather all over the place, warm one minute then rain and cold. Bonus 3lb barbel was welcomed. Ended up with about 40lb. Not the same without the crew!

Susannah Reid, Hen Doos, and a Perch...

Lakeview to the rescue

Well not really!

Every match lake taken as we pulled into the car park, even the bloody cafe wasn't open for the much needed breakfast cob.

Disappointed wasn't the word. We couldn't even moan. Rock bottom.

After limited discussion there was no choice but the pleasure lake - The creatively named 'Pool'.

Fished where the red dots are below.



Fished at 14.5 metres up to the island. PC closer but at 11 metres up to the island. After much swearing and moaning. Finally put in and caught straight away. A small chub and second put in a small carp. PC first put in on pellet hit and lost a zoo creature.

Well this is how it went for me at least for the whole session. Fished well and ended up with small carp, chub and odd roach/skimmer on corn and pellet to the island. Consistent. No one else on a busy lake came close. PC went through long periods of nothing until advice to increase feed and ground bait via small cup resulted in a few more fish.

Nicholls 25-30lb
PC 7-10lb.

Conclusions
Pleasure lake has potential as plenty of small fish in there.
Need to fish up to island
Possibility of wag and mag given chub and small fish
Enjoyed it in the end, on a hot and sunny day - just wish PC had sampled the dizzy heights of lakeview bag up.

Sherwood Showers and F***ing Michael Fish

This is a brief tale. Timed to perfection arrive as the weight in is completed at Holmedale. All caught, good weights. Place alive with fish. Pegs selected. Feeder to lilies. Corn and meat as bait. Fish from the off, usual nearly pull your rod in.



Then the weather that has not been forecast arrives. Cold, fleece on, fine rain, dark, bleak and doesn't look like stopping. Fish only a few hours after pouring bait into the margins. Pack up and it stops. Kit smelly and wet through.

Nicholls 4 carp. PC 3 carp. Bugger!

Highway to Higham

Where do I begin with this epic tale of bravery, heroics and perseverance?

Cast your mind back over the last few months as the date was set, followed by discussion after discussion, maps poured over, analysed and annotated, blogs viewed, internet and magazines scoured. Match men of the land consulted and the venue chosen.

Call all ye gentlemen of angling to the fair pastures and well stocked lakes of Higham. Tench our game and banter our cause, a rod for our sword and hope of victory awaits!

The alarm went again with the lunatic hour of five on the clock. Up, with coffee thrown directly into the eyes I did manage to get the contacts in. Brown volvo more of a coffee caravan.

Foot down and arrive at Higham to the shock of a full and filling car park at 6.50am. This shock of a full and busy fishery would grow with time. Wasd our quest already over?

Pegs as requires secured by placing kit in every peg along the bank. Bollie divvy bivvy boys must have assumed I was paying for 25 rods or was very indecisive.

At last coms from the crew. PC stuck outside The Crown Inn, where he should have waited for opening time and Nico at Tipshelf. A tip would have been to also stay there.

Up went the feeder rod, super G for up to 80 yards distance fishing. So gentle plop into the margins, bite alarms, chum, bigger boat and lots of swearing/moaning/usual peg warm up manoeuvres for Nicholls.

A small perch provoked a few glances at Nico and the mutual thoughts of this is going to be hard ran through our heads - how right we were!

Mad farmer Giles turned up with the encouraging words of ' If you haven't caught you might as well fuck off then, go on fuck off!'. Then with the universal advice of the fishery owner, yes you've guessed it 'you want to be in those pegs lads'. I give up!

Highway to Higham turned into the Highway to Hell. Pole, feeder, margin, in the middle, on the ledge, prawn, corn, pellet,bread, prayers, swearing, moaning, cheese sandwiches, coffee, lucky charms and generally taking the piss out of anyone - did not bring the desired quarry.

Nicholls had a few bits, PC had a crucian, Nico nothing. A few more bits for Nicholls and PC, and I mean a few. Another crucian for PC. Nico tipped another kilo under the tree. PC looked like victory was in the bag with yet another nice crucian. Nico only just avoided the blank with a perch. Nicholls only claiming victory at the last with a 7lb carp on feeder under the trees.

Conclusions.

Keep it simple
Stick to what you know
Fish a place where there are fish



Concerns over netting and buggering around with Higham confirmed.

The King of Wishful thinking.....

This had all the hallmarks of a Nico Nicholls summer collaboration....raised expectations, a bank loan for bait, enough kit for 10, and a hangover.... you gotta love these boys....Ringer is safe.

Derek had broke up for another term, the UK's history quota box was ticked again......... then 7 pints, a cocktail, and a Madras in town .....

5.45am and a ' wake up little suzy' text was dispatched to test the Summer Holiday boys state....." world of pain " came the reply.....he never learns.

We pulled out of Leen Valley Way at 6.39am and were Makins bound......with a stop off to reverse the brown volvo at the services......to be fair lessons learned we didnt spend £14 on breakfast this time!

The obvious happened on arrival, the match lakes and everything we had hoped for gone..vamoosh....disappeared.... Crater it was. 4&5.

You will notice that this blog won't focus an awful lot on the fishing....because it was PAP...Bulwell / Backgarden / Calvo lake with a toy town feel....

With the lake being a hop skip and a jump across Derek naturally set up a 'Distance Feeder' and a 30g Feeder......again....Ringer you are safe...45 mins and method turned into cage....mmm

Nico opted for pole and fed 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock with pellet / meat and 3 / 4 corn....rigs were small and 16 /18 hair rigged meat and corn.....

It was all predictable...carp to 5lb and a smattering of bits for both anglers......Weather was very steady and the bankside was tidy.....

The Brown Volvo was reversed on a further occasion and then these boys turned up....

It was time to go and we sort of enjoyed it but didnt at the same time......God I need a confidence builder...

Looking back....

Making waves at Serpent

A dash across country from Ashfield via Bingham and onto Lakeview to avoid the city allowed me to get there for 4pm. Charged half rates as I entered the car park by the owners son and headed to peg 6 on Serpent lake. Saw fishing coming out as I walked to the peg.

Fished simple. Corn, pellet and meat far side.



Grumpy and wanting refreshment!



Fish from the off. Slowly building up the swim and net with a small amount of bait after each fish. The usual suspects of carp around the 3lb mark.

About six plus fish in the net and with a glug, splash and spit the aerator kicks in.

Peg is now filled with waves and its like fishing a weir pool.

Smallest float in the world stands no chance as it zips through the swim - oh great!

Margins the next option. Throwing bait in by hand at about 4 metres to my left. In an eddy.

Fish soon follow on corn.

It then becomes alive, tails galore out of the water.

Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Bit easy.

Fished 4.30pm-7pm and must have had 40lb.

Got a bit bored and with no food or drink survival became the main aim rather than fishing so headed home via the pub for a refreshing bitter.

But still mad for it.

Boring boring Butterley

Two fish. Fished 5-8pm. Close in.

Not sure of close in, July bright conditions and evening sessions for bream.

Jury out

Holme Boys...

Why isnt it always like this?

Arriving around 2.15pm the temp was around 24 degrees with most lakes turning up a few fish....walking along sherwood and holmedale elastic was streaming from poles and fish were crashing everywhere!!


Cant remember the last time Holmedale was this flat with hardly a breath of wind. I selected roadside peg 35 ....



Feeder rod went up with a tiny cage feeder and 14 hook with corn went up and on second cast a lovely looking Ghostie of around 2lb netted. For the next couple of hours 8/9 carp ( and a single roach) all fell to corn / meat biggest around 5/6 lb cast tight to the island. The warm weather had obviously made the carp feed and the bites were ferocious at times.


With phone signal at a premium Comms werent great with Nicholls Jnr but eventually he arrived and complained of cough / cold / stomach ache/ headache and boredom...after a sausage roll all was well with the world. Lucky I had a Nurofen Roll with me.


Nicholls went straight to pole and had a carp first put in.....hydro streaming. Carp followed by around 6/7 good roach which on another day would have been very welcome.


Nicholson had fed the margin to his left from arrival and swirls and bubbles had been a feature from early on. How long could it be resisted?....about 15 mins as it turned out!!

With both anglers on pole and beefy elastic the margins became the focus and it proved to be a wise change.....


Nicholson probably having around 18 fish (longer session) and Nicholls around 8/9

Both Anglers also catching a 'Butterley Bream' of around 2/3lb each from Holmedale?



Lots of talk of venues for friday nights but a quiet holmedale takes some beating when on form...