********SPECIAL REPORT******** GARBOLINO CLUB ANGLER, Tunnel Barn Farm Qualifier, 20/5/15

Having performed well enough throughout 2014, I again had the privilege of representing the club at this year's Garbo Club Angler. Jamie Pickup was the other rep, but had to cry off at the last minute. With a mere 24 hours notice, Nicky Harrop stepped in to ensure the space wasn't wasted.
With Tony Wilson and Chris Roe having tickets through Poulton Vics we would have a few heads at the planning table on Tuesday evening.
Nick, Tony and I arrived in Warwick at 8.30am and had breakfast at a toby carvery. TBF have a café but tend to close pretty sharpish around 9am so we took no chances. We received our usual warm welcome from owner Mike and manager Les upon arrival at the venue, and were advised to try Top pool, which offered some protection from the wind.
We decided to fish from 10.30 till 2pm and then evaluate. Showing Tony the ropes as this was his first visit to TBF, he was a bit surprised when I told him to just get top kits out of the bag. Unusually though, his peg was super shallow close in so a further 2 sections were needed to reach the recommended 3 feet depth. My standard corn n hemp tactic would be a starting point.
Amazingly I too started on a top kit with corn and was into fish straight away, F1s averaging a pound and a half. A slow first 20 minutes had Tony scratching his head and doubting the advice. Once he had his first bite he settled into a rhythm and couldn't contain his excitement at the quality and ease of the fishing. Nick had a bit of previous at the venue, and he too caught F1s with monotonous regularity.
Although we used our nets, which is allowed at TBF, we hadn't taken any scales. At the agreed 2pm we took a look at the contents and estimated that Tony and I had about 80lb, with Nick close behind with 60. We then made the decision to turn our seatboxes round to fish the adjacent High pool for a few hours to see if that was any different.
After half an hour of the session (2.30 till 6) it was apparent that the corn would again work, but might not be the most effective approach as the fish were of a smaller stamp, and seemed to be up in the water. Nick and I stubbornly stuck to the plan while Tony went onto caster shallow at 5 metres. He subsequently 'emptied it'. Or that was the impression. When it came to emptying the nets, similar result were evident compared to Top pool, but we'd had a lot more fish for the weight.
Tuesday night we went for an Indian and then met Chris in the alehouse. Tony was trying his best to convince him that corn was best, fished short, but the rest of us were pretty sure of what we wanted to do.
Match day morning, and following breakfast we arrived at Tunnel. Only 166 entrants this year, so just a knock-up really :-) Spread over 8 lakes, there were to be 19 qualifying spaces up for grabs, which basically meant 2 from each lake. Tony and Nick drew on New pool, both on good looking pegs, while Chris and I also drew together on Club pool. It could be won from anywhere but Club was one of the more favoured lakes, although its not actually one of my favourites.
Again, readers will probably think I'm talking bollox when I say it proved to be a challenge. Most of the lakes are predominately F1s, whereas there are a lot more 'proper' carp in Club. The dilemma throughout the match was... feed for F1s or feed for carp? " 2 hours in, and things were slow on hemp and corn, with those around me catching 2 to my one. Decision time. Adding a number four, I plumbed up down my peg, at an angle about 6 feet off the bank. I was going down my Lingmere route of micros with a 4mm expander. What a transformation! I started to claw my way back into contention for the section (£50 for 5 pegs). With a decent amount of carp showing I decided to fill the margins in and hope for a strong finish with some big carp. Big mistake more like, as every time I looked, after a length of time, all I could get was an F1. I just kept going back on the pellet line and catching steadily.
When the scales came round, which was pretty sharpish for a match of it's size, I thought I'd done about 85lb and maybe enough for 2nd in section and 2nd on the lake, which would mean qualification for the final. As usual my estimation was a little out, and I managed 113lb 14oz. The two anglers who I thought may have beaten me weighed 93 and 84 respectively. Job done, I'd won £50 and qualified.
Chris had weighed 50lb for nowhere, while Nicky also finished unplaced with his level 60lb. A great day's match fishing nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Tony too had enjoyed a great day, while demonstrating remarkable restraint. His peg looked a dolly with features galore. The temptation to use the entire pole was resisted, and sticking to the top kit plan, he brought 93lb 10oz to the scales. At the time, the magazine photographer told him to keep some fish in a net, which got Tony excited. Soon after he told him to tip them back as someone had done 113lb. Tony's first thought was ..."I bet it's that feckn Gnome!" He did, however, win his section and the lake.
At the car park, we had a burger and stood around for ages waiting for the result. All the section winners were announced and paid, and Tony and I never got a mention...... Hang on, we must be in the main frame. Tony was just pipped by 4oz and had to settle for a brilliant 3rd place and a consolation £200, while, incredibly, I had somehow won it again. I felt embarrassed for a moment but the £300 in the envelope ended those feelings and, as they say, I was over the moon. So, get your fingers out this year, someone else deserves to have this experience, bring it on fellas.

LINGMERE, 17/5/15 ~ It's ton-up Gnome, at the double

Guess what? Yep, it was windy at Lingmere. No, honestly. Once again a healthy breeze put a nice ripple on the water. Conditions always seem to have a major bearing on your approach at Lingmere, with good intentions going out of the window once the draw has been made. As usual, we had received the Saturday night text telling us how great it had fished on the open match, with a 3 figure winning weight, and 90lb only good enough for third.
This time however, it maintained it's form on our match too, with everyone doing over 25lb. Good fishing by any standards.
The Gnome followed up last week's win with another success, this time cracking the ton with an impressive 108lb 02oz. Here's a bit of a shocker, maggot shallow accounted for about 40lb, while the more usual pellet short completed the job.
Runner up was The Wriggler. Using the habitual feeder, he put fish in the net on a regular basis. The turning point for Dirk was one wayward cast too many. With feeder stuck in island rushes, he pulled for a break and got one, as his brand new feeder rod ended up in two halves. Forced onto the pole, he discovered why there have been some decent weights from the area recently, as the margin was solid. 62lb 06oz added to the list of good catches, and meant another frame for Dirk.
Laughin Boy Brislen completed the frame with a stylish 55lb 14oz from an average peg, while his chauffeur, Neil Paterson ensured a singalong in the car on the way home, by winning his section yet again, this time with another remarkable 54lb 10oz. Big pats on the back for both, I can hear it now....."The wheels on the bus......."
Continuing the trend on the day, the other section winners all had top quality weights. Congratulations to Dennis Jones with 46lb, Spadger with 42lb 12oz, and particularly Les Thompson who, after last week's defection to the PS gang, came back with a bang and his 50lb 10oz guaranteed household harmony due to the brown envelope going straight into Mrs T's handbag.

HAMPTON, Willow, 10/5/15 ~ Gnome by name, Gnome by nature.

Our first visit to Hampton on the Willow pool for about 12 months, and there seemed to have been some changes. Extensive weed growth made a few pegs unavailable, and some bankside shrubbery ruled out certain margin options on other pegs. However, some things stayed the same. The 2oz razor blade skimmers have been replaced by hoardes of miniscule gudgeon, which proved a real problem to many in the opening throws of the match. Like all the other lakes at Hampton, this one had received a decent stocking of 5oz F1s. Trying to be subtle enough to catch them whilst avoiding the gudgeon was a headache.
At the weigh-in, and with the fishery wanting fish under 2lb in one keepnet, and those over 2lb in another, most people basically had a net with carp in, and the other was virtually empty, save a few of the nuisance gudgeon.
The Gnome, however, had lived up to his name, and fished a top kit out in front, and had somehow managed to avoid the bits in the shallower water. He also found the F1s in feeding mode, and put 18lb of them into the "smalls" net. Adding on his better carp from the margins, 66lb 03oz was enough for victory.
Like most, Colin Cook had struggled for the first hour before a switch to pellet shallow at 14metres brought a change in fortunes. Proper carp went into the net at regular intervals until the breeze increased, and his rig ended up in an overhanging bush. That signalled the end of that approach, and also his chances of winning. He did, however, have enough for an honourable second, with 55lb 12oz.
Dirk Wriggler caught decent carp steadily throughout the contest on a method feeder to the island, and set up the chance to win the match. A slow final hour, when he failed to make the margins produce, ultimately left him in third place with 52lb 05oz. Still an excellent effort, and a good day's sport.
The obvious margin peg in The Entertainment Manager's peg was obscured by a newly grown bush,  but Gary Brislen still made a good fist of it and won a section with 40lb 07oz.  Despite everyone saying he caught on the tip, John Edwards insisted that half his weight came to pole-fished corn at 5 metres. Whatever, 38lb 04oz was the result, and a section win for Sumo too.
Lee Pickup made good use of a decent draw with a section winning 35lb 05oz so well done to him.
The Man of the match went to the final section winner. Following on from last week's DNW (just for a change), when he moaned about a lack of bites, moans galore for the initial hour this week signalled that those pesky gudgeon where apparently all over his peg, and he was getting too many bites?????? The Jolly Green Giant adapted to his peg though and soon figured out how to get to the carp. By the end, and in buoyant mood for a change, Neil Paterson found out what it's like to weigh in, and put a magnificent 51lb 10oz on the scales. The brown envelope will go alongside the successful rig on his mantelpiece. According to the big fella, every rig winder in his box has "crap" written on it. Now he's got to learn how to spell "good" to write on the winder for this one.

LLOYDS, Badger, 3/5/15 ~ Steve performs a miracle after "only staying for two hours"

Heavy overnight rain threatened to put a dampener on proceedings, but, fortunately, the all-in signalled an end to the showers, and the match was fished in dry, warm conditions.
At the draw, conversation was pretty standard, with comments about where you wanted to be and where would be devoid of fish. Apparently the right hand straight as you walk down from the car park had absolutely no fish in it whatsoever, despite it producing a runaway winner on our last visit.
Sitting pre-match on one of the aforementioned pegs was Steve Coleman. Quote: "I'll give it two hours and then I'm off". As usual, we all seem to forget that fish can actually swim, and they seem to have swam into his peg!
Reaching the two hours mark, and again in typical fashion, those nearby were exaggerating the fact that Steve was catching, Quote: "he must have a ton already". As Cookie Monster and I did the walk of shame, I can only assume that Steve decided to stay the full distance, otherwise it was some performance to weigh 77lb 12oz in 2 hours. Still an excellent job by Steve, however long he fished.
Following last week's early bath, Lee Pickup got back on the horse, and back up to his usual standard, with an impressive display. Pegged round the back, only a select few would have seen it, but a final tally of 51lb 07oz indicates that he put in a solid effort. Well done Lee.
The bronze medal went to Laughin Boy Brislen who, pegged next to the winner, managed to nick a few of the stragglers off Steve and put 42lb 09oz on the scales. Another consistent try by Gary.
Some decent returns from the section winners, but others which indicate how erratic the level of sport was. Decent weights for both Dennis Jones with 33lb 15oz, and Col Cook with 36lb 15oz. Whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Ken Pickup's 15lb 05oz, and Nicky Harrop's 11lb 06oz show the other side of the coin, pretty dismal. As they say, That's match fishing.