Two pleasure days and Alders Farm Ash match

Being a man of leisure at present, I am fortunate to be able to go fishing a couple of times a week, fishing where I want and when. My first stop was a trip to Meadowlands Fishery near Coventry, one of the best fisheries i the country and fast becoming a favourite of mine. Vic is in the same position as I, so we quite often team up and arrange where to go next.
Arriving at the fishery we happily paid our peg fee and purchased the fishery 8mms needed for fishing the bomb and pellet waggler, which was our aim. In fairness a sneaky trip out practising for Viaduct fishery at the end of the month.
We slotted into pegs 9 and 10, Vic on 9 and me on 10. I was going to start off on the waggler, fishing 2ft deep with a 8mm fishery pellet on the hook. I also set up a pole line on top three, where I would be dripping in 3 or 4 pellets every ten minutes or so. Vic was also going to start on the waggler, switching to the bomb as the session progressed.
Pinging into a left to right breeze was fine, two pouches containing 4 in each to the desired spot, cast, twitch reel in  and repeat. On the third go the float goes and fish on, did not even get to the twitch. A nice common around 5lb, Out again and within 10 minutes fish number two was on and soon in the net. My third fish shed the hook halfway back making it 2-1. Back out again and again on the cast the float goes again. 3-1 to me, happy days!!! Only been here 45 minutes and getting them going well.
Vic was also catching on the waggler before pulling out of a fish and snapping the tip off his Maver Powerlite 11ft Pellet Waggler rod (in case anyone has a spare tip section). A move to the bomb for him proved a pivotal decision. Slowly catching fish on 8mm pellets, fishing over the PW line.
After a couple of hours I dropped in on the pole line and had 4 fish in four drop ins, unfortunately losing them all. How did we fish before we had puller kits?
Back on the waggler and we were both catching well, the breeze had completely changed around now going right to left and as long as there was not too much of a bow I was still getting bites and plenty of fish.
At the all out we had both had 20 plus fish to 12lb, no monsters but all in pristine condition.

Alders Farm Ash Lake 07.07.2020

I had booked into my first open match at Alders Farm since the lockdown, I enjoy the Tuesday matches, a great bunch of lads and a good giggle. I got there nice and early to familiarise myself with the new rules and how the matches were to work.
There were plenty of people there, before me as i drove into the car park, a socially distanced queue outside the door for bait and day tickets. All seemed well and organised.
Loading the gear onto the barrow and wheeling it to the net dip before holding onto it as I descended down the hill. A cup of tea in the cafe before the draw. Peg 25 for me, not ideal for me, it is simply too shallow for the way I fish. We had 18 anglers on the match and the usual moans and groans bellowed around the draw.Plumbing up I found 2ft at 12.5m, less than a foot at 5m and less than 9inches close in to the bank.
I decided to use a couple of my new floats, one for fishing in the edge, mud line, and the other a margin pattern with most of the shotting below the float, a slim line float was being used on the 12.5m line. Bait would be 6mm pellets feeding fishery 4mms with maggot as a change bait late on.
For company on our bank we had, Stefan, Richard and Colin before going round to Trevor,Nick and Lee on the dam wall bank.
I started off alright catching and landing my first 5 fish in the first hour, no losses, before the line went a bit iffy. No bites. A look to the 12.5m line and a couple of small bites but nothing positive. Colin was catching at 5m, Richard was giving the pellet waggler a go. My fish were a good stamp, just not enough of them. In hindsight I think they were probably hanging off the feed.
A look down both sides saw me nick a couple more on maggot, but it was a struggle for us all on our bank. Stefan was getting a few down his edge towards 27 now and I suspected he would overtake me, as it proved in the end.
My 59lb 10oz getting me a thanks for coming whilst Stefan put 64lb on the scales. Dan Twine winning from peg 30 with 240lb with Nick Dean second from peg 8 and 145lb.

Toft Lake 13.07.2020

Another pleasure day out at another well looked after fishery, Toft Lakes near Rugby. I had been here before with a variety of people as it offers plenty of choice, method, bomb, pole and waggler all have there day. Personally I opt for the pole most times. The fish run to a good size, mainly mirrors with odd commons thrown in.
I got there nice and early, and settled into peg 7 in the open water, an area of the lake I had never visited before. I normally fish on both sides of the island. But I fancied a change. Vic and his son in law Paul were soon settling into the next couple of pegs for a social and a spot of fishing.
Opting to fish 2 lines today, 2 plus 2 and to the side where yet again I had very little water to play in. Setting the float to 9inches did not leave me too enthused on my choice of swim. However I had 5ft on the 2 plus 2 line so would concentrate there. Using one of my .5g diamonds I left a bit of bristle to show bites better, .19 N Guage to a size 14 B911X. Having fed a half pot of 4mms with a few 8mms and a dozen grains of corn, I was soon in play, after what I thought was drift on the float, I struck and red hydro came out nice and smooth. A good carp around 8lb to get me under way. I was just tripping bottom and there was a fair bit of tow on the water. Fish two was soon in the net, before a couple of foul hookers, no more bites followed, despite lifting and dropping an 8mm pellet. I re-fed the line via a cupping cut and this sparked an instant response with another couple of fish coming. Vic was soon into fish and suffering as I was, catch a couple in the mouth, a few foul hookers and a couple of fish being pulled out of.

It seems that this phenomena is happening at a lot of venues recently., may also be how I am feeding.
Still it was a pleasure session and trying to iron out a few kinks, We both caught plenty of fish to low doubles to keep us occupied throughout our time there. Paul was not so lucky.

Nice time out is at Alders Farm tomorrow on Pines Lake, my favourite lake. Please be kind drawbag.