It is somewhat significant of the day that nearly 50% of those that fished never weighed in yet the overcast weather, light winds and the fact that the carp had finished spawning a week before should have meant a decent match.  What is it with Clattercote that some pegs seem to be totally devoid of fish, mine being one of them, could it be the fact that it is a match with an angler on every peg?  Is it significant that those that have gone for a practice in the weeks before a match all seem to catch well and not just in one area either? 

Not so much as an enquiry did I have yet I was was fishing next to Scott who started catching skimmers right from the off and using the same bait, Sweetcorn tipped with red maggot, even a single red maggot failed to tempt a twitch.  I know I can catch fish if they are there and no doubt the other DNW's feel the same including guys like Barney who is usually in the shake-up at the end but it sure is a bit of a mystery venue.

excuses excuses    

A case of mistaken identity I think Graham! I don't remember donating a video!!!!

Graham, not sure really.It is certainly a bit enigmatic.If you do a search on the web you will find Steve Ringer saying that whilst Clattercote is one of his favourite places 9 times out of 10 it fishes hard in a match. I presume this  is due to the disturbance on the bank but if that is the case why can you catch fish under your feet if your are pegged at the boards?

I had 3 carp and a tench but that came after casting the feeder and bag wag every 2/3 minutes for 6 hours in  roughly the same area at about 50 yards.I think whatever method you choose you need to be active and just keep the bait going like clockwork so as to stand a chance of getting the fish in front of you as Steve showed .This seems easier when it is quiet but much harder in a match.When the fish do arrive it seems they are then easy to catch and are not especially tackle shy or bait selective.It is hard though to keep going through the motions when you have not had a sniff for hours on end.

It is still a great day though.

Steve King wrote (see)

A case of mistaken identity I think Graham! I don't remember donating a video!!!!

Sorry Steve!

Will the person responsible please step forward and admit it then

The only downside of fishing the match is that you can't wander round to see what everyone else is doing both successfully and unsuccessfully.

Would be very interesting if "Top 10" would consider short article on what they tried and what worked and what didn't.  I found the "teach-in" to be really helpful and am sure there is lots of other good info out there.

Not sure I coud teach anyone very much but I started off with a plan to fish the pellet method feeder where you use moulded dampened 2 mm pellets around the feeder.I got a bit side tracked by the bailiff catching a lot of fish that morning on the sinking bagging waggler and had a go with that for the first 45 minutes minus about 20 sorting out a birds next on the reel but using dampened pellets on the basis that if it did not work then at least they would be feeding the peg.

That did not work so I swapped over to the method at the same range to in theory fish over the feed from the waggler.I had clipped up so knew I was at the same range.

I had another go with the waggler for about 45 minutes in the middle of the match because I think sometimes carp can be attracted by the bait comimng off the method feeder when it sinks, if indeed it does not all come off on the way down, in deeper water.I have had fish take the method feeder on the drop here before.That did not work so I went back to the method.

Had all my fish on mini white shell fish boilies.Not a touch on dead reds which I had caught on ealrier in the week.

I then alternated between pellets and normal method mix because I was not happy that the pellets were staying around the feeder on what was a a fairly deep swim.All my bites had very much come out of the blue with no preliminary twitches which indicate the fish digging into the ball of bait and this may have been because there was no ball around it.That said i think all my fish came on the pellet feeder.

I just kept the feeder going as accurately as I could every 2 to 3 minutes checking my watch.My casting went a bit as the wind got up and I was not keeping it as tight as I needed to.In hindsight what i should have done was swap over to some cage feeders designed for windy days especially as the method was not really working as it should and the bait may have been coming off on the way down.

If i had been at the top I would have fished the same way but fed the margins by the boards from the off and have dropped in every half hour or so after 3 hours to see if I had any fish.

6 hours of misery incarnate!

Nursing a busted tendon and having to walk to the penultimate peg (my thanks to Kevin for helping the last few yards and others that offered). Then having no clamps (same as last year) to attach banksticks to and no hole to put the brolly into I think a swift and curt letter to my friend John Ellis is on the cards!

And to put the crown top on it, Granville didn't bring his camera along for me to play with and that is why you don't have any great pictures to go with the results feature! Serves you right, Granville!

All  that for one tench and I hardly realised that was on. I was listening to the MP3 player that had just started on Nessum Dorma and closed my eyes trying to think who was singing it (came off a collection album) and said cheeky tench tried to rip the pole out of my hands.

I was going to try the method feeder, but lost heart after two hours and I could see that clever-clogs-I'm-baggin'-up Maidment had a shed full of tench in the back section that couldn't find their way to me and Steve King because of some grills they've built in.

So at 4:30 I was pleased to be able to pack up, go home and bathe my sore tendon. Been appying Emu Oil on it since that Granville gave me some years ago with the warning "Don't get it on yer c*ck, it works better than Viagra!" and that's a load of old pony as well!

Nice to see some old faces there as always and looking older by the year.

Sorry to hear you had a bad time Jeff, but you know you're at your happiest when your moaning

Tactically I decided to stick to the usual banker method (The Method) and just kept casting and feeding. I used Sonu's Mix 1 on the feeder, dead maggot on the hook for a couple of fish and sweetcorn for the other 4.

Obviously, the sinking bagging waggler was the best choice, but I couldn't choose that as I didn't know about it until the end of the match.

I did say, Nigel, "(my thanks to Kevin for helping the last few yards and others that offered)" and that includes your good self. Yes, I am bl.... stubborn and realise that many people would rather be setting up their tackle ready for the off than walking a stupid cretinous old t**t with a limp to his peg!

. 

"Sorry to hear you had a bad time Jeff, but you know you're at your happiest when your moaning"

You're probably right Graham and a few months from now I'll be saying how enjoyable it was. Just now I'm in my element having a good old moan. 

I enjoyed the day - but not, as they say, "thoroughly": Clattercote is certainly not an easy water, the weights reported (best 160lb I think) give that impression but the reality is otherwise. I fished the method for the first time ever and had not a twitch, both my fish (a tench and a carp) coming from just off the corner of my platform. Having said that, had my casting been more consistent I may have encouraged something to feed on the preferred method.

I was very impressed with Neil Maidment's approach and I think all those who put together good bags of tench and silver fish deserve a round of applause - well done.

I lost one fish to the boards and was amazed at the damage wood can do to 10lb mono!

By the way it was me donated the video - hope you enjoy it Steve, and thanks for the Pork Scratchings!

It's not everybody who would donate a video like that John.

Most would have binned it

I was quite happy with the longest walk to the top end peg as I had fished up there a couple of times last year.  My only gripe was with the bloke to my left who was plugged into his music and "singing" rather loudly to himself.  Miserable old bugger but I know he was really happy anyway!

Knew the peg was much shallower than further down the lake and in fact it gets shallower out towards the islands.  The deepest area is under your feet and out about 25 yards.  Started off with the method feeder with Crazy Bait Marine Method Mix, mixed up the previous night and sieved when I got to the peg.  Had a small tench on corn within 20 mins and then lost a decent carp shortly after.  That was enough for me to stay with the method for about 3.5 hours which turned out to be three hours too long!  Not another touch!

I had kept feeding hemp/caster in front of me at about 6mtrs and to my right alongside the boards.  From that peg all the way round the corner to the next peg, the boards are  "netted off" which certainly stops the fish immediately bolting under.  However they can still go under the platform you're sat on and into the jungle behind.  After the first 3.5 hours I had a dip with the pole in front and immediately had a tench of about 2lbs on caster.  I then basically switched between that line and the "boards" with the occasional "look" on the feeder.  I ended up with 9 tench and 1 small carp on the pole switching between caster/maggot/corn on a #16 solid elastic.  Lost about 4 fish to the boards (probably tench) and 2 others (definately carp).

Far better result than last years DNW!