Match Fishing July 2025 issue **20 PAGE FREE PREVIEW**

Page 1


FIN-TASTIC!

edi tori al

JUL Y2 02 5

AsI writethiswe’re noteven in July yetand we’realready sweltering in aheatwave, while waterlevelsinour reservoirs are very lowfor thetimeofyear(checkout thepicturesinNickSpeed’s feature!). I urge youtotakecareifyou’refshingin thesun –stayhydrated, wear ahat and don’tget burnt.

However, thenew riverseasonhas begunand we’vemanaged to gettwo earlyfeaturesinthisissue, from James Robbins andKye Jerrom.It’snever easy earlyonbut Jameshas some good advice that will help anglersinthe upcoming Division OneNationalonthe Warwickshire Avon,while Kyedetails an annual matchthatmeans alot to him andhis team-mates

MatchFishing’s events roll ever onward andthe matchesare coming thickand fast –it’samazing howquickly they come andgo, andwehavereports from twoqualifying matchesinside, from LindholmeLakes andThe Glebe Fishery, whereyou cansee whoqualifed forthe GarbolinoClubAnglerofthe Year andMAP UK Pole Championship fnals.

On amoredepressing note Ireceived apress releasefromthe RSPCArecently

that concerneda bugbearofmine–fshing litter. To cuta long andsad story shorta heronina public park wasfound pinnedtoa logbyfshingline; it was beingattacked by otherwildlifeand was obviouslyingreat pain anddistress, and in theend afteritwas rescuedithad to be puttosleep at theRSPCA centre.It annoys me immenselytohearstories like this,and also when Iturnupatmypeg andfnd discardedlineand hookslying around,especially at fsheries where thereare litterbins. Accordingtothe report:“Around 34 percent(751) of all litter-relatedcalls to theRSPCA last year were aboutanimals that hadspecifcally become caught in fshing litter.”That’s 751 casestoo many

It doesn’ttakemuchefort to take a smallbag with youand putany bits and pieces of litterinthattotakeithomeor binit. Let’sleadthe wayhereand setan exampletoother anglers– we canall say “wellI didn’t drop it,” butthatdoesn’t solvethe problem.

Enjoythe good weather, take care and catchloads

CommissioningEditor David Haynes Email: dhaynes@mor tons.co.uk Tackle Tester Alex Bones

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PLAYING THE PERCENTAGE GAME

JamesRobbins hassomegreat advice on howtoget thebestout of ahardriver peg– essentialreading foranglers fshing theNational!

ANDYPOWER’S DIARY

Aftera shortbreak Andy is back to hiswinning ways.Was thereever anydoubt?

AGAINST THECLOCK

Whowill claimthe 2025 Catchy Bait NaturalBaits crownonthe fnal day?

REFINE YOUR PELLET WAGGLER APPROACH

LeighHodgkinson reckonsa scaled down,refnedwaggler approach couldbethe keytoyournextmatch winonsmallercommercialcarp waters.

BIG, WILD AND FULL OF FISH

Nick Speed discoversa “new” waterwhere thefshingisright up hisstreet andbig weightsofsilvers arethere forthe taking

THE MARGIN METHOD!

Andy Powerdiscussesthe benefts of aMethodfeeder approach to targetingshallow margins.

BAIT CLINIC

More bait-related questions answered by Dynamite Baits’ panel of expert anglers.

VENUE DETECTIVE

Alex Clements headstodeepest Surrey to visitMarsh Farm Fishery, avenue with agreat reputation for silversand gold!

CAM’S CORNER

CamHugheshas been prepping andpractisingfor theEuropean Championship this month.

GARBOLINO CLUB ANGLEROFTHE YEAR –NORTHERN QUALIFIER

We visitedLindholme Lakesfor thesecondGarbolino Club Angler qualifer.Who wouldbeheading for thefnalafter this?

MAP UK POLE CHAMPIONSHIP –QUALIFIER 1

The2025 eventbegan TheGlebe Fisheryinanunseasonably early summerheatwave– woulditafect thefshing?

VETERAN’S ANGLE

Aftera monthofbeing here,there andeverywhere, doingthisthator theother,thingsare fnally settling into afamiliarwinning pattern for John Brooks.

SENSAS HOTRODS

Some of KyeJerrom’sHotrods team-mates have been busy in theclose season buthewaited untilthe rivers opened up again on themagical 16th.

LAST CAST

This monthtop anglingmedia manTom Scholeyanswers the questions.

MAYISSUE

THE ARTOFFISHING IN SHALLOW,OPEN WATER.

Will Raison explains howtocatch on a sunken island on his long pole linewhere the depthislessthanyou wouldexpect.

ONE SWIM, FIVE RIGS!

When targetingdeepwatercommercials,Jim Hall hasa fve-rigplan that is deadly forputting more carp in your net.

SECRET SUMMER SAUCE!

Want to catchbig fsh on thepole? Well,paste is theanswer. We catch up with thepaste master himself, Andy Findlay.

UP CLOSE –DAIWA

MF’s Alex Bonestakes the all-newDaiwa ProMargin103 Pole fora test drive.

UP CLOSE –FEVA

Alex checks outthe threerods from theQuadtronicQT8 range.

NEW GEAR

More of thelatestnew tackle andbaittotempt you.

GEAR GUIDE

Severalofthe same products from diferent brands to show youwhat’sonthe market.This month, pellet wagglers.

COMPETITION

Here’s your chance to winone of threeDaiwa Spectron Ultra Distance Feeder rods

Sleightholme,John Constantine, Alan Robinson, BryanFitzgerald, David Guest, Paul Thorns, Michael Green, Jack Brown, Nick Peters, John Smart

Playing The PercentageGame

Top river angler James Robbins has plenty of advice for making the mostof a tricky Warwickshire Avon peg, which will be particularlypertinent for any Division One National anglers inAugust.

JAMES ROBBINS Sponsor:Lives:Kenilworth Cadence,EdgeTackle

Iwasdiscussing this potentialfeature with the editor,and we felt it could be interestingtotry and explainmystrategyfor approachingriver matches. Also to sharesometipsto help if you’re matchfshing on similarriver venues

Matchfshingisnow very specialised,and Ithink more competitivethanever. It’s a challengetowin or qualify forfnals againstsucha toughopposition,especially on avariety of venues. Obviously, thedrawplays a massive part on proceedings! Drawingone of thebetter pegs in your qualifying zone is agreat opportunityand thechanceofaneasiermatch to win.

However, in thepastI thinkI wasguiltyoftrying to go allout andwin the matchorqualifyfrompegs that simply didn’t have the potentialtodothat. Basically, alot of thetimeI was gamblingand trying to force thepeg,often resultingina poor result

Abetter result than expected!

Twodifferent patterns of floats and options for presentation.

Roach like this are valuable.

Employinga strategy andtactics formaximising what thepeg canproduce is thesmarter option

Some days asection win is agreat result from an averagepeg,sometimes it’s enough to frameorwin your qualifying zone –playing the percentage game!

This happenedtomelast year on theEvesham Festival fnal.I drew Peg 11,not one of themorefavouredpegsat all. My mindsetthatday was to tryand ‘slugitout’for a sectionwin.Eventhatwas goingtobedifcult though, with severalbetterpegs in my section. Conditions were difcultfor everyone as we were facedwitha low clearriver andverywindy conditions.I reliedontwo of my favouritemethods when thegoing’s toughatEvesham (breadpunchonthe pole and asmall maggotfeeder over) to catch5lb 15oz. Ihonestly thoughtthatwould be just enough to winmymini section, butinfactI actually wonthe match!

In thesummermonths, Inow concentratemost of my eforts on RiverFest andEvesham qualifers. Although thefshingcan be toughinterms of target weights, Ireallyenjoy fshing thesematches on avariety of diferent venues and methods. On thetougher venues wherea lowerweight will oftenqualify or putyou in theoverall prizes,you are still in thehunt right up until thelastminutes of thematch Ifnd this more interesting than fshing venues where biggerwightswin but only on ahandful of pegs, although it is nice when you draw one!

This year we have the bonusofthe Division One National beingheldonthe Warwickshire Avon.This is my localvenue andan eventI’m really looking forwardtoand focusing on On this theme, I’ve decided to bringthe MatchFishing cameramantothe Avon near Pershore. This is oneofthe lowersectionsofthe river

Evesham winningweight.

that will be included in the National.It’saninteresting area with thepotential to producebig weightsof breamonthe rightpegs andconditions.

However, when faced with conditions like today, it’s much more of achallenge! It’s hot (28ºC) andverybright, compounded by avery lowriver level. Hopefully when it comestothe day of theNationalinAugust we will be confronted with betterconditions. But, we maynot,and Ithink it’s days likethiswhere amore carefuland considered ‘percentagegame’ will be importantfor most of the teamscompeting

My tacticsfor apeg and venuelikethisare basically acombination of giving myself achanceofcatching

abonus fshlikebream but also maximising thechance of catching smallerfsh like roach, perchand bleak. This pegisdeep at over 15 feet down themiddle, with averysteep ledge aboutfourmetresout from both banks. Theriver is around 20 metres wide here andI wouldnarrow my tacticsdowntotwo main methodsand three diferent lines.Itwould be easy to employ more methodsona peglike this butthink it pays to be quitestubborn and determined to make the methodsI’veselected work.I don’tknowabout you, butI neverseem to do very well when Iset up too much gear andtoo many rigs!I wouldhowever,add amorepositivefeeder line if IfeltI wasona good

breampeg or conditions were more favourable for bream.

So,for thepoleI’ve selected twolines,both with asimilar depth. The frst line is at 13 metres straight in frontand the second lineateight metres of pole butfshed at an angledownthe peg. This givesmetwo optionsto feed fora similarspecies of fshbut also rest the lines.The target species areroach,perch andbleak Ithink it’s important to tryand separate the twolines likethiswitha good distance so playing fshand feedingisn’t disturbing each swim.

Rigs

Thetwo rigsI’veset up will coverbothlines and ofer diferent typesof

James Robbins
Pole line andhooks.
James’ standard rivermix. He adds this ifhe needs to make themix stickier
Add just alittle hemp and casters to themix.
Feed this size of ball at the start.
Keep feeding sparingly on the pole.
Don’t ignore bleak!
Fish along tail on the feeder

An 11ft Feeder #1 is aperfect choice forthe small maggot feeder

presentation.I’veset up amorepositiveolivette rigwitha 2g Sensas JFC1 pattern.Thisrig will be great forfshingonthe bottom andwhenI need to getthe bait down quicklythrough smallerfsh likebleak.This righas theolivette bulk set around twofeet from the hook with threeNo9 shot spread as droppers.Even though this is asimple rigit’seasytochangethe shotting patternstohelp trydiferentpresentations Adoublebulk(moving thedroppershottogether just abovethe hooklength) makesthe rig more positive when you’re catching small fshand want better bite registration.Converselyyou canmovethe olivette up and spread thedroppershotout to give aslowerfallinthe bottomlayersofthe water.

Thesecondrig is amore fnesse ‘onthe drop’typeof presentation.The foat is an EdgeTackleN10.4g.I’m in theminority, butI stilllike to useStyls insteadofshot when fshing on thedrop. Ithink this givesa very naturalslowfallofthe rig throughthe water. It also hasthe addedadvantage of reducing shot biteswhen fshing hemp,but that may be in my head notreality!

This fnesse rigisvery versatile as Ican fshitatfull depthand shallowuptous much as four feet if needed Most of thetimeI’llfsh this rigwitha spread bulk of Stylsaroundthree feet from thehook with several No8Styls spread outbelow This meansI canchange thedepth quicklywithout needingtoadjustany of the Styls.

Both rigs usethe same main line andsimilar hooklengthsand hooks, dependingonthe bait and target species. Pole rig terminal tackle:

•Mainline: EdgeTackle Premiummono0.108mm

•Hooklengths: Edge Tackle Pure Fluorocarbon

0.07mmor0.08mm

•Hooks: DrennanFine Matchsize20or22for maggotorpinkie, size 18 or 16 forhemp

As ageneral statementI thinka bigadvantage when fshing low, clearrivers likethe Avon todayisto fshasfne as possible.I thinkitgives me abig edge andhelps trickfsh in the toughconditionsweoften face.Obviously,I’llhave heavierrigsand hooklengths availablewhentargeting biggerfsh,but playingthe percentage game againand catching what Ican is more reliable.

Ireallylikethe Drennan Fine Matchhooks.I canuse them forall thebaits I’m usingonthese lines and although they arefne in gauge, Ifnd them strong andreliable.

Feeding

I’mfeedingbothpole lines with thesamemix of groundbait.It’sa mixof Sensas Gros GardonsDark mixedwith25per cent damp leam andisused predominantlyto‘kick-start’ both linesand fedatthe start of thematch.

My theory on this mixisI want agroudbait that gets to thebottominthe deep water butbreaksdownwitha nice attractive cloud. If thefow washeavier,I wouldadd 25 percentDynamiteSilver X Rivertomakethe mixsticker andmakeitbreak down abit slower.

Today, I’mbeing cautious andfeedingthree balls at 13 metres andtwo at eight metres.I’m notadding much feed to theballs at all, just a fewcasters andsomehemp. Once I’ve fed theseballs Ilook to fshoverthem straight away andswitch between thetwo lines.I’ll carefullyloosefeed hemp over thelonglinewithsome maggots or castersand loosefeed maggots only over theshort line. That wayI candetermine what

James’ maggot feeders.
Casting the maggot feeder
Feeder line and hooks.

baitsare workingbetter throughout thematch andadapt thelines as the matchprogresses.

Forexample,the long linecould come good with hemp laterinthe match. Theshort linemay fzzle outand be converted to abig-fsh line. Being fexiblelikethisreally helpstomaximisethe best potentialfrom thepeg.Thiscontrasts with feedinga big-fsh linefromthe startand overfeedingother small fshstraightaway!

Topping up with smallerballs of groundbait canreally work well,especially on theshorter line. Agood tipismincing up worms/ maggots andfeeding them in thesamemix, greattactics forperch and biggerroach

On thepoletoday I’ve caught smallroach,perch andbleak on both lines It’s been mega-tough,but Icould keep getting bites by changing lines,hook baits, rigs anddepths.

Feeder Tactics

In conjunctionwiththe pole,I’vehad greatresults fshing asmall maggot feeder on adiferentline away from thepolelines Thefeeders Iuse are home-madebut anysmall maggotfeeder will do Ilikethembecause they areveryquiet and stealthywhen landingin thewater.Often,I’llfsh this type of feeder over towardsthe farbankand tryand fndanareawhere Ican fshand retrieve/ play fshawayfromthe pole lines

Ifsh them on arunning rig, oftenwitha long tail (uptofve feet). This givesthe hook bait agreat naturalfallthrough the water, oftenresulting in bitescomingquickly once thefeederhas settled Itendtofsh abit heaviergearonthe small feeder than thepole.

Mainlineis4lb Edge

Tackle SinkingMono with 0.12mmor0.10mm

Pure Fluorocarbon hooklengths. It’s not unusualtohook bigger perch, chub andeelson this method andwith balanced tackle likethis youhavea greatchance of landingthem.

•Mainline: Edge

Tackle Premiummono 0.108mm

•Hooklengths: Edge

Tackle Pure Flurocarbon 0.12mmor0.10mm

•Hooks: Drennan

Carbon Matchsize20or 18 forroach,Kamasan

B560 size 20 or 18 for perch/eels

On thefrstfew casts with themaggotfeeder, I’ll explorediferent areasofthe swim.Once I’ve founda good area withoutany majorsnags Iliketoclip up andkeep dropping thefeeder in that spot

Ithink it’s important to keep castingregularly to attractthe fshintothe area andmaximisethe chance of catching on the drop.Towards theend of thematch,I’lloften leave thefeeder in forlonger periods, agreat tactic for eels.

If this hadbeen a matchI wouldhavebeen confdent of catching 5lboffsh,switching between thepolelines andsmall maggotfeeder I’msurethese tacticswill scoremegapointsonthe National if it fsheslike this –think aboutcatching 1lbper hour.Itseems negative butI’d rather be goingintothe last hour of theNationalwith4lb in my netratherthan ounces

As with team fshing, Ithink this mentality hashelpedmegreatly when fshing individual matchesand playing thepercentagegame! Hopefully this season I’ll draw some fiersaswell.

Landing anice perch on themaggot feeder
Acatch like this could be worth its weight in gold on the National.

Afterashort break AndyPower isback to his winningways. Wasthere ever any doubt?

After my vanbreaking down last month andhavingtomissa chance at qualifying forthe MaverMatch This final,I wasgoing alittle crazy andwas really keen to getbackfishing! Imust have hadwithdrawalfrom thetimeaway, as Ievenwent andbrought myself acouple of goldfishtoget afishyfix! TheMaver final wasmy last main goal forthe year afterqualifying forthe others earlier. So,witha repaired van, my next attempt wasatMakinsFishery on amidweek qualifier. Fortunately, thetraffic wasn’t toobad,and it took around

threeand ahalfhours to get there. TheMatch wason Phases 2and 3, whichare generally smallerlakes,on whichwewerespreadout with lots of space, so Ihad no idea whereI wanted to draw

When Ipulledout Peg 9 on Reptile,I immediately thoughtitwas nota good one. ThelasttimeI drew this lake,I wasonthe peg opposite,and it wasn’t the rightareaonthatday.But this wasa newday.Taking my gear roundtomypeg,I walked past plenty of carp near thesurface enjoying the sun, then as Igot to my peg, Icouldn’tsee any! Thewind wasdue to change slightly

though,soI knew therewas achancethese fishwould followitand move in frontof me at some point!

Beinga smalllake, Iset up some simple pole rigs,for themargins,short pole,and some rigs forbothout long on thebottomand shallow with pellets.I also couldn’t resist setting up alittlepellet waggler to cast towardsfish if Icouldn’treach them with apole.

Headingtowards thestart of thematch,those fishdid starttodriftdownnow and again. Therewas asteady rippleand warm wind coming across my pegthat wasreallyhelping,asthese

carp love to followthe wind in thewarmermonths. Waitingfor theall-inI was getting excited; Icould see more carp,manyofthem were adecentsize, along with some pretty ghosties Istarted with a4x12Carp Shallowfloat, with allthe shot underthe float,set a foot deep,witha 6mmpellet on.Withthree feet of line abovethe float,I could swing this rigtowards anycruising fishI couldsee. This worked really well in thefirsthour, catching plenty of carp.Just thestart Iwas hoping for! Ihad anothergood hour catching shallow. Iwas catapultinga few6mm

ANGLER FILE • Lives: Wells • Sponsors: Preston Innovations, Sonubaits
Makins Reptile pool, Peg9.

pellets at 14 metres,but most of my fishwerethose Icould see, rather than undermy feed.Atthe halfwaystage I must have hadaround100lb.

As theweather changedto more overcast andcooler,the fishseemed to drop down lower, andI stoppedcatching shallow. Itried fishing out long on thebottom, buttomy surprise Icould notget any bites. Ithencamecloserin, around fivemetresout on the bottom, just throwing half a dozen6mm fishery pellets at atime, andI startedcatching really well. Iguess thefish just wanted to be closer to thebank, or maybethat’s just wherethe fishthatwere feedingwantedtobe?

Aftera really good runon theshort pole,I felt it was starting to slow down again, so Imadea decision to swap my hooklength over to a14 spade-endhook, andchange from pelletstomeat. Biteson this definitelydidn’tcome quicker, butitwas noticeable that thefish Icaughtonmeat were much bigger, some of them up to double figures Lookingback, I’mnot sure if it wasthe rightmove, as Igot fewerbites,but at leastI was still putting fishinmynet.

Into thelasthourI was keen to make everything countand really wanted to make my marginsworkfor agood finale. Istarted off feedingmaggots andcasters, thinking naturalbaits might be agood bet, as they often work well afterspawning time,but thecarpjustdidn’t seem to be attractedbythem. Ithenstarted feedingsome overwettedPower Scopex groundbait andstarted to getindications,and caught some carp!Withthe water beingquite coloured,the groundbait seemed to be

thekey to getting thefish thereand drawingthem in.I fishedwitha bunchof maggots on thehook,feeding thegroundbaitafter every fish, giving myself adecent late flurry of carp.I knew Ihad around 200lb, which historically wouldbea very good weight in aqualifier at this venue. Woulditbe enough though?

Iweighed in 217lb, which fortunatelywas enough to winthe matchand qualifyfor thebig final held at Hayfield. Agreat feelingtoget into anotherbig final!

Fish North?

Afterqualifying so early again, it left me lookingat my calendar,thinkingwhat else Icould enter. Ihad alreadyqualified forthe Fish Midlands Semi,the Fish Southfinalclashed with the Maverfinaland RiverFest clashedwithGoldenReel

Then Isaw Fish Northhad a qualifier at Hayfield.

TheFinal of Fish North is at Forest LanesFishery, whichwould realistically take me over fivehours to getto! Butthe semi-finalfor it is theday afterthe Maver final,soI wouldalready be 80 percentofthe waythere! Iwas lookingatthe ticket sales, andthere were two ticketsleft. Iwas half hoping someonewould buythemas Ikeptcheckingthe site,until afew days before thematch Iwentfor it,and broughta ticket forHayfield!

Iquestionedmysanity turningupafter afour-hour drive, butI guessyou have to be in it to winit! These qualifierstendtobemuch smaller, so therewerearound 40 of us on theIslandLake, with thelakebeing split in half.The winnerofeachhalf

wouldqualifyfor thesemifinal.

As Istood in thedraw queue, someoneask me whichnumberI wanted.I said 21, then Ipulledout Peg 20 –nearly! This is anarrow peg, opposite apiratestatue on theisland, agreat area

andprobablywhy thepegs either side were used too! With it beingnarrow, Iwas expectinga dayonthe pole, probably fishing shallow with pellets,althoughthe island gave me theoptionof afeeder or waggler tightover too.

Part of my 217lb Makins catch
Hayfield Peg20, completewith pirate.
Makins GB mix.

Istarted off on thepole shallow. Icouldn’tsee anyfish,but hada feeling Iwould still catchthem. Starting at 18 inches deep with an 8mmpellet, slapping therig over thetop of 6mm loosefed fishery pellets,I caught afew carp straight away.

Then thecarpseemed to disappear abit,and instead Istarted missing bites from what Ithought were carassios.Shallowing up confirmed this,asI started hookingplentyofsmall them up to 2lb. Carassios canbe really frustratingtocatch sometimes, andthismatch wasone of them!Theyhave boneymouthsand tend to come off thehook quite often. They also tend to feed shallowerthancarp, so it wasdifficult to know what to do.Bemorepatient forcarp down deeper,orput up with smallercarassios shallower?

With fewercarparound towardsthe middleofthe matchI concentrated more on thecarassios,occasionally dropping down fora carp, whichsometimes paid off Thewindwas gettingup, andI actually founda jigga rigwas betterwhenitwas windy. It just letmekeep a tightlinebetter. When the wind droppedhowever,a conventional rigwas getting me more bites.

Ialsofound Icould catch some smallercarpbyfishing on thebottom, underneath whereI hadbeen feeding pellets,althoughthiswas awkwardtofish as it was around 13 feet deep if I remember right. Ihad a2g rig, whichcombattedthe conditions well.

Then on to thelasthour anda half,bites were hard to come by on thepole, so Itried aMethodfeeder to theisland, whichcaught me some quickcarp, before switchingtoa pelletwaggler, whereI hadalsobeen catapulting8mm pellets

Thelasthouronthe waggler waswhenthe carp really switched on,and I

caught really well, even though Iwas getting broken afew timesaroundthe island from lively fish! Ifished with a4gwaggler,aroundtwo feet deep,withan11ftSuperaX Iended up weighing 174lb. Agreat day, anddefinitely worththe long drive. It was enough to winthe match, andqualify forthe semi-final alongwithMatty Daweswho wonthe otherbank, well done to him!

Hopefully Ican catch some fishinthe semi-final. It’s on avenue Ihavenever been to,and oneI will not be practising duetothe distance,but it sounds likea greatvenue!

GarbolinoFeeder Champs

That leadsmetomylatest match, andthe last final I canthink of qualifying for this summer,the Garbolino Feeder Champs at Upper Tamar. Ilovefishingat Tamar; thereare so many bitestobehad from roach andskimmers. It would also be good to seehow it’s fishing as Ihavethe Feeder Mastersfinalthere laterin theyear.

Theformatofthisqualifier wassplit into sections of around sixorseven,ofwhich youneeded to come in the toptwo in your sectionto qualifyfor thetwo-day final in August

IdrewPeg 5onthe Cornwall bank,the other bank beingthe Devon bank,asthisreservoir is on thecountyborder. Iknew this wasa good area for skimmers,sotheyweremy main focus. Iset up both conventional feeder setups forcageand window feeders, as well as aICS Pelletfeeder, whichhad been workingwell in recent yearsonthisvenue My rods were 10 and11ft Supera Superlight rods.Nice andsoftfor thesesmall fish. I used 0.10mmAbsoluteBraid formyconventionalrodsto show up thebites,and more forgivingSinking Feeder Mono on thepelletfeeder rods

The waggler I used at Hayfield.
Tamar Peg5onthe Cornwall bank. That’sDevon overthere
My Hayfield catch, 174lb andworth the long drive.

Imixed up some Green F1 andThatchers,a greatfishmeal mixfor skimmers.I hadsome 2mmFin Pellets,corn, worms, maggots and casterswithme, as well as apot of Sonubaits Microwafters,agreat size forsmall skimmers.

Istarted off at just over 20 metres in the deeper water, on asmall pelletfeeder,and caught onestraightawayona wafter.But it became clearthe fishweren’t goingtogivethemselves up that easily!Itbecame aday when Ihad to keep making lots of changestocatch runs of skimmers.

Swapping to acage or window feeder

sometimeshelped. A cage feeder woulddraw fishin, butoncethey were there, awindowor pelletfeeder wasmore effective.

Changing hook baits between maggots, wormsand wafters worked.I also kept changing theconsistency of thegroundbaitie. adrier or wettermix, whichhelpedattimes

Altering what Iput throughthe feeder wasalsoimportant Sometimesfeeding choppedworms worked really well to draw fish in andkick-startthe pegagain.But putting lots throughthe feeder consistently would sometimeshavethe

opposite effect.

Theday before this matchweactually had abig thunderstorm,so Ithink theextra water goingintothe venue probably made thefish much more finicky than usual, andyou hadto work harder forthem!

Imainlystuck to this oneline, butalsohad some roacharoundsix metres outtowards the endofthe matchtotop my weight up

Iended up weighing 14kg900g to comfortably winmysection,and be thesecondbestweight on my bank.So, target achieved andanother nice final to look forward to!Hopefully Ifind some luck in thefinals!

Reinforced Knees
Waist Belt
Zipped Chest Pocket RRP
The sort of fishing you can expect at Tamar

After two days of fierce competition and just two points separating the topeight, who would claim the 2025 Catchy Bait Natural Baits crown on the final day?

Now in it se ig ht hy ea r, th e

an nu al th re e- da yC at ch y

Ba it -s po ns ored na tu ra lb ai t fe st iv al he ld at Orch ard

La ke si nH am ps hi re ,a tt ra ct ss om e of th et op ma tc ha ng le rs from th es ou th we st ,a nd is so me wh at di ff eren ti nt ha tt he on ly ba it s pe rm it te da re ma ggo ts ,c as te rs an d wo rm s.

It ma ke sf or an in te re st in gt hree da ys ,a st he 30- st ro ng fi el dt ry to fi nd th eb es ta tta ck to ca tc ha we ig ht of th ev en ue ’s ca rp ,F 1s , ba rb el an di de to wi nt he co ve te d trop hy an d£ 1,000 fi rs tp ri ze . Af te rt he fi rs tt wo da ys of co mp et it io ni tw as ti gh ta tt he to p, wi th Ma rt in Ro ge rs an dG eo ff

Edw ards le ad in go na pe rf ec tt wo po in ts ea ch ,b ut ho to nt he ir he el s we re fo rm er En gl an ds ta rD es Sh ip pa nd Ma rk Ca nni ng s, ea ch on th re ep oi nt s. Da rry lM ay er sa nd Le e Wo od ho us ew erej us to ff th ep ac e on fo ur po in ts

Ou rM at ch Fi sh in gc am er as we re th eref or th ef in al da y, an dt os ee ho wt hi ng sp an ne do ut we fo ll ow ed th et op si xt os ee wh ow ou ld co me ou to nt op ,o ri ft he re wo ul db ea sh oc ko nt he ca rd s.

Li ke ma ny co mme rc ia lv en ue s, Orch ard’ sM at ch La ke ha si ts fa vo ured area s, an do nt he fi rs tt wo da ys ,t he yw eret he pe gs to dr aw,s o al le ye sw ereo nt he fi na ld ay ’s di p in th eb ag .

It ’s af re ed ra we ac hd ay,s o th ere’ sa lw ay sa ch an ce th at yo u ca np ul lo ut th es am ep eg ,a nd th at ’s ex ac tl yw ha th ap pe ne dw it h

Ma rt in Ro ge rs as he drew Peg 21 fo r th es ec on dd ay in arow.M ean wh ile

Ge offE dw ards drew Peg 24, no t su ch ag ood area, De sS hi pp pu lle d ou tP eg 42, ag oo dd ra wd ow n th ea rm an dM ar kC an ni ng sP eg 16, ap eg wi th go od fo rm .L ee

Wo od ho us ed re wP eg 20, ne xt to Ma rt in ,s ot ha tm ad ei ti nt eres ti ng , an dD ar ry lM ay er sa ls od re ww el l, Peg 33 st ic ki ng in hi sh an d.

It wa ss et up ni ce ly,a nd al l ey es we re on th os es ix –i ft he y al lc au gh tw el l, it co ul db ea ti gh t fi ni sh .

Words and photos: SteveMartin

11:00

All in!

Lee Woodhouse is the first to get in on the action,fishing castersshallow to the pads to his right –it’sa good fishtoo, so he’simmediately made a statement of intent.

11:37

Des Shipp is starting to get into arhythm, targeting his far bank exclusively for small carp and F1s.

11:05

Martin Rogers opens his account with asmall carpondead reds fished tight over to asmall patch of mud bank in the reeds.

11:48

Darryl Mayers has started to plunder his left-hand edge, with F1s and barbel beginning to feed after aslowfirst 30 minutes.

12:05

Martin Rogers is finding his peg to be adifferent challenge from the day before, as he’s having to concentrate on his far edge, as the pads to his right are quiet.

14:50

Des Shipp is on the chargeand catching consistently from the far bank, despite the gustywind making fishing long achallenge for alot of the field.

12:20

Lee Woodhouse has also seen his pads line dryup, and so has switched to the reeds in front, where he’shaving agood run of fish.

13:05

It’sbeen aslowlast 30 minutes, with the lake seeming to switch off, but Des Shipp is certainly having the best of the action in his section.

13:30

It’sjust not happening for Geoff Edwards. He’swelloff the pace, having drawn the worst out of the top six.

14:15

There’splenty of banter going on between Rob Chapman (Peg 2) and young Jack Copp (Peg 3), with them having their ownhead-tohead match at the top of section A.

15:15

Almost halfway and Darryl Mayers’ edge has slowed, so he’s switched to the shallowmud line over to the island to tryand finda few better carp.

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