Recieved the sad news today that Haydn Borthwick had passed peacefully away
 after losing his battle with cancer.

I’m going fishing said he with a faraway look in his eyes
He was already at the lake, with the gentle splash of the water
Lapping against the reeds.

I’ll get a fish for you he said, I may even catch a carp
And then I can really talk and tell a fantastic tale.
But I had a look And I could see it just wasn’t meant to be.
He was asleep in a world of his own. It was only a dream.

 Haydn was always a character on the Maggotdrowning.com fish-ins and Maggotdrowning matches. A true pleasure angler he staunchly stuck to  his rods and reels while all around him used poles. He was just happy to cast a float out and catch a fish whilst everyone else was still pratting about with their poles and a mountain of gear, as he put it.

He’ll be sorely missed by those that had the pleasure to meet and fish with him 

Rest in Peace Fella.

After yesterdays trip to Monk Lakes with the lads I had a pint of maggots to use up.

Well to be honest I’d forgotten them the day before and left them in the fridge .

The weather today had definitely taken a turn for the worst, with a drop in temperature, rain and a fair bit more wind . I was in two minds whether to go but had the car loaded and set off around 10·30am. The venue today was to be Hartleylands Farm, with The Reservoir and 6 other lakes and ponds there is always somewhere on the fishery where you can tuck yourself away from the worst of the weather and catch a few fish .

Arriving at around noon I had a look round and decided to fish Nick’s lake, settling on peg 35 for no other reason than it was only 10 yards from the car, meaning I could leave the rod bag and carryall in the car and save them getting soaked .

Just the 1 top kit with white Hydro was set up allowing me to fish at the bottom of the shelf about 5 feet from the bank into around 3ft of water. In summer the fish will come in closer on top of the shelf, but with the fall in water temp and a bit of colour dropping out I didn’t feel it would be a goer.

The main line would be to my left at around 10mtrs with a throwaway straight in front just fishing the top 2. A pinch of maggot, fed every few minutes with double maggot on an 18 completed the picture for the session.

A quick chat with Dave on the phone revealed that those on the MD’s Fur & Feather up at Lindholme were experiencing even colder and windier conditions.

Sport was pretty continuous throughout the session, I rarely had to wait more than 60 seconds for a bite, with a succession of Roach, Rudd and Skimmers coming to hand interspersed with the odd pastie Carp. Every time i tried the top 2 line it was a bite every 5 seconds from the hordes of Pongo’s that had settled in…………

With the light starting to fade and the weather closing in once more it was time for just one last put in down the left hand side.
Sure enough the float slid away once more, only this time there was rather a lot of white Hydro streaming out!!!!!
A couple of minutes later the culprit surfaced and showed itself as it slid into the waiting landing net……..

an absolutely glorious Mirror of around 6lbs+, the perfect way to end my fishing for 2006, making me glad I had forgotten those maggots the day before .

Off down to Monk Lakes today to meet up with a few lads from the Maggotdrowning site. Overcast skies but a really mild 10°C on the way down held the promise of a few fish to be had.
8·45 in the car park and Nick and Tony had arrived, shortly followed by Dave(TheFish) and Colin. Vince had already told me that he would be arriving late and a quick chat with Ron the bailiff had ensured we could use keepnets for what was to be a light hearted knock up.

Making our way over to Lake 2 we passed the heavy plant that is in the process of re-excavating the old catfish lake to a deeper depth.
Parking up we decided to fish the closest pegs which included the corner flyer, peg 45. We had an impromptu draw to ensure fairness and Colin ended up with the flyer, then Nick, myself, Dave and Tony. We decided Vince could tag onto the end as penance for late arrival .

A leisurely tackle up session interrupted only by Nick moaning that the cold wind was blowing towards him and why couldn’t he fish the opposite bank so the wind was off his back and there were fish topping over there, finally came to an end when Nick swung in a gudgeon that had hung itself on his hook that was already baited .

Most of us has settled for the pole, though Nick had set up a waggler as well. Colin was soon into a fish……

……. as was Nick, while the rest of us we a little slower off the mark .

15 minutes in and Vince arrived and was soon set up and fishing…..

…..Tony has started to get a few but was having to chop and change baits in an effort to keep the bites coming.

I was having a bit of a struggle, having wasted a bit to much time trying to catch close in, before moving out to 9mtrs and alternating baits to start catching with any regularity.
Dave’s arthritis was giving him a bit of jip in the cool conditions, but by fishing short and sticking at it, he was still managing to put a few together .
The beauty of the match lakes at Monk is the wide variety of fish that are stocked, Carp, F1′s, Barbel, Chub, Ide, Orfe, Tench(Green & Golden) Bream and Perch amongst the species on offer.

Colin and Nick appeared to have the bulk of fish in front of them, with Colin always seeming to have the edge, though we were all catching if not as regularly as the dynamic duo .

About 3·30 we decided to call it a day as the sun started to set….

Dave had brought the scales so a quick weigh in was done…….

Vince managed 17lbs.

Tony had a creditable 49lbs.

Dave put 28lbs on the scales.

My net came to 41lbs.

Nick had 59lbs, 10lbs of that caught while we were weighing the rest in .

Finally Colin was the star of the day with a tremendous 118lbs!!!!!
(Only part of which is in the photo.)
Doing justice to the flyer .

So farewells made and Happy New Years wished, we packed up for the day. Over 300lbs of fish between the 6 of us, plenty of good natured banter and great company had made for another good day .
Must do it again sometime (as if we really need an excuse ).

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 .

Having a bit of time off I was pleasantly surprised when Maria suggested i might fancy a days fishing last night, as she was going over to visit a friend today. I should have known

After my disaster at Lemington last Saturday I really needed to catch a few just to get the confidence back, so it was off to a favorite of mine ………… Hartleylands Farm.

So 8·30am brings a nudge in my back as my beloved enquirers whether I’m going fishing today?
A peak out of the window reveals it’s been pouring down all night, but a hint of sun breaking through promises better for the day ahead.
By 9·15 the car’s loaded and I’m on my way with a clearing sky, but as I reach Tonbridge the sun has vanished and the sky is getting greyer.

Reaching the fishery about 10·30 I’m a little disappointed to find a match on the reservoir, so that’s the 1st plan scuppered. A steady drizzle is starting to fall as I have a look around and a chat with a couple of anglers that have already been fishing for a couple of hours with only a couple of carp to show for their efforts between them. I settle for peg 8 on Finches, sheltered amongst the trees and with a comfy 8yds to the far bank it will do for me .

Before I’ve even finished setting up, the rain starts hammering down, so just a couple of simple rigs are set up, 1 for paste and the other for 6mm expander pellet both to be fished over 4mm pellet (all G.O.T baits) both across and in the margin to my left.
Both rigs are KC Carpa 2′s on 0·16 carptek with Fox match series2 in a 14 for paste and a 16 for the expanders.

1st put in across with paste, and 30secs later the float has buried and the black hydro stretches out and safely into the net is the 1st of the day, an nice ghost common .

A couple of looks over with expander produces a couple of gudgeon, so back to the paste. This is definitely what the carp want with most bites coming within a minute of cupping the paste in, and the bites are nice and definite, no messing about with the float, just vanishing straight down the plughole.

With the rain still pouring down I get a phone call from Dave about 12, and he remarks that he can hear the rain, but it’s lovely in Leeds. The action that I’ve been having encourages the chap in the next but one peg down from me to come over for a chat to see what I’m doing differently from him. 10 mins under the brolly showing him how to prepare expanders with a pump and explaining the basics of paste and he’s off back to his peg with a box of prepared expanders to give them a go.

Back out with the paste and the rain is starting to ease, but the carp are still there ………….

By 1·30 the rain has finally stopped but because I’m under the trees it’s still coming down on me, so a move is called for if I’m ever going to get anything dried out. A quick look over the back reveals that there are only 4 anglers on Nick’s, so I move all of 10yards onto Nick’s peg 3. With nobody on the adjacent pegs it was going to be margins all the way and 1st put in on the right hand margin produced an instant bite resulting in a super common gracing the net .

The afternoon proved to be fairly hectic, I doubt if I had to wait much more than 30 secs for a bite on paste, with most being so positive that the elastic just streamed out without any need to strike, smaller fish in general than those in Finches, mostly commons but occasionally a nice example of the resident ghosties putting in an appearance …………

4·30 and as I’m packing away after what has been a good confidence building session Paul Ward, the owner pops round for a chat, always interesting, he tells me that he’s finished digging another new lake and is just letting it fill naturally as he’s in no hurry to stock it yet.
Packing up, thankfully almost everything has dried out and on the way out I decide to stop and have a look at the new lake……..

As you can see there’s a quite wide marginal shelf around 2-3 ft below water level and it then drops to around 6-7ft, while it just rises up to the island without a noticeable shelf.
It promises to be another decent addition to the fishery once it’s up and running, probably not until next summer though at the earliest, as Paul likes to let things settle and establish themselves before he allows fishing.

The JINX Series 2006

Match 6.

Well The Jinx Series really lived up to it’s name, as it returned with a vengance, reducing even Rolf’s Lake to mediocrity and biting most of us on the bum in the process.

but with Eric winning his section, I knew he had pipped me by a point, but it was all academic once Brian put an excellent 109lbs 8ozs on the scales to win his section and the Individual Jinx Series overall .

I’d just like to say a big WELL DONE to Brian, he’s fished a superbly consistent series with 4 section wins and 2 seconds, all on venues that were new to him, making him a worthy winner of the series .

I’d just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Malc for organising what is probably the most enjoyable and friendly match series I’ve ever fished, and another BIG THANK YOU to all the anglers that have fished the series, It’s you that makes the series the success it is .
Let’s do it all again next year .

Overall Individual Series Result.

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship.

Having dropped Maria off at work at 6am and then loaded the car up, I took a leisurely drive down to Monk Lakes arriving earlier than anticipated at around 8am. Once again the fishery had put the “Welcome Maggotdrowners” sign out, and after parking up I thought I’d take a quick look at match lake 2, only to find that Terry (wily) Clive (blackhydro) & Darren (badatfishing) along with RonB had beaten me to it .

A quick look confirmed that you would either have the wind full in your face all day or off your back depending on your draw.

Some seemed to fancy peg 45, whether for the short walk or the fact it was a corner end-peg was open to debate. whoever drew it would have the wind full in their face however with very little chance of getting a brolly up should the threatened bad weather appear .

Back for a bit of breakfast and the draw, and pulling into the car park is a white Carlton estate and Dai’s arrived for his 1st outing since he had his operation. He’d spoken to me a couple of days earlier saying that he fancied it having not been out for months, and my mention that he just might just finally catch a GOLDEN TENCH here, probably made his mind up though.

At the draw Vince announced that the previous match had been won from peg 45, so you can imagine just how delighted he was to see it resting in my hand when I pulled it out of the hat .

Setting up it was obvious that fishing long up in the water would be hard work, and as I had been off work for the previous 3 days with a pulled muscle in my back it wasn’t really an option for me . Plumbing up though revealed a good 2?feet on a top 2 line with just 3 feet at about 5 meters.
With every other peg missed out I was pretty sure that I could catch close, so made up my mind to go for it from the off, and with Clive (blackhydro) to my left setting up to fish further out I would be able to see if I needed to lengthen my line as things progressed .

11am and Vince called all-in and I fed 3 lines, 2 just a comfortable underarm for 4mm pellets and another cupping in at 5 meters. Baits for the day were just GOT 6mm expanders and Paste, but before I could put a pellet on a shout from Dai had me running down the bank to capture this moment …..

………. Just the sort of thing that makes it all worthwhile, the smile wouldn’t leave Dai’s face for the rest of the match .
Back on my peg and I dropped the top2 rig in and the float just kept going!! Had I overshotted it? obviously not as the black hydro streamed out of the top. 30 seconds later and an 8oz Barbel is safely in the net and I’m off and running.
Looking around it was soon evident that plenty of people were putting a few fish in their nets and miraculously the wind was holding the threat of rain off despite plenty of grey clouds scudding past.
It soon became evident that my peg appeared to be solid with small Barbel, super fit fish in perfect condition that gave a good account of themselves on soft set Black Hydro.

Now a constant bone of contention on forums is Barbel in still waters, I can only say that these fish in Monks are as fit as any that I’ve caught in rivers over the years and appear none the worse for wear due to their environment.
Indeed they have been bred at the fish farm that adjoins the Monk Lakes complex.

Sport was steady and with 3 and a bit hours gone Dave the Fish came along for his customary chat while he had a sarnie, and admitting to around 40lbs for his efforts so far . I estimated I had around 100 fish split between my 2 nets and decided to use a 3rd net for the final part of the match. Getting up to reposition my nets, I slipped !!!!!! Both feet straight in past my ankles , thankfully I had a spare pair of boots in the car, so a quick time out to change and sort things out left me with around 1hrs to go.

Thankfully despite this disruption they were still there and I caught steadily right up to the end at 4pm landing my last fish as Vince called the all out.

Weigh in time, and our bank had obviously been Barbel Alley, Dave starting off with 65lbs just edging RonB’s 63lbs. Dai proving he was back in the groove putting a very creditable 81lbs on for a section win, Clive just missing out with 78lbs.

My 3 nets totaled 100lbs putting me into pole, but with Nick Gilbert admitting to 80lbs or maybe a tad more.

Next up was Polemad who had been opposite me, just missing out on a “TON” with 95lbs.

Then we came to Mr Gilbert. What can I say? other than “I’ll NEVER BELIEVE ANOTHER OF HIS ESTIMATES AGAIN!!!!!!!” as his 80lbs guesstimate transformed itself into 170lbs!!!!!!. a superb weight on the day comprising of nearly all carp as with the wind behind him he had been able to catch up in the water on banded pellet all day.

It proved to be Nick’s biggest ever match weight making him a worthy winner and MD’s Southern Champion 2006.

The rest of the weigh-in Produced yet more weights between 50-80lbs, even Vince’s daughter Jessica managing a creditable 21lbs with dad’s help.

While Vince himself despite spending time with Jessica putting together a nice bag weighing 52lbs .

So back for a welcome cuppa and the results revealing that the 16 anglers present had put 1120lbs on the scales, an average of 70lbs per angler.

All that remains is to say a BIG THANK YOU to Vince for organising the day, and all those that turned up to make it a most enjoyable day, I’m sure we’ll be doing it all again in the not to distant future.

The JINX Series 2006

Match 5.

Climbing into the car to set off on the 120+ mile trip, it was lashing down, Proper Jinx Series weather for a change. I stopped off in Battersea for breakfast as usual, and by the time I reached the M40 the rain had stopped.
I arrived at Manor Farm around 11am to find Me(simon) already in attendance having had a stroll round Windmill Lake.
Time for a cuppa and a cheeseburger .
Keith arrived with David and the obligatory photo’s of his new granddaughter                 Yes that’s right, just in case you didn’t know Keith is now a Granddad.

As the rest arrived we took a stroll round ourselves. Windmill is the most established of the lakes on the complex with a couple of islands and features to fish to in most pegs and a good spread of depths from 5-12 feet. However it was very obvious that there was a fair bit of water missing with all the pegs short of the water!!! the level must be about 3 feet down on normal.

The draw as ever on Jinx matches was late as Malc rolled in past noon and went to peg out as with only 20 of us fishing we could leave out a few tight pegs. At least you can park behind or close to the majority of pegs so it’s not to much of a struggle.

I ended up with peg 8 with Royst on peg7 to my left for company and Eric (ejayar) next down on peg 6. To my right on peg 9??? None other than THE JINX himself .

The all in came at 1·30 pm and I was nowhere near ready having made a complete mess of trying to set up a pellet waggler, putting the line through the legs on one eye and then having corrected that finding a wind-knot in the line . Other rigs were just a top2 and a top3 as there was plenty of water straight in front. Grey skies held a promise of rain while a blustery wind threatened to make presentation difficult for those of us on the more exposed pegs. At least we could set up close to the water on our side, while opposite they had to set up on their platforms as can be seen by this photo….

Really the fishing was reasonably simple feeding 4mm pellet and fishing paste soon started producing pasty sized carp, much to Malc’s disgust as he doesn’t count these as real fish .

Royst was to be heard beating himself up on the next peg as he struggled to get to grips with trying to fish paste, struggling to hit the bites and then loosing some of those that he managed to hook.

A couple of hours in and I was sure I heard a “crack” and sure enough here was a top3 and part of a No4 belonging to Eric going down like the Titanic with a Carp attached.This forced Eric into fishing a top3 for the rest of the match as he didn’t have a spare No4 (well he did, but didn’t remember till the end of the match )

Needless to say there was a bit of banter between Malc and myself during the match, one of the main topics being Hydrolastic. “Just point it at the fish and watch it come back to you” what a load of BO***CKS “Pump it and lift to lock it” That’s why Malc had to stand on his box to net a 2lb’er I suppose.

I kept catching sporadically all through the day, i even had a look at the pellet waggler, getting a Carp and a Chub, but the wind made presentation to awkward, so I stayed on a top2 for the rest of the match.

2½hrs in and a stomach churning stench wafted to my nostrils Malc had got his cat meat out!!!!!!!!
Now this hadn’t been kept in a tin but had been fermenting in a plastic bag in his car for gawd knows how long!!!! He even reckoned there were things moving in it I wasn’t about to go and look.

With about an hour to go David A popped up for a chat, having resigned himself to forking out another £1 to Gem (The Minx) who was fishing her 1st JINX match. Royst was still muttering about never fishing paste again and a look further up the bank revealed Matt catching at a far steadier rate than anyone else, while Bevan Boy(Brian) had been steadily catching most of the day as had been Dirk on the peg to Brian’s right.

6·30pm and weigh in time and the scales reveal 69lbs 4ozs and a pleasing section win for me .
Further round Matt puts an unbeatable 107lbs onto the scales for the win on the day, having fished paste and slop up in the water.

Moving round The Minx had done more than enough to part David from another £1 . Dirk managed a very creditable 92lbs (just missing out on a Jinx Ton again) for 2nd to pip Brian’s 83lbs 3rd place weight, in the process winning the section, thus ensuring that the series was kept alive to the last Match at Rolf’s.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Rolf’s Pairs Tournament 2006.

Well where can I start?

I suppose that the beginning is a good a point as any.
Anticipation had been building up for this weekend for a couple of months, Ian(Chin)Ward counting everyone down to the big day.

9·15 in the services at junction 8a and Adrian(BigladWigan)Wood was the 1st to greet me, closely followed by Vince Gould.
Soon the wafting aroma of chip fat and Chinese takeaway preceded the arrival of Northern Boy himself, Gaz Malman who was already halfway through the umpteenth pie of the day clutched in his right hand as he pulled up. Dave(Red Leader)Webster phoned to announce that both he, Tony Prentice and Geoff Palmer were in the services already so we headed off to join them, along with Ant Haywood, Ian Ward, Tom Little and Chris Ellis.
Dave fancied a Breakfast, but being faced with paying £8 for it brought back his Yorkshire frugality and he settled for a burger.

10am and it was “wagons roll” as a small convoy made it’s way the short distance from the services to Rolf’s Lake.
Into the car park and it’s nearly full already, and there’s a buzz about the place as a number of Rolf’s “Virgins” got their 1st look at the venue, while others were renewing acquaintances and meeting others for the 1st time in person away from a computer screen.

Bivvies and Tents were soon in place for the evenings accommodation while elsewhere nets were dipped with military efficiency and feed pellets purchased for what lay ahead.

At 11am the pairing for the weekend ahead were announced and with those duly recorded and the pools paid, the individual draw for the day took place.

I had been paired with Dave Collier, almost inevitable really given the number of times we’ve fished together in the past. Dave getting peg24 on the car park bank, while I ended up with peg 36 on the little lake.

For company on the match I had Geoff Palmer to my right, in the corner on peg 34. While to my left on 37 I found Dave(Red Leader)Webster and Matt Nutt on 38. The sun was already blasting from the sky and we just knew that it was going to be a scorcher, but hopefully with us fishing from 1pm- 6pm hopefully everyone would get at least a couple of good hours towards the end.

1pm and the all in and within 5 minutes Geoff was walking over for me to witness his 1st weigher, all 16½lbs of Common Carp and a new PB for him.

I have to say that I wasn’t inspired by my peg, although I knew it was capable of producing there are no real obvious features in comparison to a lot of the other pegs, so it was just a question of getting my head down and concentrating on putting a few together.

Looking across I could see David Ashby (under a bit of pressure as Gemma was fishing for the 1st time in 5 years) and Ian Ward and Nick Williams in front of me on 4 (though I had to look twice as his grey hair had vanished to be replaced by a deep brown dye job )

Plenty of splashing kept coming from Geoff’s direction though some were doing a Houdini act .

I was slowly getting in on the act fishing paste on the deck at around 9 mtrs, while Dave struggled to get to grips with his peg, and Matt slowly started to edge ahead in the section.

Being pegged on the small lake we were somewhat removed from what was happening on the rest of the lake, though word filtered down that Keith on peg 25 was having a good un, and we were treated to the site of Brian Bevan in hot pursuit of his pole as a carp headed towards us with it, though Brian was fortunate enough to retrieve it, but not the fish.

Vince Gould, a Rolf’s virgin was hidden away on peg13 out of my site but struggled to come to terms with things but still managed 41½lbs, better than some have managed on their 1st visit.

The last hour proved to be the best though a couple of the larger carp saw Matt having to resort to climbing onto his box to net them, while I managed a run of 6 fish right at the end.

So match 1 was completed, and that left the weigh in, a real eye opener for some in terms of the weights recorded and the efficiency with which it takes place.

Keith Ashby on peg 25 soon took the lead, and wasn’t going to be caught on the day having put 242¾lb on the scales for a new PB match weight, nearly all caught on a top 3 with meat GOT soft hookers and GOT Paste. A superb result. Kevin Arathoon had pushed him all the way with a fine 230lbs and Brian Bevan had put together a fine 184¼lbs for 3rd individual on the day.

As the weigh in progressed peg after peg produced tales of new PB’s both for total weights and individual fish.

Attention was however focused on a little match within a match between Gemma, Malc Doyle’s daughter who had decided to fish for the 1st time in nearly 5 years and Keith Ashby’s son David. (No pressure then)
With Gemma putting 92lbs on the scales.

David was always struggling to hang onto his £1 side bet,

even breaking his landing net at one stage , and unfortunately came up short on the day with 79½lbs, leading to a ribbing from all assembled that was to last all the way through the rest of the day and well into the next morning .

Ian (Chin) Ward had managed his 1st ever ton with a fine 115½lbs, and was looking a bit shattered as his arms hurt, and would continue to do so for the rest of the weekend,

Matt Nutt, using all his experience of the venue managed a 149½lb section winning bag, while Dave Webster who had struggled for 29lbs was the meat in a “Ton” sandwich as I weighed in 121½ lbs, Geoff Palmer also beating him with an 89lb bag (His PB match weight) that would surely have been his 1st Ton if he had had more than the 1 weigher.

So match day one ended with everyone retreating for a well earned beer in the bivvy village. Dave being Mr Efficient had brought his large gas barbecue down with him for the weekend and soon had it fired up and Tony(teepee)Prentice soon had a great selection of burgers and sausages flowing off the production line for willing mouths to devour.

With copious quantities of beer, Lager augmented by a bottle of rum and another of whiskey , the entertainment revolved around how much stick could be dished out to yound David, and I have to say that he took it all on the chin.
I’m sure you’ll have the last laugh sooner or later David.

Things wound down around 1am as bodies retired ready for round 2 on Sunday.

Sunday at 7am and those same bodies in various states of disrepair emerged into the daylight craving nothing stronger than tea or coffee, while once more the Barbecue was fired up to provide breakfast from the mountain of food that was left.

Sundays draw was at 9am with a 10·30 start and joining us for the day were Steve Wilson fresh from his holiday and Gary (Gaza) Thorpe, fresh from a match win at Oakfield the previous day. They paired up with the pair with the worst result from Saturday which meant that Wily Coyote(Terry) was paired with Gaza the venue World Record Holder, so no pressure there then, while Nick Williams paired up with Steve.

I found myself fishing my partners swim from the previous day (peg24) with Matt for company on peg 25 (Keith’s winning peg) and Ant Haywood to my right on 23.

Gary Thorpe drew my peg from Saturday, so i would see the pegs potential with a decent angler on it, with Kevin Arathoon on 34 (Geoff’s peg) Ian Ward was on peg 7, a bit of a flyer, but would his arms hold out . While David and Gemma drew next to each other on pegs 9 & 10 in full view of their dads, Keith being on 12 with Malc opposite on 30.

At the all in I settled on a paste attack at around 7mtrs, a distance i could feed comfortably feed pellet by hand and fed a margin line by the small bush to my right. while Matt started on a longer line up in the water . Ant appeared to be into action straight away, and all around I could see people already into fish.

Terry Goff had somehow managed to draw the same peg twice in a row, but at least managed to put a few together  this time for a creditable 90¾lbs.

Next up on 17 was Dirk Williams who finished just short of a 2nd ton with 93lbs after suffering with a load of foul hookers.

Tony (teepee) Prentice managed a very creditable 164¼lbs from peg 18 to better his Saturday weight of 119lbs 2ozs (Thanks for showing me your paste pots Tony, I’m sure he’ll be sharing the idea soon )

Colin, Keith’s partner was on 19 and just missed out on a 2nd ton with 98lbs on the day.

I had a mare with foul hookers and lost a number of big fish that I had trouble controlling with Red Hydro!!! Thankfully a decent spell towards the end enabled me to get a 2nd ton with a level 110lbs.

Matt Nutt came short to the bush in his margin and had a magic last hour with a ton of weighers for a creditable 173lbs.

While Ant Haywood just made his 2nd ton of the weekend despite only having the 1 weigher all day, putting 104lbs on the scales.

Elsewhere David Ashby restored his pride in his peg to peg with Gemma weighing 85½lb to Gemma’s 41½lbs and so reclaiming his £1 side bet.

Top weight on the day smashing his previous best match weight out of site with a fine display was young Ian Ward with an excellent 272lbs. Well Done Mate.

2nd on the day was Keith Ashby with a fine 230¾lbs again caught on a top 3 down the edge with meat and GOT Paste for 2 double tons in a row, an awesome display over the weekend.
Third on the day was Kevin Arathoon with 228lbs for another pair of double tons.

In 4th was Malc with 224¼lbs for a new personal best match weight.
5th was Gaz Malman with 219¼lbs, while a 6th and Final Double ton was added by Gary Thorpe with 206½lbs off my peg from the previous day. (it must have been down to my feeding on the Saturday )

One of the happiest on the day however must have been Steve Wilson who finally managed a match ton with a dead level 100lbs. It even made him smile, Well Done Steve.

So Presentation Time, and with two pairs,Keith Ashby & Colin Sharrard and Kevin Arathoon & Clive Pritchard tied on 26 points apiece it was probably appropriate that it was finally decided on weight with the verdict going in Keith and Colin’s favour by 706½lbs to 638lbs.

Congratulations to them both.
A Big vote of Thanks to Dave for getting the whole thing up and running, I’m pretty sure that it will be an annual fixture from now on, and another Big Thank You to Rolf, for allowing us to use what is a very special fishery for the weekend.
Finally Thanks to all that attended and made it one of the Best Maggotdrowning Weekends i can remember, We must do it again sometime, now form an.a orderly queue for the next one.

Here’s the full results list starting with the Pairs:
Saturday

Total weight caught over the weekend was 6,134lb

You can find Rolf’s version of events HERE

The JINX Series 2006

Match 4.

What a great day out.

I pulled into the car park at Stockton around 10·30am in glorious sunshine, and a quick look around found the yorkie’s Dave & Tim wandering around with Nick(monkey) along with Neo and Brian with Darren(badatfishing) in tow.
I thought that the water looked spot on, but there again I really like Stockton as a venue, although I know there are a few that really hate the place.

With a bit of time to kill before the draw we adjourned to the garden of The Blue Lias for a pint or two where we were joined by John(Bucko) and his good lady, who though they weren’t fishing had decided to come down and meet the lunatics who fish The Jinx Series.

Anyway at around noon we were back in the car park for the draw.

 Now at Stockton any of the pegs between 1-15 and 22-25 have a feature in the form of reed beds or islands to fish to so of course i pick 20 with absolutely jack in the way of a feature, unless you’re crazy or desperate enough to try tempting them out from under the boards.

Setting up it was obvious that if nothing else the company for the day was going to be good with Dirk, Simon(Me) and Neo to my left and Paul with his better half, Malc, Keith and Matt to the right.

Setting up was pretty simple as I had decided on one approach that I was confident would get me a few fish. Pole at 9mtrs to fish paste over pellet in 4feet of water.
Last time we fished the same pegs I found that the tow could be a bit of a problem as it can be quite exposed, so I had made my paste up stiffer than usual to stop the hook being dragged out.

1·30pm saw the all-in so a ball of paste along with a few GOT 4mm sinkers was shipped out and I was ready for action.

About 10 mins in and the float buried and I was attached to one of Stockton’s residents, a nice Mirror that gave the usual good account of itself before it was safely in the net. As usual the “support and encouragement” from those around me was outstanding and set the tone for the day early on.

For anyone that hasn’t been to Stockton, it’s hard to appreciate just how fit these fish are and what a good account of themselves they give, also they are without exception in stunning condition which is great to see.

About an hour in and the sun vanished as the wind brought in an ominously grey sky with the threat of rain to come, however apart from a couple of very brief showers, it thankfully didn’t materialise though the sun struggled to put in an appearance for the rest of the match.

After about 90 minutes I’d had 3 carp and was into a 4th, however this one led me a merry dance and dived under my platform, however I managed to get it out but before I could net it, it got under again and out round my keepnets. Needless to say I lost it. I’d like to say thanks for the sympathy shown by my fellow anglers at this point, but I think you can probably guess that it wasn’t forthcoming.

Looking down to the right I saw Keith finally get of the mark, fishing double cat meat he soon had the fish under control and in the net…………………….. a 2″ Rudd.

Paul was fishing The Method with his little red men as hookbait, and only a lightning reaction saved his new Preston Carbonactive going for a swim as he was finally into one. Now they reckon you can’t lock up a Carbonactive, but Paul seemed a tad reluctant to try this theory out despite encouragement from the rest of us.

Meanwhile Simon(me) was devastating the resident Perch with paste while studiously avoiding any nuisance Carp, leaving these for Dirk on his right.

After my carp under the platform out came the bung and a foot and a bit of elastic removed and I soon had a common in the net. However I then had a spell where I pulled out of three fish. Sympathy and advise flowed freely of course, telling me that I’d removed to much, Malc even offering some superglue so I could stick the discarded elastic back on. It really does your heart good to be sharing the bank with such caring mates.

Further down Matt could be seen fishing his usual tidy match, though we were treated to a couple of box climbing incidents (no photo though as we’ve seen it all before )

With a couple of hours to go I had 5 Carp and had lost 3, and both Paul and Dirk had caught me with 5 Carp each, however I then had 3 more in rapid succession to pull away from them again.
Going into the last half hour I managed one more, but lost another two, while Simon finally finally found himself attached to something other than a Perch, however after a high speed charge through Dirks swim he managed to lose the nuisance.

6·30pm and the all out saw Paul still refusing to try out the anti-lock properties of his new rod as he brought a final Carp to the net.

With Malc doing the Honours on the scales my 9 carp weighed 59lbs 12ozs, enough for 4th overall and a 1st in section.

 Dave (yorkie) Moore took the honours on the day with a fine 84lb bag, while MarkC on yet another end peg!!!!!! was just edged  out into 3rd by Matt, both having 70lbs+ bags.

Back to the pub for the results and a pint, an enjoyable day all round, and well done to Nick WP (Monkey) who picked up his section money with a fine 40lbs+, his best Jinx result so far.

Next up Manor Farm for the penultimate round of the series, should be fun.

The JINX Series 2006

Match 3.

Well after the disaster that was Earlswood, The Jinx Squad moved on to Drayton Reservoir for the 3rd match of the series

As with all things to do with The Jinx, things however weren’t as smooth as they could have been and instead of the pegs on the boards that had been fishing well beside the sailing club we ended up with pegs 1-20 in the shallows at the end of the walkway.

At least Malc had managed to arrive on time so we had plenty of time after the draw for the trek to our allocated pegs allowing us sufficent time to tackle up.

Things had been looking good in the week prior to our match, with all areas fishing well and plenty of fish coming out all over. However things can change and it was soon clear looking down the walkway that the weights would not be as high as we hoped when after an hour only a couple of fish had been landed.

I was on peg 7, and all I ended up with was 1 carp for 8lbs.
Eric on peg 6 however managed to put a few together late on to weigh 44lbs 8ozs and take 2nd place……

….just pushing young Dave Ashby into 3rd place by 4ozs.

Winner on the day however was Brian Bevan who managed 7 fish in the last hour on the long pole for a very creditable 68lbs 8ozs.

With 19 anglers fishing on the day and only 2 DNW’s the total weight put on the scales was 433lb 14oz, which goes to show just how hard the venue fished on the day.

Next up it’s Stockton on July 29th.

The NKH Club Weekend.

Due to a few matters arising from the cancellation of this years Northern Fish-In, a few of us decided to have a weekend away, and that’s how we ended up in the car park at Yateley on Friday morning.

Those present were Dave, Stu, Jason, Beebs and Myself.

Unfortunately Trogg with his 24/7 work pattern and Dirk with a previous commitment to the South Cerney Festival couldn’t attend, but Jason (NoFinPhish) living about 5 minutes away decided to join us.

The plan was for a 48hr session from Friday to Sunday, and Friday 11·30am saw us all pulling into the carpark for a recce round the lake.

With the temperature edging into the 30′s, we settled for 5 pegs on the left hand bank (11-15) that offered plenty of shade amongst the trees and allowed us to unload the cars at our pegs rather than cart it right round the lake. Slowly we settled into our pegs, the heat even in the shade ensuring we all worked up a sweat.

I was in peg 11 and in common with the others soon realised that this wasn’t your average gravel pit. Instead of the expected variations in depth and features, there appeared to be a constant depth of 4-5 ft as far as you could cast. There was even a distinct lack of weed as it had been treated as there had evidently been complaints that there was to much earlier in the year.

I set up both my rods with method feeders, 1 with a Pulse boilie and the other with maggots, hoping to gradually lay down a bed of bait, and I also set up a float rod for a bit of fun if needed.
As the afternoon moved on we all settled down and with 14 baits in the water awaited developments.

By 7pm we hadn’t managed a run between us so it was decided to adjourn to the local pub for a pint (purely to replace lost fluids) and to get some grub in the form of a takeaway as the pub didn’t serve food on a Friday night.

Fed and watered we all settled back in, sure that the evening would bring a drop in temperature would encourage the fish to have a graze and provide some action.

7am on Saturday with the temperature already climbing and the 5 of us were still fishless, not quite the plan but thing were sure to pick up sooner than later as a chap 2 pegs up from Dave had managed a 23lb’er during the night.
I decided that I needed to avoid a complete blank and cheated by sneaking over to the River Blackwater that ran behind with my float rod and some maggots and managed my 1st fish of the river season, a little chublet.

After another couple of similar size it was back to reality, and it was decided that a trip into Yateley for breakfast at the Café, though Beebs declined in favour of a bit more sleep.
Full and with the Saturday papers collected, we returned with renewed vigour, as fish could be seen moving so it was just a matter of time surely???

Well the day moved on, but still no fish, but at least the family of Great Crested Grebes were catching, allowing Dad to feed the kids.

Still no action to our rods, and with us all trying various combinations of baits and rigs, the papers were read from cover to cover and the only thing that moved apart from the Grebes & Coots were the swarms of Damselflies in the margins.

By 3·30pm with something like 350 rod hours and nothing to show for it Dave, Jason and I decided to watch the England match down the pub, while Stu and Beebs decided to stick it out as they didn’t want to miss the moment when the fish switched on.

The match is probably best glossed over except to say that with England playing on a Saturday at 4pm with the temperature in the 30′s, along with extra time and penalties it must qualify as a publicans idea of heaven.

On our return we were greeted with the news that there had been loads of fish in front of Stu and Beebs pegs but they had still refused to feed.
However Beebs had the barbecue going and if nothing else we were fed. A couple of beers, cider in Beebs case and it was back to the swims for another concerted effort.

Around 10pm I heard an alarm off to my left, and looking up could see Stu running towards Dave’s swim, grabbing the camera I was off in hot pursuit.
I arrived to find Dave obviously into a decent fish with Jason standing by ready to do the business with the net. Slowly Dave was gaining line as we all held our breath and there it was in the net.
Onto the mat and as the net was pulled back we could see it was an absolutely cracking Mirror which pulled the scales round to 27lbs on the button and a new PB for Dave.

Handshakes and back slaps all round and we were all off back to our swims with renewed vigour, leaving Dave alone with his thoughts.
The early morning brought nothing more than a couple of runs, 1 for Stu and 1 for Beebs but alas no more fish.

Around 9·30am we had started to break our bivvies down in preparation as we had to vacate the swims at noon.At 10am I had just driven my car down to start loading up when I heard a buzzer go and Beebs call that he was in!!!
The fish was giving a good account of itself, but with no snags to speak of, there was only going to be one outcome and it was soon safely netted.
The fish itself turned out to be a fully scaled Mirror with a marked kink in it’s tail that weighed just over 14lbs, and the look on Beebs face shows just how pleased he was with it.

So that was it, session over. With the temperatures in the mid 30′s all weekend it wasn’t the most productive by a long way, but the good company made up in some measure for the lack of fish. Hopefully we’ll do it all again, but with a few more fish.

The JINX Series 2006

Match 2.

How can you do a report on a match where 75% of the field blanked?

I arrived early as is my custom when I haven’t been to a venue before, so that I could have a stroll round and try to get a feel for the place.

My 1st impression was “Where has all the water gone?” the level must have been nearly 5ft down with every platform completely out of the water.

Malc had actually arrived early along with his community care worker (Gemma) and with the draw almost happening on time we set off to our pegs.
I had drawn peg 40, a nice short walk and was soon set up…….

…….Looks lovely doesn’t it?
Frankly I could have put the whole thing into a glass case and exhibited it at the Tate Modern as a still life.

The only thing that disturbed the water all day were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, and even they didn’t catch anything and departed for more prolific parts.

……….and that was all the action in the surrounding pegs for the whole day.

Poor young David A to my left actually had a bite on the feeder, but didn’t connect. Antwood on the next peg round was looking like a man that needed the phone number of Samaritans……

…….. while further along Paul at least had a smile on his face, but that was probably because he knew he had a can of beer in his bag

During the day of course the banter was flowing, especially from the beach on the right hand side…..

…….. and just to put the finishing touch, Malc (who is now so tanned/burnt that he looks like a stick of Pepperami )Latched into a carp and lands it with 3 mins to go, despite throwing himself in up to his neck.

Unfortunately the day was marred by both Nick (polepot) and Matt having pole sections smashed by inconsiderate members of the public, both of whom refused to admit any liability and refused to supply any details so that Insurance claims could be made.

So, a 260 mile round trip for sweet FA, and next up for those of us fishing The Jinx Series? another supposed British Waterways Superwater……. DRAYTON!!!! I can hardly wait.

is alive and well and making us all suffer.