December 10, 2006

• Rockells Farm. Saffron Walden. Essex.

  Marsh AC. Christmas Match.
  

  

  Well after 10 weeks without wetting a line I had received an invitation to join Dave (TheFish) Collier and the members of Marsh AC on their Christmas match at Rockell’s Farm. I had heard some good reports about the venue and duly arranged to meet Dave at the services at junction 8 on the M11 at 7·30am.
  
  A heavy frost greeted me as I loaded the car, matching the 1st one of the year that had arrived on Saturday morning, and the drive up saw the temp refuse to rise above 0°C which didn’t bode well .
  
  Now Dave had only returned the previous day from a Caribbean Cruise so may have been disorientated, but even with his sat-nav managed to take the wrong turn out of the services and lead us back towards London .
  
  Arriving nearer to 8·30 than the planned 8am welcomes were soon exchanged with familiar faces amongst the others that had been invited including 4 of the lads from the GOT Baits Squad (Gary, Keith, Vic & Madd) and Terry Goff aka Wily Coyote (a fellow MD’er) .
  Therefore pegging was carried out in a bit of a rush prior to the draw, but a bit of misunderstanding ensued that put a spanner in the works, and although it was finally resolved, it did make things a bit rushed for the start of the match as peg numbers had to be shuffled.
  
  I ended up pegged between Keith and Madd, and just set up a pole to fish at around 6mtrs into around 4ft of water and down the left bank around 2½ft deep.
  Bait for the day was corn and pellet, though in hindsight i should have set up a bomb rod to fish to the island at around 30yds .
  
  The heavy frost had started to knock the colour out of the water, and for me it never happened, not a single bite .
  Keith and Madd however both managed to get among a few fish, Keith ending up in 1st place with 7 carp for 22½lbs  ………………………
  
  

  
  …………………..while Madd took 8 carp for 20¾lb and 2nd overall ……………………
  
  

  
  …………………..leaving me like a bit of Cod (Battered both sides ).
  
  A peg draw in the car park after the match saw everyone getting a prize and these were boosted by a generous donation of goodies from Trev and Gary of GOT Baits, ensuring that everyone went home with a prize .
  
  So not the best of days for me, but still great just to be back out on the bank in good company after a bit of a lay-off.
  Thanks again to the lads from Marsh AC, I look forward to fishing with you again, though hopefully I’ll put a few fish in the net next time .

  

  

   

  • 12:18 pm
  • Leave a comment