Good evening all hope you are all well and given the current (declining again) situation keeping yourselves busy and a roof above your heads. Firstly a little about myself.
I'm getting old... I coarse fished for many years as a boy in Wharfedale, fishing the Wharfe for river and Knotford Nook for stillwater. All my summer was spent between the two disciplines for many years using hand me down gear and home made floats. Suddenly life happened and I was thrust into the realms of wife, kids, mortgage and motorbikes. The latter being as much a passion as fishing as a kid.
I lived in South Wales for many years and picked up fly fishing which I truly enjoy but my body now complains if I'm chest high in the Wharfe so I have decided to take up Coarse again.
Last weekend I grabbed my old box out of my parents garage and realised that my old Intrepid reels and split cane rod really are due...

An evening only fish here yesterday. It’s a new venue I’ve only just started fishing (due to the current situation) despite it being only 10 minutes away. It’s a basic campsite set in woodlands and fields with several pools; a main pool with decent carp and some sturgeon, a match pool with smaller carp, a small trout pool and some tiny beginners pools.

The intended pool choice before arrival was the match pool for hopefully guaranteed action and less camper noise. It turned out I was the only one fishing it.

There were fish cruising and taking loose mixers immediately so the main plan of attack was banded mixer with a second float rod dropped into the inviting weedy margin to the side. Both rods produced steadily, the final tally was 16 carp from the surface and 5 carp from the margin, from 3lbish to a pair of 9lbish in the only double hookup.

Even though I only live about 20 miles away, in Leicester, I had never fished here before last week. Me and a mate who lives the other side of notts decided to meet up as it's kind of in the middle.

It was a Friday off work and the parking behind the pegs was easy (although due to covid a lot of the embankment parking was fenced off, there was still plenty available). The fishing is free and it's £2 all day parking.



We ended up about 100yds upstream from the bridge.

We both tried a feeder, but didn't get much on that. I had one small skimmer. The inside line on the stick was the best method and we caught quite steady all day. Feeding hemp, maggot and castor. I left out the maggots and got bigger fish, my mate fed maggot and got more fish, but smaller.
These were my mates...

My dad has had a few hours on one of our local ponds today and he’s just told me of a horrible accident he’s witnessed. A guy on the opposite bank got his pole rig stuck in some lilies so after a while he shipped back to his elastic and pulled for a break. The line eventually broke, the float has come back at pace and either the stem or bristle has stuck him in his eyeball. His fishing partner took him straight to hospital while my dad looked after both their gear. After an hour and half the guy came back for their gear and said to my dad that it looks like his mate may either lose some of the sight in that eye or may even lose it altogether the doctors didn’t yet know. What a horrible accident.

If pulling for a break be very careful guys. Let’s not have any accidents out there.

Open today was a big turnout, so all on New, every other peg!,Sarah has drawn me peg 38, which if I’m honest I didn’t fancy But it’s been quite good, I’ve fished for the first 2 hours on top kit and one, with hard pellets, and apart from a look around various areas, most of the rest of the match down my right hand edge, with expander, feeding micros,I’ve managed 95-10-0,of carp and F1,s, which was good enough for the win ...85lb was 2nd, and 66lb was 3rd , a nice little pick-up again Bishops Bowl tomorrow with the Thursday match club

Angling Trust
09/09/2020

Fishing competitions can go ahead – but please follow the guidelines...

With new Covid-19 guidelines coming into force on Monday limiting gatherings to no more than six people, the Angling Trust wishes to reassure match anglers and organisers that competitive fishing will still be permissible provided our best practice guidelines are followed.
You can download the guidelines for coarse, sea, game and lure match fishing on the Angling Support Hub: Covid-19 - Angling Trust

We would also like to remind all anglers to fish safely and avoid spreading the virus by following the Angling Trust’s guidelines for individual anglers, clubs, fisheries, coaches, guides, ghillies and charter boats. Covid-19 - Angling Trust

Jamie Cook, Angling Trust CEO...