It was the same as usual on this match with the fish shoaled up in pockets at the top of the venue. Alan golden arm Parsons as he will now be known, as he has not drawn on the bottom of the section all season, and he drew well again on this one, but you still have to catch them.

Alan had a nice catch of Roach all on the punch on the one from end peg, Dave was just into the small section with no trees behind him and he also had mainly small Roach on both the punch and sqautt. I was 1 peg back from him and had all Roach on the punch.

The early section was very hard with Derek only having the odd couple of fish and Bob not having a bite. Brian Dart who you know lives on the Canal only had 2-4-0 from the lower end so it shows how hard it was.

Lets hope the fish spread out a bit more for the teams of 4 charity match, of which it is still not to late to sponsor me to build up the money for the Childrens Hospice.

Don

It was 2 below freezing when I left my house, so with a hard frost and a clear river we knew it was going to be hard, and it was, as you can see from the results.

Up until 12-00 I think I was the only one fishing of 12 who had a fish, the boys went and kindly left Dolphin Bridge in the bag, as I have what is left at the end of the draw, and you wont believe this, but guess who went and caught another P/B to mention a couple of times in the Newsletter, only me,it was a Chub of 6-2-0 and it was a cracker of a fish, I am waiting to see if Bob downloads a pic of it from his phone so I can put it on the web page.

I caught it on the stick in the deeper run on bronze maggot, I thought it was the Barbel I lost a few weeks ago at first when it shot off, Bob Hawes was on the opposite bank and was giving me stick as to why I did not swing it in, still he was happy as we share the prize money.

The rest of my weight was Roach and Perch with a few Dace on the waggler. Stuart had 3 minnows from peg 13 and Richard had 2 from peg 46, the only other people to bother the scales was Tony Carter and Barry Abbott who both had 1 minnow each, still Tony picked up the money for the mystery prize.

To show how hard it was, Martin Harper was on Peg 11 on the point and never had a bite, and this is after Kev Burroughs done the same in the last match, still, cant beat bad luck It also means that after 25 years of trying I have actually gone and won the King of The Colne, I will start writing my acceptance speech now for the A.G.M., also how many times it gets mentioned in the Newsletter depends on if I dont beat my Barbel P/B before the end of the season. Did I mention my new P/B Chub of 6-2-0.

Don

his was our usual match with the boys from Twyford Valley A.S , as you can see they had the best weight on the day with Roger catching on both the punch and bloodworm for his weight of Roach and Perch.

Brian fished similar tactics, as did Tony. The fish were tightly shoaled up at the top end of the venue with only ounces being caught on some sections at the bottom end, it was a good turnout of 34 fishing which is a very good number considering it was a canal match.

Don

We though it may be hard with the temperature at minus 1 when we got to the draw. Boy was we right, Barry had a single Chub for his weight from the mill pool, He was on waggler and maggot and also lost another fish on the feeder. They were his only bites of the day,

Stuart drew peg 27 which went in because of the high turnout and had a Chub at about 10, o clock and that was his only bite. Belinda was on dolphin bridge and had small bits through the day on the pole.

Kevin drew the flier on the point and virtually ran to the peg, but did not have a bite all day, he was not the only one, Bob was in the pub by 12 to watch the QPR game,

I stuck it out on the shooting tower for no bites, the only thing that fed in my swim was the robin in my bait box. 4th place was 0-8-0 and it went down hill from there, we were a bit surprised because as you can see on the news page we had put 1,000 fish above the weir, 1,000 just below and 700 on the bridge at riverside way, they obviously did not like the cold weather, heres hoping we catch a few on the next match.

Still we had the usual banter and munchies at the presentation after and the usual great spread from Noel and his team in the Dolphin, I am sure that was the only bites about 9 of us had on the day.

Don

With the canal like tap water at the lower end we decided to peg right up the top section near the marina, it did not make much difference as it was a real struggle with the fish coming in spurts through the day

Alan was mainly on the punch and had most of his fish late on in the match.

Bob fished the same tactics and again caught late, Kevin was on blood and joker and caught mainly Perch through the match with a few roach.

Belinds was unlucky not to frame with 3-12-0 of Roach on the punch, as I said it was a real struggle for the rest of us with a couple on 3 pound and the rest 2 or less.

Don

Terry only went and won the match from a different peg than 11, what a cheek, he was on 35, Derek walked past him and told him where the fish were, bet he wished he did not say a word now.

Terry had 2 Chub for his weight on the maggot and waggler.
Derek drew 46 which was in for the first time in a few years, he had Dace and Perch on and off on the feeder and waggler.

I drew peg 13 and Barry Abbott informed me that he had caught a few fish from there in the week.

I had some really nice Dace and big Perch on the waggler over in the slack, I was feeling a bit rough due to a bad chest, or a few lagers the night before, it depends what story you believe and went home around 11-30, it was nice of the boys to let me weigh in when I left.

The water was very low and clear so making it a hard day out, some of the better Chub pegs did not produce on the day, but at least with 4 KOC you can drop your worst result which is good because some of the boys will hope to drop this one

Don

Derek went and drew guess where, yep peg 11 on the point, it seems the only peg with any water at the moment, he never had any Chub until late on then landed 4 and Roach and Perch on the maggot and waggler.

Barry done well from a not so noted peg on 42, he had Roach and Dace then went over into a slack on the far bank and was picking up a lot of Perch on the worm.

I was in Dolphin bridge and I must of had 5 pound of my weight in the first one and a half hours then a big old pike decided to munch anything moving.

I also hooked what I think was the same Barbel as Steve a few weeks ago, it is a bit of a lump to say the least, if I draw the swim again I will be hoping to get it out for a certain P.B on the Barbel front.

Don

Brian done his usual on the arm and tanked the rest of us, he had fish throughout the day with most of them coming to caster, other areas only seemed to catch in patches with the fish moving off from the pegs.

Ian Randall from Twyford was on the punch most of the time and caught a lot of fish but smaller than Brians.

Alan was also on the punch and caught steady through the day.

It was good turnout with 20 fishing, the water was alive with fish but they just did not want to feed in certain areas, but it is still worth a visit for as good day out.
Kevin Burroughs was Brians partner and with him putting 4-10 -0 on the scales they won the pairs quite easily.

Don

It was the usual thing with us turning up on this venue, it had been nice all week with a heatwave, we get there and its the first frost on the ground, yet by 9-30 I was putting on the knacker lacquer to not get sun burnt.

Kevin was a bout 4 swims back from the Thame mouth and put in around 6 jaffa size balls of groundbait at about 13 metres and caught steady over that and down the inside on mainly maggot and bits of worm. Most of his fish were Roach with a few Perch thrown in.

Derek was just near the top of the tree swims and had his fish on the heavy stick with maggot, again it was mainly Roach.

Ross was down near the Thame mouth and very kindly fed the fish close in, well that was what it seemed like until I realised he had dropped his bait in, he managed to keep enough back to catch a few Roach steady on the pole to maggot and Caster, well what he had left of them.

Don

The river was the lowest we have seen it for some time and we knew it was going to be really hard in places, the lovely boys fishing went and left me peg 11 in the bag which was very nice of them.

I had 3 Chub for 14-6-0 and the rest was Roach, Dace and a few Perch on the waggler and maggot, the river was so slow that when the wind blew upstream the float stopped dead and I had to wind in to get it moving.
I lost 2 fish, but 1 I caught later still had my hook in it so it proves they keep munching even after being hooked.

Steve was on Dolphin bridge and had all bits for his weight, he spent half an hour playing a big Barbel on the pole but when he went to land it, it would not fit in his net, it then decided to go around some reeds and came off, you cant beat bad luck.

Derek was on the shooting tower and had 2 Chub and a few bits on the waggler.
Other swims produced a few fish early on then when the sun hit the water they dried up, so you relly had to be on a chub swim or a deeper swim to pick a few off.

Derek is in talks with the E/A to try and sort out the water levels so we hope to get flow monitors placed very soon and some action to see where the waters is going..

Don

This was a bit of a let down as only 4 of us turned out to fish this one, I was 4th with 2-3-0 so you can see how hard it fished.

Brian went down past the mouth of the Ray and had a Chub of around 3 pound and a Bream about the same, and bits, a lot of fish to maggot with some coming to the hemp late on.

Bob was in the tunnel above the railway bridge and had bits on the maggot and waggler, Derek was on the shallows and fished likewise. The water had a bit of colour on it but the fish just did not seemed interested in feeding with a few fish coming along then waiting a long time for another bite, no Chub showed above the bridge and it turned into a bit of a struggle as the day went on, still Brian kept the caravaners amused with his rucksack on his back he looked like he was trying to camp in the field rather than fishing, then he tells me he got stung a bit on the nettles, that usually happens when you wear shorts to walk through them, I told you fisherman were not daft.

Don

We fished our usual invitation match with Twyford A.S. on the Pats, it was low and a lot clearer than recent years and proved to be very hard on the day.

Brian had a nearly all Roach and Dace catch with a few small Perch on the waggler with maggot. he lost what he thought was a big Chub early on but hat was the only decent fish he had all day.

Willy managed to snaffle a chub of approx 5-0-0 and a few small bits to make up his weight, and Jim from Twyford was 3rd with 6-6-0 of bits.

Most of the guys fishing all seemed to have a few fish early then for some reason the bites really dried up and you were waiting for a long time between bites, the water looked smack on and you were just waiting for the fish to turn on a bit but it was not to be, so heres hoping we can get better luck next year with the levels.

Thanks to John Green and the Twyford boys for the day on the water.

Don

John plonked down in the willows and had 2 Carp and 2 bream all of a similar size, he was on the feeder with red maggot on the hook, he also lost another 3 fish.

I was on the road bank and had 2 Carp, one that went 10-4-0 which I was lucky to get in as I was putting my other gear away with 9 minutes exactly to go when the rod decided to head off into the lake, luckily I managed to land it, I was on the dummy red casters, which if you put 3 on a size 12 hook lifts them just about 1 inch off the bottom.

Martin was on the road bank but moved back into the bay opposite the island after seeing a few fish bubbling, he had one of 9-9-0 first put in then lost 2 animals who wanted to see Wally on the other side of the island, Martin said he was on red hydro and that got bottomed out so they were big fish.

I am getting some members asking about the weed in some swims, you can drag your swim if needed, and also look for the deeper areas mainly along the bank and you should be ok.

If you need any info re swims etc, give me ring and I will explain where to go.

Don

I was not on this match so report is from Martin.

It was a case of drawing on the wider sections as the Carp were right tight against the far bank and if you did not land your bait a foot off of it you never got a bite.

Kev was on a wider bit and had 17 Carp on the pellet waggler. Steve had 6 on the same method and also one Carp of 14 pound close in on the paste and 15 pound of Roach on Caster.

Robbie had 5 Carp and nearly 20 pound of Roach on caster and small bits of worm.
He also tried to weigh in a squirell, well that's what Martin was thinking as Rob was up the bushes on the far side so much.

John Barnes was nicknamed tarzan for the day as he also was up the trees more than catching fish.
It did not fish as good as expected for the silver fish but heres hoping they spread out a bit for our next match on the venue in September.

Don

It was a bit of a disappointing turnout of 6 on this one due to holidays and other commitments, but they missed a good day on the venue.

Brian went along the road bank to the swim he won from previously and went and gave us another tanking on the method, I dont know who has been giving him tips but it needs to stop.

He caught 7 Carp and 2 Bream, his Bream went 14-0-0 so he was close to winning it with just them 2 fish, he had fish on both the pellet and sweetcorn with the bait buried in the groundbait, he also lost a couple of good fish.

Brians weight is a new match record for the lake, but I feel it can be beaten if you can get all the fish in as they do seem to fly off a bit in this lake. Well done Brian it was nice to see a good bag of fish from the lake.

I was second with 2 fish, the first was a Carp, and the second was ( wait for it ) another PB for me, a Tench of 8-8-0,is that another PB for Don from Wraysbury I hear you ask, I wonder if that will get a mention in the next Newsletter, as it does not usually, yea right.

I may just remind members that I caught it on the method at the back of the small island in the newsletter, I did not have a bite until 2-30 then went and lost another big fish after catching the 2 I did, the bait was little red pellets.
Bob had a great day on the waggler in the middle swim on the willows, he had Perch shoaled up in front of him with a couple of decent Roach as well, he was fishing wagg and magg about 3 rod lengths out about 18 inches deep, he also lost 2 Carp with one staightening the hook out, so it just goes to show you can catch on so many different methods on this venue and it is producing in a lot of areas, so get down and give it a go.

If you want info on baits, methods etc feel free to give me ring and I will pass any info on.

Don

This was a bit of a struggle as the river had very little flow and it was a near impossible task to get through the bleak in some areas.

Martin was a couple of swims up from the Thame mouth and had around the 180 fish mark, obviously they were pretty small but he had them all day on the maggot over hemp.

Derek and Kevin both had the same weight and had a better stamp of fish with Kev on the pole and Derek fishing a heavy float of about 4 grams to get through the bleak, they were again mainly on the maggot.

The back up weight went from me in 4th with 5-8-0 down to Graham with 1-8-0, but he did not mind as he got the mystery weight with that.

Don

It was no surprise Robbie won this match as he seems to be fishing it most weekends in opens, there was an open at the other end of the lake, but lo and behold Robbie decided as Martin pointed out to him to rob us and show us how to do it.

This can be a frustrating venue as you have to decide to go for the bigger fish as Robbie started doing or go for the Roach from the off.

Robs weight was 5 good Bream and some decent Roach later on in the match to caster.
Kevins weight was nearly all Roach on the tares, it was nice to see Kev on the bank again after the birth of his second little boy, they boys are affectionally known as the tetley tea folk, as there names are Stanley and Sidney, nice to see you back on the bank Kev and that the little one and the wife are well.
Richard had 4 good Bream and a few bits for his weight.

There was a lot of back up weights in double figures with good bags of Roach from most pegs, the good thing about this venue is that it is not an out and out Carp venue, I think will be looking at a few more matches on here for next season.

Don

Martin started by having a few skimmers on the worm, he had fed a line next to an island hoping for bigger fish, he was not disappointed when he went over the top of it on sweetcorn, except he forgot he was on the light elastic which was about a number 5, so it was a little while before he got the carp in the net with a fair bit of elastic shooting around the lake.

He done well to get that one in, then went over again with proper gear and added another to his weight.
Richard had a lot of smaller carp and a few skimmers.

Stuarts weight was boosted by a nice Perch of around the 2 pound mark and a roach that was not far off a pound and a half.

The lake itself fished a bit iffy with a most of us having a few fish but they were very finnicky to a lot of the baits, Barry was picking up fish on the meat next to me, but I could not buy a bite on it, I only seemed to get fish on the corn or red maggot, Wally had a lovely family of coots keeping him company for most of the day, they seemed very pleased he was feeding them, after they had dived down for his bait and eaten it.

Don

Bob dropped in to the tunnel above the railway bridge and fished the waggler with red maggot for 4 Chub and Roach and Dace, he then went on the straight lead down the middle and had a Bream of around the 3 pound mark.

The flow was spot on for how Bob fished the stretch and it was nice to see a little bit of colour in the water.
Derek went to his normal shallows swim but it had grown over really badly since we had done the work party, he then done his one man work party but it was still only a small channel he was able to fish, he had 3 Chub and Roach and Dace on the Maggot and Caster.

Martin bucked the trend and walked down to the mouth of the river Ray, he caught steady through the morning, mainly Roach and Dace, then when the sun hit the water his swim died off, it would have been a bit closer at the end if he carried on catching at that rate all day.

It was a good day out for most of us, with a lot of swims producing bags of Roach and Dace, so if trotting the stick or the wag is your idea of fun get your Bum down to this bit of river and you wont be disappointed.

Don

We should ban Darty as he came with us instead of Twyford and put us to shame fishing the method feeder, he only brought a feeder the week before and had to be shown how to fish it as he is usually sitting on the arm.

All joking aside he was down there practising in the week before and had 8 Carp on the pellet waggler, this time he dropped in to peg 6 and fished a method feeder with small boilies on the hook for 4 Carp.

Stuart was on the peg next to him and had 3 Carp fishing the same method, I went around to the bay before the willow trees, normally I would be casting 30 to 40 yards out but the fish were all swimming about in the weed 10 yards out so i dropped a method feeder with pop up corn in to the weed and let them find the bait. it worked 5 times and it was a good laugh when they went around the corner into the bay, one I had to virtually skim across the top of the water to get it back, 2 of them did not want to come back.

Josh went onto the island and had I Carp on the floaters and also one eel on the bottom for 10-4-0, he also lost 4 others.

There are a lot of fish being caught here at the moment, nice easy fishing along the road bank and in the willows, as I said you dont need to go out miles, Brian and Stuart were only fishing just off the shallow bar in there swims which is a little lob out. So get down there and catch a few fish.

Don

It was the usual thing when we start our matches for the year, this venue fishes best with a ripple on the water and overcast, what did we get, 32 degrees and looking like a mirror.

Jack was the only one to hook any Carp, and his weight was split between Carp and a few decent bream, all to small bits of red dyed luncheon meat.

Robbie was on the end peg and had mainly skimmers with a few roach on various baits.

Martin had a load of small fish on the waggler and maggot, there were some good bags of roach caught on the caster but a lot of the boys went for them late on in the match.

We are down there again at the end of the month so heres hoping for a bit of a breeze on the water, and if guys go for them, a few better bags of smaller fish

Don