Marsh AC club match.

It’s Rockells Farm that is the venue for the latest Marsh AC match today. It normally throws up some phenomenal weights so hopes will be high for a good days fishing today among the club members . I’d arranged to meet at Dave’s house and follow him to the venue, so with the cats fed and the car loaded I made my way over there arriving around 6·45am. Chris was strolling down the road, he was tagging along today as a spectator, his broken arm preventing him from fishing. Dave appeared and we were off and we made good time arriving at Rockells around 8am .

A few of the lads set off to peg out as the pegs aren’t numbered and I soon had the kit loaded on the trolley, and that’s where it all started to go pear shaped. There’s a bit of a slope up from the car park to the lake, and halfway up the slope I felt a searing pain in my left calf that brought me to a halt! A couple of the lads came to my aid, but I was left hobbling around and feeling pretty uncomfortable, not the best of starts to my day .

Anyway Peg 13 came my way in the draw, a number that seems to follow me, and I hobbled off with my kit to set up for the day ahead. John had Peg 10 with Jim for company on Peg 11, while Peg 12 was empty. I arrived to find that I had Simon for company on Peg 14 today, Terry was through the gap on Peg 15 ( where Dave had 344lbs last year) Vic was on 16 with Clive on Peg 17 (my peg last year).

I have to say that my initial impression was that the swim looked spot on with an overhanging willow to the right and another to the left , but with my box set up I got a bit of a shock as I put my nets in, finding that the water barely covered them, and a closer look confirmed that the water level was at least a foot down, if not a bit more on the normal level when I’ve fished there previously ! It’s not deep at the best of times and as I sorted out the rigs for the day ahead it became apparent just how little water I had in front of me.

 

I ended up with 3 rigs, all pretty much identical, being 0.2 NG Edger’s on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG’s, plus a 0·2 NG Margin paste on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Guru MWG that was set up on my margin pole, these were set between 6 and 18 inches deep as that was all the depth I could find regardless of where I plumbed up. Bait today was 8mm pellet and paste with 6mm pellet for feed. but I also had some 6mm floating pellet as these have proved deadly in the past for sorting out the better fish .

On previous visits I’ve caught well on a top 2 tight in to the margins, but that line was dry today, so I would be looking to fish a line at the end of my nets and across to the overhanging trees. With a bit of time before the off I had a hobble along to see how the others were. Pretty much in the same boat, but someone had been doing some gardening removing a lot of cover, most notably in Clive’s swim where an overhanging bush had completely vanished and he was struggling to find any depth of water . Vic’s platform was way off the water, but at least he’d managed to get set up in front of it at water level, but again all the bank side vegetation had been cut back. Thankfully Kevin had brought a cup of coffee round and I sat down to drink that as I contemplated the two 3 hour sessions ahead .

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and a handful of pellet to the end of my nets and to the edge of both trees was followed by a banded 8mm to the end of my nets, and I also flicked out a few floaters to the edge of the right hand willow. The float soon slid away and a scrappy little Mirror of no more than 8ozs got me off the mark. Simon was off the mark as well and I soon had another couple of similar sized fish to keep the first one company . Now Rockells isn’t really about finesse normally, it’s a question of keeping the feed going in and catching quick, but it was noticeable that with so little water, playing fish was making the rest back off, so I was alternating between the end of my nets and across to the willow, while feeding every put in to hold the fish. The floaters weren’t drifting out of the swim, but nothing was touching them either .

Across on the other side I could see Keith who seemed to be picking up a few fish down his margin line ……

 

While Dave on the next peg looked like he’d set out his stall to fish his usual floater tactics that work well for him here ……

 

After about an hour I had about 12 fish, not enough by the usual standards so gave the paste rig a try, this is normally a banker for me here as it tends to produce a slightly better stamp of fish, but it wasn’t having the desired effect today as I was having to wait to long between bites and the fish that it did produce were of a similar size to the pellet fish so after 30 minutes that was up the bank . Despite keeping a few floaters going in nothing had shown for them so I just had to keep picking off odd fish here and there and at the end of 3 hours when Dave called the All-Out for a half time Weigh-In I had around 35 fish, the biggest of which might have gone 2lbs if I was lucky.

With a set of scales on each side of the lake we soon had it underway. John had 51¼lbs and Jim 29lbs. I weighed 41lbs and Simon 46½lbs. Terry had 25¼lbs while Vic managed 40lbs and Clive could only muster 19¼lbs. Not the greatest weights and we could tell by the pace of the weigh-in across the lake that there had been some better weights over there. Martin appeared with another coffee from Jean and the news that Dave and Al had both had 80lbs +.

At 2pm Dave called the All-In for the second half and it was just a question of carrying on with my approach and hope that some better fish would put in an appearance, and I kept flicking out a few floaters hoping they would do the job, but the only thing they seemed to attract were 3 geese ……

 

The small fish were still there, but were once again coming in fits and starts and at around a pound a time weren’t really large enough to build any sort of weight. I could see Dave across the lake was still taking fish at a steady rate and they appeared to be of a better stamp than the ones I was getting ……

 

Another look with the paste proved to be nothing but a waste of time, still yielding little fish, but at a slower rate than fishing pellet. The strange part was that Simon was catching on floaters in the next swim, whereas they were doing nothing for me. Meanwhile John down on Peg 10 was having a cracking session and steadily building a decent weight , as was Vic on Peg 16 who was finally finding some better fish on paste ……

 

I just plugged away amid rain showers to the end, and while I’d caught more in the 2nd session when Dave called the All-Out at 5pm I didn’t expect my 55 fish to weigh more than 60lbs . Thankfully the showers had stopped as we packed away, and with a set of scales at Clive’s peg we decided to get our part of the Weigh-In over and done with.

Poor Clive’s day hadn’t got any better with a meagre 16lbs to show for his efforts . Vic’s second half had been a definite improvement with 100¾lbs . Terry had 41¼lbs and Simon once again beat me with 71½lbs to my 65¼lbs. Jim had added 38¼lbs to his morning total, but John had the best weight on our bank with a fine 128½lbs .

So with our gear returned to the car park we all assembled as Dave worked out the results and monies. Winner on the day was Mr Chairman Dave with a total of 196¾lbs closely followed by Al on 193¼lbs while John’s total of 180¼lbs gave him 3rd on the day just ahead of Keith’s 176lbs. Six more ‘Ton+’ totals followed including my own 106¼lbs so while it would be harsh to say that it had been anything other than a good days fishing , however such is the level of catches that Rockells can produce that it’s safe to say that there were a few disappointed anglers that made their way home after the match.

Anyway the final club match of the season lies ahead at Hartleylands Farm on October 15th when we’ll be fishing The Reservoir, however prior to that I’m at Rolfs Lake on Saturday for the final match of The Jinx Series.

Bill G’s Float Store Series

Match 5

I’m off down to the Private Lake in East Sussex today for the 2nd Saturday running. This time I’m guesting on the fifth of Bill G’s series of Float Store matches. I haven’t been able to fish the series because of date clashes with The Jinx Series, but with a free weekend I can fit this one in . A quick glance out of the window this morning just confirmed it was going to be one of those changeable days weatherwise, so with the car loaded it was off to East Sussex via a stop off at McD’s for a bit of breakfast .

An easy run down saw me arrive around 8·30am at an already crowded car park, where there were both old and new faces as I strolled down to let Bill know I was there and pay my money and dip my nets. Despite being billed as a 9·30 draw it kicked off early at around 9am as people were obviously keen to get to their pegs. Peg 3 stuck to my hand, the willow peg in the corner that Clive had won our club match from last Saturday and one I was more than happy with as it had the wind blowing into it .

Dave Collier had drawn Peg 2 and for company today he had fellow club mate Chris Withall who broke his arm a couple of weeks ago who had come out today to escape the tedium of being stuck at home . Plenty of time to get set up today and I decided to take a pretty single minded approach to the peg and concentrate on the area where the willow branch trailed into the swim and with that in mind I just set up 3 rigs which were all basically similar. Two of them were 0·3 NG Edger’s on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG’s, while the 3rd was a slightly smaller 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for tight into the margins. Bait was simply 6mm pellet for feed with some 8mm pellet for the hook along with some 8mm GOT Baits Ghost pellets.

With plenty of time to spare I took a stroll to see how the others were doing before returning for the All-In which Bill called at 11am. I fed a couple of pots of pellet along the line of the willow branch and a handful into both margins before shipping out a banded 8mm just in front of the branches. The float settled then buried and a lift had me connected to my first fish of the day. One thing about the fish here is that they do put up a fair old scrap, but I soon had it under control and safely in the landing net. A nice chunky Mirror around the 3lb mark .

Back out and I was treated to a repeat performance with the float burying once more, followed by a brief tussle before a Common popped to the surface and into the waiting landing net, slightly bigger this one at around 4lbs. Third put in and I was in again, another Mirror of around 3lbs, a dream start to the day for me and one that didn’t pass without comment from Bill opposite me over on the roadside bank, who’d also got off the mark with a quick fish .

Unfortunately the next two fish that I connected with proved to be foul hookers, the rig returning both times with just a scale on the hook . Dave had taken an early look down his margin and taken a small carp, but in general it was quite obvious that most were off to a slow start. I’ve not fished the lake a lot, but I have noticed that when the weather is changeable it can become quite moody and the fish seem to shut up shop. Was today going to be one of those days?

I managed another couple of Carp before Chris popped round for a chat. I could see the odd carp moving in and out under the willow branch so fed another small pot of pellets then took a look down the right hand margin. The float buried straight away , A common proving to be the culprit, but no more followed. Back out to the branch where I managed to catch another 3 Carp before Chris returned with the news that indeed it was proving hard for most, though Jonny Watt on peg 5 appeared to be putting a few together . I managed another fish after that, making 10 by around 1pm.

After that however it went very quiet. Dave strolled round for a chat and remarked that there was nothing but pellet on my side tray, and I explained that I was just keeping things simple. From that point on though my bites dried up though from what I could see everyone else seemed to be in the same boat. Looking across I could see Brodie, he’s been well in contention in the series and with Mick McMillan missing this match was hoping to capitalise with a good result, but he was struggling like the rest ……

 

A little further along was the vision in red that could only be Matt Love, and he was staring down the barrel of possibly his worst result of the series ……

 

Next to Bill G was Steve Oswick, “badpegpicker” as he’s known on the forums, and it certainly wasn’t looking like his drawing arm had done him any favours today ……

 

With the sky getting darker and the wind rising we were then treated to rain just to dampen peoples moods a little further. However with the rain came a bite for me, a nice chunky Common of around 6lbs, and as I netted it I noticed it’s tail hanging out of the bottom of the net The landing net had ripped and I didn’t have a spare. However a bit of a boy scout job with some spare catapult elastic soon had it repaired. After that I managed one more fish before the rain stopped along with the bites again.

Opposite me Bill had gone for a death or glory approach and had balled in three babies heads on his pole line and then gone over it with paste and initially it seemed to do the trick as it produced a couple of quick fish before dying on him again…….

 

The only other person I could see that was having any joy was Dave Hough on Peg 1 who seemed to be picking up the odd decent sized fish as the match wore on . Dave had no joy from his margins and had gone back out, but it had only produced a couple of smaller fish for him ……

 

With about an hour and a half to go it was just a question of sticking at it, trickling a bit of bait in and rotating the lines. Both margins refused to produce anything at all, but I managed another 4 fish before the Sky’s started to darken again with 15 minutes to go.

Dave’s daughter Chrissy had popped down with her daughter Lillie to so she could see Grandad fishing, and just after that I was into my best fish of the day, a nice chunky Mirror that must have been around 9lbs and that was followed by another of around 6lbs just before Bill called All-Out at 4pm .

I felt I’d got around 80lbs in the nets, but just wanted to get the kit packed up and back to the car before the heavens opened and soaked us all, which I managed to do along with most of the other lads .

The Weigh-In started from with Dave Hough’s 54½lbs, Dave’s 4 small Carp came to 14lbs 6ozs when Chrissy announced “Come on Lillie, lets go and see some big fish caught by Peter”  daughters can be so cruel to their dads sometimes .  My 2 nets came to 88½lbs. As the weigh-in carried on round Jonny Watt put 61lbs on the scales. Andy Green weighed a level 65lbs and Al tied with Dave Hough on 54½lbs. Matt had a ‘Mare’ with just 8lbs 10ozs to show for his efforts.

Back to the car park and the heavens did indeed open, leading to hasty exits by most. As it turned out the guests had taken the spoils as I took the win on the day and Andy Green was second Jonny Watt finished third and was the top angler from the Series on the day .  Thanks to Bill for the invite, and Good Luck to all the anglers fishing the Series for the final match .

 

A RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion

I’m off down to Rolf’s Lake today for A RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion along with the lads from  TalkAngling  . It’s a match that I fish every year, and it’s always a good day out.  However with it being a weekday and with the kids back at school I knew the trip would take a fair bit longer than my usual jaunt up to the lake at the weekends. With this in mind I asked Maria to get me up early and I’d drop her off at work. So having dropped her off it was back to load the car. Despite the extra traffic, the first port of call was still my customary stop in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy’s Griddle Café where a ‘Full English’ was soon dispatched to set me up for the day ahead before heading for Rolfs.

Despite the extra traffic I rolled into the car park at around 9·10am to find John along with Simon and Justin in attendance along with a couple of the other lads. Justin had stayed over as he’d fished the open yesterday, winning it from Peg 4 with 223¼lbs, his first ‘Double Ton’ from the lake . The plan was for a 9·30am draw, but a hold up on the M40 caused delays for a lot of the lads, meaning it was going to run late……

Rive T (Tony) and Larry Teepot (Pete) have been running this match for a few years now, and once they’d arrived, things got underway and the chat among the assembled anglers was that with 2 ‘Double Ton’s’ and 7 ‘Tons’ yesterday hopes were high for a good day ahead . Soon Larry had all the peg fees collected and we were called to order and the draw got under way……

Justin was looking happy having drawn peg 8, but Simon wasn’t looking to enthusiastic having drawn Peg 26 . By the time I got to the bag there were 3 pegs left and I was more than happy to find Peg 9 in my hand as it’s one of the most consistent pegs on the lake .

As I made my way round with my gear I found Larry on Peg 16, he’s been trying for a ‘Ton’ since Moses was a boy and has never quite managed it, so it would be nice if he could do it today, and he certainly had a peg that was capable of it . For company I had Alan, a friend of Rive T on Peg 10. Not a match angler, he’d been lured along today with the chance of picking up a big Perch that the lake can throw up.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. On recent matches there I’d seen Steve Akal and Neil Riddy both suffer with numerous foul hookers costing them both top kits and rigs . However Neil sorted it out and won the last Jinx Match off it by fishing a short line straight out in front in the last hour to take a number of weighers, and that was the approach I was going to go with today ……

 

I picked a line at 5mtrs where a square of white water would make feeding easy and this would be tackled with a 0·3 NG Springer Open Water XT on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with a size 16 Guru MWG. A second similar rig was set up to fish about 2 feet off of the bush to my right, while a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG would take care of the margin swim to the bush on my left. Bait and feed today would be a combination of 6 and 8mm fishery pellets and a tin of corn.

 

With a little bit of time before the off I strolled down to see Tony on Peg 6. He was talking to Colin B who mentioned that he’d never had a ‘Twenty’ on the pole and I told him that this was the place to do it if anywhere was.

Anyway John sounded the All-In at 11·45am and I fed a small pot of mixed pellet and corn on all 3 lines before shipping a banded 8mm pellet out to my 5mtr line. The float barely had time to settle before it buried and a gentle lift soon told me that I had connected with a substantial Carp. Thankfully it didn’t go steaming off, gentle pressure told and a large Common suddenly popped up in front of my nets, into the landing net and as I went to lift it I realised that it was a bit larger than I first thought . Onto the scales and it went 19lbs which I got Justin to witness, a dream start for me .

With the fish returned it was back out with another 8mm, and after a couple of lift and drops the float buried once more. A spirited fight followed, not such a big fish this one but still a weigher, another Common which weighed 11½lbs. They say ‘Three’s a charm’ and that was the case today as the third put in saw the float bury again. Another good fish which had designs on reaching the bush in the left hand margin, however I managed to show it the error of it’s ways and introduce it to the landing net. A Mirror this time and at 14lbs another weigher .

Of course sometimes things go just to well and my next bite proved to be a foul hooker which tore around the peg like a lunatic before the rig came back with just a scale on the hook . After that I re-fed the 5mtr line with a small pot of pellet and corn and had a look over to the right hand bush. Twenty minutes over there proved fruitless as did a quick look down the left hand margin, so having allowed the 5mtr line to settle I had a look back there. Sure enough the float didn’t take to long to vanish, but this time instead of the expected Carp the culprit was one of the lakes Bream, but at around 3lbs it was still welcome . I decided to try corn on the hook, but it just produced lots of knocks and a Roach of around 4ozs, not what I was really after so it was back to the pellet.

Looking around at the other pegs I could see Froggy opposite on Peg 32, unfortunately he seemed to have had his fair share of problems with foul hookers today and had now decided to tackle the bush on his left hand side ……

 

Next up on Peg 30 was Tony Williams and despite the fish giving what looked like his purple hydro a good stretching he seemed to be putting a steady run of fish together, leading me to think that it would be pretty close between the two of us if we both kept catching ……

 

I was soon into another fish, a Common of around 8lbs and my first net fish. This proved to be the start of a run of fish, 3 more Commons and a solitary Mirror, all much of a muchness at around 8lbs each, but very welcome and good weight builders . Then there was a 20 minute gap before I made contact with another foul hooker and the way it charged round in circles made me feel it was hooked in a fin. Well the hook held and as it came to the net it was hooked on the pectoral fin, no wonder it had be so hard to control, but at 12½lbs a nice bonus .

It was just a case of re feeding again and waiting for things to settle down, so I had a look back over to the right hand bush. I missed two quick bites but connected with the third, another Mirror and a good double. Justin however was having a bit of a mare after his win yesterday suffering with foul hookers and also smashing a top kit. Still he was seeing a fair few fish witnessing my weighers .

With just over 2 hours to go I suffered another lull in sport. I already had a ‘Ton’ on my clicker but felt that this could be the day to finally get my ‘Double Ton’ after a long time trying. I added a section on to see if they’d backed off the feed but nothing. Took a section off to see if they’d come closer inside, still nothing. Extra section on and out to the bush still nothing. Leaving the extra section on I took a look to the left on my 5mtr line and fed some pellet round the float. A minute later it buried and I was back in business with a good Common of around 14lbs . Fishing this line meant that I was looking toward Simon on Peg 26 and could see he was also into fish……

 

I’d also heard him encouraging Larry who was opposite him on Peg 16 and from the sound of things today would be the day he finally got his ‘Ton’ . Word also filtered down that Colin B on Peg 18 had at last got his ‘Twenty’ with a Common of 22lbs+ , and as the afternoon wore on J Mac on Peg 28 was also getting a bit of action……

 

With around 90 minutes to go it was just a question of alternating between my two 5mtr lines and I managed a further 7 weighers and another Bream before John sounded the All-Out at 4·45pm. A tally up of my weighers on the board came to 158½lbs after Justin had double checked it and the number on my clicker was 205, so had I got the weight of the fish in my net right?

With my gear packed away and back at the car park there was time for a quick chat before the Weigh-In, Larry had indeed got his ‘Ton’ as he had over 100lbs on the board .
Colin was well chuffed with his ‘Twenty’ but Simon wasn’t sure if he had a ‘Ton’ and felt he’d struggled on the day.

So to the Weigh-In and a lot of the lads just had board weights and it wasn’t till we got to peg 4 there were fish to weigh, where Cov Blaze just missed the ton with 99½lbs.
Tony having sruggled at the start had fish turn up to late in the day and recorded 57¾lbs, and Justin had 123lbs. My 5 carp came up agonisingly short of what was needed for 200lbs but those 2 Bream and a Roach did me proud to take the total to 206lbs . Alan on Peg 10 had 45lbs while Cox62 had 53lbs and M Jones on 14 weighed 55½lbs. Larry had indeed battered the ‘Ton’ with 158½lbs and it may take a while to get the grin off his face ……

 

Colin B’s twenty had boosted his weight to 154¼lbs. Simon got his ‘Ton’ with 108¾lbs while J Mac had 45½lbs. Tony Williams had a fantastic weight of 197¼lbs and a new PB Match Weight for him , while Froggy was left ruing those foul hookers with 93¼lbs to finish things off.

Back to the hut for Larry to sort out the results and monies and the Winner on the day was……………………………………………………..ME

 

Second was Tony Williams and Third on the day was Larry . Sections went to Justin, Colin B and Froggy . A bonus for me was that I finally got my hands on a tee shirt I’ve been after for a while ……

 

So ended yet another RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion, a great success as always, and fished in the right atmosphere. Thanks to Larry and Tony for organising it, and the  TalkAngling  members that fished it . I’m looking forward to next years one already .

 

 

Marsh AC club match.

It was off down to a Private Lake in East Sussex today for a Marsh AC club match and I was hopeful that it would be a decent day as the lake had been fishing well recently .
It was a bit dull and grey as I looked out of the window this morning, but a quick look on the web reassured me that we were in for a good day weather wise , and after feeding the cats and drinking a couple of cups of coffee to fire up the old grey matter, I soon had the car loaded and was off to East Sussex. With no café close to hand I stopped off at McD’s in Bromley on the way where a couple of Sausage and Egg McMuffins were consumed before resuming the journey. It got a bit foggy on the A21, but not enough to delay things and I reached the fishery just after 8am.

There wasn’t our usual turn out today due to a number of reasons, meaning there were just 12 club members and 3 guests to make up the numbers, but at least we should have a bit of room . Al went off to peg out while everyone got there nets dipped. Bill G was guesting today and as he’s been running a match series there, people were quizzing him for some info. Dave had brought his daughter Chrissy to fish today, but rumour was that it was really to act as his carer . Anyway with the pegs sorted it was time for the draw, and Peg 2 on the dam wall was mine for the day, a short walk and a peg I seem to draw quite often on my visits there, and with Kevin on Peg 1, I should be good for a couple of cups of coffee . The pegs aren’t numbered at the lake, so if you take a look below you’ll see where we were all pegged ……

As you might guess, it didn’t take long to get my gear to my peg, and having fished it before I had a fair idea of how I was going to approach it. Now when you hear ‘dam wall’ you tend to think deep water, however it’s not the case here, apart from a small marginal shelf close in it just gently drops away to around 3ft which remains pretty constant.
I had planned to fish paste today so I set up 2 paste rigs, the first was a 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG for a line at about 5mtrs straight out. I also set up another 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG to fish pellet over this line if they didn’t want paste. The Margin paste line was taken care of by a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG. Bait was GOT Atomic paste and a mix of 6 and 8mm pellets.

 

Jean spoilt me today as prior to the off I was treated not only to a cup of coffee, but also a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll . Sitting there waiting for the off, the fog from earlier had burnt off and a bright sunny day lay ahead. In fact I felt we could do with a bit more cloud as a bright sunny day could make for a hard days fishing.

Anyway the All-In was called at 10am so we would soon find out. A pot of pellet at 5mtrs and some down the margins, then I shipped a banded 8mm out onto the 5mtr line. My first bite proved to be a bit of a false dawn as a Carp shot off before rolling on top as the rig came flying back with a scale on the hook . Next came a Roach, but it was Carp or nothing for me today and I hadn’t put a silvers net in, so it was popped back.

Clive had got off to a good start tucked awayon Peg 3 fishing to the willow and had taken 3 Carp almost straight away leaving everyone playing catch up already ……

 

In general though sport was far from hectic from what I could see and from my vantage point on the dam wall I had a good view of all those fishing the railway bank and on the meadow bank ……

 

I managed to get off the mark shortly after when my float slid away, and after a brief scrap a Mirror of around 4lbs was safely in the net . There’s a good head of carp in the lake that average around 5lbs and it’s generally reckoned that 20 of them will normally give you a ton, but there’s also a good percentage that are considerably larger, and a few of them in the course of a session can really boost your weight. After that initial fish I changed to the paste rig, and after a few minutes the float buried and the culprit this time was a Common, again around the 4lbs mark but welcome none the less . I could see Simon over on the railway bank and although he’d had a couple of fish, he appeared to be struggling like me ……

 

It was becoming obvious already that Clive would take some stopping today, as although I couldn’t really see him from where I was pegged, I could certainly hear the splashing as what seemed like a constant stream of fish were played and netted . I could see that Mick up on Peg on Peg 11 was starting to take the odd fish and knew that he might do some damage as well ……

 

My paste fish seemed to be an solitary one so I reverted to the pellet and over the course of the next 90 minutes or so managed to add another 3 Carp to my total, all of which seemed to be around the 4lb mark. The noticeable thing was that I needed a ripple on the water to get a bite, as soon as the ripple stopped so would any chance of a bite .
So with it flat calm in front of me by 1pm I re-fed and took a stroll with the camera……

 

Kev had just had his 1st fish of the day on the feeder, while Keith was admitting to 5 in the net. Vic in truth was looking a little tired, probably due to the fact he’d caught 400lbs at Alders the day before, only to finish second to a weight of 534lbs!!!!!! However he was still into a Carp as I looked on ……

 

John had managed a few as well, but Martin was having a bit of a grim time . Mick was indeed catching despite being plagued by small Perch. Bill was locked in a battle with the Carp in his peg and unfortunately the score was Carp 8 – 4 Bill at that point . He was fishing corn across to the island and as I looked on he was into another fish, a good photo opportunity, but before I could even remove the lens cap the score became 9 – 4. Al was having a bit of a moan up and insisting he was having a bad day so I left him to it . As I continued round I met Dave coming the other way who reckoned he had 4, but was struggling. Next up came Dave’s daughter Chrissy, she’d lost a good fish first put in, and was now fishing her margins ……

 

Terry was having a bit of a struggle once more, but Paul was putting a few together on the method feeder to the edge of the island, it must have been solid out there as Paul had a fish take a bare hook as he cast to the island prior to the start of the match . It hadn’t got any better for Simon either and he was hoping for an improvement in the latter stages. Clive however was sitting very much in the pound seats, his corner peg had the wind blowing into it and a willow providing plenty of cover to fish to ……

 

Back to my peg and Jean had another coffee waiting for me . I started back on the paste, but couldn’t get a touch on it from any of my lines, so I was soon back to fishing the pellet and slowly started to pick up the odd fish, however they were all of the same stamp, around the 4lb mark without a hint of a better bonus fish. Keith however had started to alternate between his long line and his margin and was starting to put a run of fish together over on peg 15 ……

 

Try as I may I just couldn’t get a run of fish going, it was just a case of nicking the odd fish as the chance arose, and even that was interrupted by a number of foul hookers as the afternoon wore on. Simon did manage another couple of fish late on but it was far from the improvement he’d been hoping for ……

 

I just stuck at it and had 14 fish in the net when the All-Out was called at 4pm. I felt that I had around 60lbs in the nets, and soon had my gear packed away and back in the car before the Weigh-In started from Peg 1. Kev kicked things off with just 17lbs and I was almost spot on when my fish registered 60½lbs. Clive had 25 fish and after 4 weighs recorded 149¼lbs which would prove to be unbeatable on the day . Simon had 38½lbs to show for his efforts, while Paul put 77½lbs on the scales. Terry had 42lbs and Dave 47¼lbs while Chrissy managed 20lbs. Al had been telling everyone what a bad day he’d had but still put 81¼lbs on the scales . Bill’s score ended up 21 – 13 in favour of the Carp for 50¼lbs. Mick had kept going all afternoon for 124¼lbs and 2nd on the day . Martin managed just 18¼lbs while John had 46lbs including a new PB Carp to show for his efforts. Vic had 68½lbs while Keith was last to weigh, and his 103½lbs gave him 3rd overall .

So back to the car park where Dave sorted out the results and monies Next up for Marsh AC is a trip to Rockells Farm in 2 weeks time, a venue that I always look forward to .
Before that however I have a trip to Rolfs on Thursday for a match with the  TalkAngling  lads and then a return to The Private Lake on Saturday to fish one of Bill G’s Matches.

Morefax AC club match.

Well I was awoken from my slumbers this morning when a car pulled up next to mine in the car park. Getting out of the car I found Kev strolling across the car park to enquire if I fancied a cup of coffee? Silly question really, and I soon had a steaming cuppa firing up the grey matter thanks to Jean . A few weeks ago Dave C had been asked by the Morefax club whether he could rustle up 10 members of Marsh AC to make up the numbers in their club match today, so a few members of The Jinx Squad were granted temporary membership to make up the numbers so they could fish today .

The Morefax lads had planned an early draw (8·30am) but with a few being delayed a 9·30am draw and fishing from 11am – 4pm was settled on. Soon those of us that had stopped over had packed away our overnight gear, bivvies etc and the discussions had started about where would be a favourable draw. The only thing most agreed on however was nobody wanted Pegs 19 or 20 . These however would be in the draw as there were 24 of us fishing today. No Minx or Jinx Jnr today though as they were off to Reading to visit their Gran .

Anyway Draw time soon rolled round and Peg 22 on the car park bank was mine for the day, a shortish walk and a bit to close to those unwanted pegs and Ady had struggled for 30lbs from there yesterday. Dai and Terry had drawn the short straws of Pegs 19 and 20 respectively , while down to my left I had Malc on 24 and Mat on 26.

I was just looking for a nice relaxing day today so decided that the rigs from yesterday would be used once more today as I hadn’t stripped them off my top kits yesterday .
The 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG allowed me to cover an area at around 5mtrs straight out in front, while the 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG allowed me to fish the edge of the bush to my left and the NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG was fine for the right hand margin. No change to the bait today either, just my usual 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

At 11am John sounded the All-In and a pot of mixed pellet and corn was deposited on the 5mtr line along with a handful of pellets by the bush and down the margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to the 5mtr line. The float soon slid away but it turned out to be what is rapidly becoming my customary foul hooker , and of course as soon as Malc saw it it shed the hook .

However it wasn’t to long before the float buried once more and this time the outcome was more satisfying as after a brief tussle a nice scale perfect common of around 8lbs slid over the net . Malc was romping away however with 4 carp in as many put ins, though of course just as he felt he had it sorted he suffered a run of foul hookers leaving him with little more than a collection of scales on his side tray and a rig in the trees behind him .

Jean had brought me a cup of coffee and the news that Kevin was struggling down on Peg 30. A couple of better Bream were next along for me in quick succession, and while I could see a few fish coming out around the Big Lake it didn’t seem as if anyone was bagging up. Indeed nowhere was that truer than Pegs 19 and 20 where Dai and Terry were definitely suffering for their sport ……

 

However Dai did pull the rabbit out of the hat, finally connecting with a decent Carp, which despite giving him a bit of a run around finally found itself safely wrapped in Dai’s landing net .

Malc was still getting the odd fish though and from the banter I could hear between him and Simps on Peg 28 so was Simps .

Around 2pm Dave C strolled round with news that Nick B on Peg 5 had landed a PB Carp of 19½lbs , and shortly after Kevin appeared with with a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll. With that taken care of it was back to the fishing, but my next two bites proved to be foul hookers that left me with nothing apart from scales on the hook. Next put in the float buried once more, I connected with what was obviously a decent fish which just plodded off as if it didn’t realise it was hooked. At first I feared it was another foul hooked fish, but soon realised it wasn’t. It was just a big fish that didn’t want to get it’s head up, every time I felt I was getting somewhere with it, it would just head off in another direction. After 6-7 minutes I had it in close but still hadn’t seen it when it headed of toward the bush to my left. I piled on as much pressure as I dared to stop it and it suddenly popped up right by my nets, a big Common. Luckily I managed to net it first time, but it wasn’t till I lifted it clear that I realised what a good fish it was.
On the scales it registered 19¼lbs, a pole caught PB for me , and fortunately Malc was on hand to do the honours with the camera ……

 

As I returned it Terry asked what it had weighed, and when I told him he said that he’d be happy with the ¼ at that point. Of course that was his cue for his float to dip and for him to find that the culprit was a small foul hooked Roach .

As the match wound down I managed another 4 carp and one more Bream before the All-Out was called at 4pm. I thought I had somewhere around 50lbs but wasn’t unduly bothered as the big Common had made my day , and I soon had my kit packed up and back in the car before the start of the Weigh-In.

Three of the Morefax guys kicked off the weigh in with a best of 60½lbs from Peg 34. Nick W put 75lbs on the scales at Peg 40 to take an early lead . Next came Simon W with 30¼lbs and Dave C with 58½lbs. Nick B had a good day with 116lbs to take the lead and start a row of Morefax weights, the best of which were Tony Moore on peg 13 with 49lbs and Gary Smithers on Peg 14 with 72¾lbs . Dai managed 22¾lbs, but poor Terry could only muster 2 Roach for 4ozs . My weight was 51¾lbs, but Malc put 91lbs on the scales. Mat had 36¼ but Simps cracked a ‘Ton’ with 100½lbs . Kev managed a tie with Terry on 4ozs and Dave M was last to weigh with 68½lbs.

Back to the hut and Dave C sorted the results. Winner on the day was Nick Bondeau, taking his first ever match win with his first ever ‘Ton’ and a PB Carp . Second on the day was Simps with the days only other ‘Ton’ while Malc finished the day with 3rd place . Thanks to the lads of Morefax AC for the invite today, so an enjoyable couple of days at Rolfs came to an end, not the best of weekends in terms of weights caught, but if it was easy it wouldn’t be such a challenge, still great fun all the same and a credit as always to John and Pauline .

Jinx Match 5

Well an earlyish start for me today as it’s the fifth Jinx Match in this years Series. I’m not having the best of Series myself this year, but as always it’s been a great set of matches to fish . However as an added bonus this weekend I’m stopping over and fishing as a guest on a club match on Sunday . Anyway a look through the curtains revealed a sunny start to the day , so having fed the cats and and demolished a couple of cups of coffee, I soon had the car loaded up with my gear and a few extra bits (sleeping bag, pillows etc) and was on my way. It wouldn’t be a trip to Rolfs with out my customary stop in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy’s Griddle café and a ‘Full English’ soon had me set up for the day ahead before I climbed back into the car and headed for Rolfs.

I pulled into the car park just after 10am to find that it was already quite full. A number of the lads had arrived on Friday and had fished the night match which Simon has won with 136¾lbs from peg 16 . Discussion as always focused on how it would fish today, and with it having fished relatively hard last night I wasn’t expecting it to produce any mega weights today.

11·30am and time for the draw. Webbo wasn’t fishing today and young Liam (Jinx Jnr) at just 8 years old would be fishing his first 5 hour match in his place , and it was agreed that Malc (The Jinx) would have the next peg to keep an eye on him. Well Liam drew Peg 31 meaning Malc had Peg 32, Steve drew Peg 13 but seemed more than happy with that, probably because he’d fished it on Wednesday in the open and had a ‘Ton’ off of it . My dip into the bag yielded Peg 10, a swift return to to a peg where I’d had a mare on the Sunday of the MD’s Pairs Weekend . Take a look at the picture below to see where everyone ended up……

So with my kit collected I made my way round to my peg. I had Neil Riddy for company today tucked behind the bush on my right on Peg 9, and club-mate Tony to my left on Peg 11, while across from me I would have the perfect view as The Jinx and Jinx Jnr went head to head . The set up today wouldn’t be to dissimilar to the way I fished it the last time. Two 6mtrs lines (a tad further out than last time) at 10 and 2 o’clock to the platform taken care of by a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG. A 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used on top of the ledge tight to the bank on my left, while a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used to fish by the bush to my right. The bait on the sidetray was 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

With a few minutes to kill prior to the off I had a quick stroll round to see how my Pairs partner Fred(Milo) was doing, and as usual he was his laid back self catching up with the news in the paper. However the finishing touch was The Pink Elephant proudly adorning his head as the latest victim of The Minx ……

So at 1pm the All-In was called and we were underway. A pot of mixed pellets and corn were shipped out onto both 6mtr lines and a handful of pellets to the bush and margin swims. An 8mm banded pellet followed out to the right hand 6mtr line. Not a lot happened straight away but Malc was into a fish almost straight away as was Steve. My first action saw the float bury, but the fish bolted off, the rig returning with a scale embedded on the hook, surely I wasn’t going another day like the other Sunday .

The wind was blowing down into the Little Lake today, but despite that I heard a YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!! from down on Peg 40, so that was The Minx up and running ……

Forty five minutes in and my float slid away, obviously another carp, but it felt right and after a short but spirited scrap it was safely in the net, I weighed it to be on the safe side, but at just 8½lbs I needn’t have bothered. Liam had seemed to get off to a cracking start with Richard, one of the Rolf’s regulars keeping an eye on him .

Tony had got of the mark with a couple of fish and then lifted into another only to have improbable lengths of elastic stripped from his top kit , obviously a foul hooker but slow steady pressure saw Tony sliding the net under it after a few anxious minutes, a big 15lbs+ fish and he repeated this next put in with another weigher that went about 10lbs.

My next fish wasn’t quite of the same stamp, a Bream of around 3½lbs but welcome none the less, which was soon followed by a roach. Liam however was having a rare old tussle over on Peg 31. He played it really patiently though and with it safely in the net it was obvious that it was something special. Onto the scales with it and it weighed an even 20lbs!!!!!!!! A PB for Liam and thankfully caught on camera ……

Jean had arrived with a welcome cup of coffee , and while I took a few moments for a much needed caffeine hit I could see that Neil was having a bit of a mare with foul hookers and lost fish, and Steve was suffering too ……

Rumour had it that Simon, fresh from his win in the night match was really struggling to avoid a Minxing from his better half as well . As the match wore on I was falling further back, I did manage another couple of Carp and another couple of Bream, but Tony was steadily pulling away, as were Liam and Malc, but a glance up toward Pegs 19 and 20 revealed that I was probably having a better day than Jon and Dave on what have become 2 pegs that nobody wants to draw in this Jinx Series ……

Malc as per usual was doing his best to provide a bit of entertainment , one fish storming off into the distance before diving under the platform on Peg 33 before snapping him up ……

The next one did the best job however diving under his platform and making drop his landing net into the lake before Malc was on his knees and threading his top kit under the platform and retrieving his landing net in the process ……

…… Somehow though through all this Malc somehow managed to stay connected with the fish and finally got it into the net .

With around an hour to go Paul had taken over from Richard keeping an eye on Liam who was steadily putting a good bag together …….

……. but it was Neil on Peg 9 who seemed to have finally sorted things out and was steadily putting a string of weigher’s together in a late run . I did manage to add another 2 Carp to my tally in the last hour, but it was to little to late as the All-Out was called at 6pm.

As I was stopping over it didn’t take to long for me to get packed away and get my kit back to the car park and as I walked round it was obvious that C section in particular had fished hard today. Soon the Weigh-In was under way with Clive on Peg 34 kicking off with 110¾lbs, which would prove to be enough for the section and 2nd overall today . Dave had 78¾lbs while Gem set The Minx Mark at a level 65lbs. Nick W had 51¼lbs to be her first victim but Budgie scraped though after matching her 65lbs. Paul followed with 70¼lbs and Geoff had 102lbs 10ozs for his first ever Jinx Ton and 3rd overall . Kev could only muster 20¼lbs though. Neil had indeed sorted it out weighing 113½lbs for the section and the win on the day . My 57¾lbs ensured another Minxing for me while Tony had 102¼lbs for 2nd in section. Steve weighed 51½lbs while Simon’s 24lbs ensured Gem took the bragging rights today . Terry had 38¼lbs while Fred with 62½lbs and Mitch with 44¾lbs took 1st and 2nd in section. Jon weighed 21½lbs and Dave M 32¼lbs Ady had a level 30lbs, Mat 21¼lbs but Dai had suffered a real mare on Peg 25 with just 7¼lbs to show for his efforts . Simon W had 48lbs and Pete T a fine 95lbs and Nick W-P 30¼lbs. Which brought us to young Liam who weighed in a magnificent 100lbs in his first ever match beating 21 of us on the day . Finally Malc weighed 84½lbs and was delighted to be beaten by his son off the next peg .

So back to the hut where Malc sorted the results and monies. With todays results Clive has won The Jinx Series for a second year in a row , this time with a match to go. Well Done Fella . The Star of the day however was young Liam (Jinx Jnr), and there’s no doubt that he’ll take plenty more scalps in the years ahead .

So with the days events over some departed, while some of us stopped on to fish tomorrow. Dave Moore and I grabbed a Chinese takeaway, and spent the rest of the evening chatting by the hut to Kayley, Matt and Malc and I have to say it made for an educational and hilarious evening before I climbed into the car around 11·30pm for a few hour kip ahead of tomorrow .

Names in Pink are those that were “MINXED”

Marsh AC club match.

Well it’s off to Essex again for another Marsh AC club match, and the initial glance out of the curtains wasn’t to promising with a cloudy grey sky and gently falling rain looking as if it could put a dampener on things today . The venue this time is Blasford Hill Fishery just outside of Chelmsford. The club fished here last year and some decent fish were caught. I soon had the car loaded and set off to meet up with Dave at his house to follow him down as this was my first visit having missed the club match there last year. I met up with Dave at around 7am and shortly after we found the road blocked off by the Police due to an accident (was this an omen of things to come?), a quick detour soon had us back on track and we arrived at the fishery shortly before 8am .

A few had arrived ahead of us and we took a walk down for a look at the lake. The first thing that struck me was that it was quite small, indeed there are only 22 pegs, so things would be quite tight today. There were a few fish showing on top, though doubtless they would vanish once we settled into our pegs.
Back at the car park Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. With the pegs not being numbered it was decided to use 10 pegs down each side, leaving out the 2 end pegs and I found peg 11 sticking to my hand. To see where we all ended up see the picture below ……

Making my way round with my kit I was happy to find one of the empty pegs to my left giving me a nice long margin to fish . Jim was on peg 10, the same peg he fished last year, while Clive was to my right on peg 12 with Tony next to him.

Settling into the peg I set up 3 top kits. one with a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for the 7mtr line where I found a nice level area with around 5ft of depth. The other rigs were a couple of 0.2 NG Edger’s on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG’s. One for the left hand margin where I had a constant 15inches no matter how far along it I plumbed, the other for the patch of reeds in the right hand margin where i had around 2ft hard against them. Clive would be fishing this from the other side though so I would probably be concentrating on the left hand margin. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with various soft hookers, corn, cat meat and some paste.

With a bit of time before the All-In Keith appeared for a quick chat and Jean arrived with a welcome cup of coffee . Looking across I could see Dave on peg 7 and what appeared to be his fan club in attendance ……

While Tony appeared to be happy enough with his lot prior to the off ……

10am and Dave called the All-In, a pot of mixed pellet and corn on my 7mtr line, with some pellet and corn in the left margin and some pellets into the right margin was my opening feeding gambit. I shipped a 6mm banded pellet out to 7mtrs and awaited developments. Al appeared to get 3 quick fish on the method, but all round things appeared to be slow. I’d been told that the fishery contained a decent head of Carp including quite a few doubles along with plenty of skimmers and Roach, but the singular lack of action already had me wondering just how accurate this info was .

Just to dampen things further we had a short shower, however this didn’t last to long and having run through various baits I finally had a bite having returned to a banded 6mm pellet. Lifting into it I felt a Carp take off and was just drawing it toward the net when the rig came flying back with a scale embedded on the hook .

Clive had managed a Carp early on on the method, but with no further action had reverted to the pole and taken another couple. Tony hadn’t had so much as a bite and was already voicing his displeasure, however rather than sympathy it just resulted in a volley of pee taking coming his way from all around the lake .

I finally managed a second bite, a 4oz Roach being the culprit, but most welcome as it at least meant a DNW would be avoided and that was followed by a skinner of around 8ozs . Jim had picked up a couple of fish from his margin, but a decent fish had snapped his elastic and he’d now reverted to his waggler rod.

After about 1½ hours a kernel of corn produced a bite!!!!!! This was a Carp that was played ever so carefully, not a big fish at around 3lbs, but very gratefully dispatched to the keepnet . A second similar sized one followed after around 15 minutes, and with Jean arriving with a refill of coffee , hopefully things were starting to pick up. A third arrived after another 20 minutes, but then the sun came out and the swim died. I’d looked at both margins, but there were no signs of life from either of them. Jim appeared to be into a decent fish on his rod, but was taking things carefully with it .

I decided to fill in the 7mtr line and take a stroll in search of some inspiration, and just as I set off Clive lifted into another Carp, not a large fish but it put up a spirited scrap before Clive slid the landing net under it ……

Tony was in a marginally better mood by now having finally taken a Carp of around 7lbs from his margin line, but it looked like it was a solitary fish as no matter what he tried he couldn’t tempt another ……

Al’s catch rate has slowed right down after his quick start to the match and he was now fishing his favourite long pole shallow style, but he did manage a decent stamp Roach as I watched him ……

Keith was frustrated, although he’d had a few fish, he couldn’t work out why his margin that looked spot on for a few fish wasn’t producing, while opposite him his travelling companion Mick had started to put a few together, and appeared to be in with a real chance of taking the bragging rights for the trip home to Milton Keynes . As if that wasn’t enough on the next peg to Keith’s right was Vic (a fellow GOT Baits sponsored angler) so there was a bit of friendly rivalry there as well . Vic however was also having a struggle so it remained to be seen who would come out on top ……

Eddie was having a ‘mare’ on peg 1 with lost fish and a smashed top kit to show for his efforts and stopping for a chat with Kev on peg 2 there were a raft of fish cruising the surface in front of him with no interest in feeding and causing him considerable frustration . Jim had finally got the better of the Carp he’d hooked on the waggler and had just weighed it as I got there ……

Back at my peg things got no better I’m sorry to say, just a single Carp foul hooked at 7mtrs that trashed the rig as it shot off heading for the other end of the lake. However sport picked up for those on the other side as the afternoon wore on, most notably for Dave on peg 7. It must have been solid with fish under the bush to his left, unfortunately a lot of the fish he hooked were foul hookers, which gave him a right run around before shedding the hook, but he was catching a fair few that were properly hooked , However this was even more exasperating for Terry next door on peg 6 as he couldn’t tempt them round to his side ……

Time ticked on, but the only highlight was Jean arriving with a third cup of coffee . I managed just 1 more bite for the rest of the match which produced a Roach of around 6ozs, and I have to say that it was a blessed relief when Dave called the All-Out at 4pm .

I packed up pretty quickly and knew that I would struggle to put 10lbs on the scales, but was at a loss to work out where it had all gone wrong for me today, and Tony was feeling just the same as we mulled things over. With a set of scales on our side we started the Weigh-In at peg 20 where Martin put 24¼lbs on the scales. John had a level 10lbs and Rod 10½lbs. Vic managed a level 21lbs but Keith had 32½lbs to take the section , Al’s 34½lbs proved to be the best weight on our side and took his section . Judy had managed some better fish late on for 25lbs, Tony tied with Rod on 10½lbs while Clive put a hard earned 33½lbs on the scales to eclipse my paltry 9¾lbs .

Back to the car park where Dave sorted the results and the winner today was Dave himself with 59¼lbs . Second was Jim with a level 55lbs and third overall was Mick (Keith’s guest and travelling companion) with 52¾lbs meaning that he would be grinning all the way home to Milton Keynes. Graham finished as third club member with 42lbs .

So that was it for the day, and one to forget for me and I have to say I was glad to get in the car and make my way home, however the day had one more twist left, A hold up on the M25 meaning it took an hour to go 3 miles.

 Pretty much summed up my day!!!!!!!!!

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship 2011.

 Today is the day of the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Championship which means that I’m off down to Nick’s Lake at Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrooke in Kent . Nick Gilbert had kindly taken care of organising the match this year. The early morning glance out of the window revealed a cloudy overcast morning, and the weather forecast wasn’t for much in the way of improvement. I soon had the car loaded up and by 7am I was on my way.
The first port of call today was The Knoxbridge Café, where a few of the lads were meeting for breakfast . I got there just after 8am to find most of the usual suspects were already in attendance a ‘Knoxbridge Special Breakfast’ soon had me set up for the day ahead, and it was then just a matter of jumping back into the car for the five minute trip down the road to the fishery.

As we waited for the draw word came through that Tony was marooned on a stationary M25, and a quick phone call to him confirmed that he wouldn’t be able to make it today , which left 16 of us fishing today. Prior to the draw Nick was doing a brisk trade in his floats which he had with him, but we were soon picking our pegs ……

I found peg 13 was to be mine for the day, not a peg that I would have chosen, as I’ve never fished there before and it’s not considered one of the noted pegs. Nick Costar (Bag Up) had drawn peg 8 , and would take some beating with his Method approach, while Al had drawn 9, another good peg .
Matt and Mick had 23 and 24 and Nick Gilbert was on peg 17, on his own at the top of the lake with the wind blowing into it .

Reaching my peg I took stock, a comfy chuck to the island for a feeder, and a promising reed lined margin to the right and a overhanging bush to the left, with the wind blowing from right to left across me ……

I set up 3 top kits. The first with a 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil made up on 0·16 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 16 Guru MWG for straight out in front at around 6mtrs where I had around 4ft of water. Then a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for tight to the reeds in my right hand margin where I had 2 feet of water and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG that would be used tight to the bush on my left. I also set up the feeder rod to fish the method to the island. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with some soft hookers and some paste.

Kevin appeared with a welcome cup of coffee courtesy of Jean and after a brief chat made his way back to his peg for the start of the match. With everyone set Nick called the All-In at 11am. I fed a pot of mixed pellet at 6mtrs and a handful in each margin before shipping an 8mm pellet out to the 6mtr line. a couple of dips then the float buried resulting in a hand sized skimmer to get me off the mark, which was followed by a couple more identical examples. Not quite what I was hoping for especially as the two Nick’s both appeared to be off to flyer’s along with Al, in fact rumour had it that Bag Up had taken a couple of near doubles in consecutive casts within the first 15 minutes!!!!!!

Up to my left on peg 15 was Toby(vassago)Wells, and from what I could see it appeared that he was suffering with a similar slow start to the match like I was ……

After upping my feeding on the 6mtr line my next fish was a Carp, only a small one at around 1½lbs, but it gave a good account of itself before sliding across the rim of the landing net . This signalled the start of a run of Carp, but after about an hour I could tell that I wasn’t catching fast enough and was already falling behind . Time to take a look on the method. I’d previously soaked some 4mm pellets for use on the feeder, so using those in conjunction with a hair rigged banded 8mm pellet it was out to the island with the feeder. It was quite shallow out by the island and I could see fish turning toward the splash of the feeder as it landed, and while it soon started to produce fish for me, they were all small fish of around the 1lb mark . Nick on peg 17 was making serious inroads into the lake’s Carp population and still taking fish regularly ……

I stuck it out in the hope that a few better examples would show up, but it just didn’t seem as if it was meant to be today. Sipping a second cup of coffee from Jean I decided to have a quick look with the pellet waggler, as I had been catapulting 6-8 8mm pellets to the island every couple of minutes while fishing the method and it was already set up in it’s ready sleeve. The set up was ideal to reach the island but after half a dozen casts it was all to obvious that the wind was making presentation to difficult for it to be effective .

I could see that Al was still catching at a steady rate, and his commentary on Bag Up’s progress kept everyone aware of how well he was catching . I could also hear plenty of splashing coming from Nick’s peg although the bush to my left stopped me from seeing quite how well he was doing. However I could see Micky over on peg 24 and he seemed to be catching well down his left hand margin ……

A quick look down both margins produced nothing apart from a solitary small Roach, so it was back to the 6mtr line for me. I was soon back among the Carp, still not large fish, but a slightly better stamp at around 1½-2lbs to those I’d been catching on the method . The problem was that I couldn’t increase the catch rate, it was just steady away. Finally with about 30 minutes to go the fish turned up in my right hand margin and I managed to take a few better fish around the 3-4lb mark before Nick called the All-Out at 4pm, but it was to little to late for me.

Packing up and chatting to Toby it was obvious that we’d had pretty similar matches, and I felt that I probably had around 70lbs to show for my efforts.
So with my gear back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In.

Mick r kicked things off with 39½lbs, but Simon recorded the days first ‘Ton’ with a fine 137lbs . Kev could only manage 37lbs 10ozs. Bag Up put 185lbs on the scales , but Al topped that with 197lbs 10ozs . My fish came to 88¼lbs, while Toby had 79¼lbs. Nick showed just what a busy day he’d had 140 Carp for a weight of 222¼lbs . Lee had 82lbs and Matt had 128¼lbs but Mick won their peg to peg tussle with 177¾lbs . Dave had 50½lbs while new boy Gino had 30lbs. On peg 32 Terry’s 112½lbs was just 4ozs better than Rusty’s 112¼lbs from peg 33 , and Keith was last to weigh with 49¾lbs.

So back to the car park for the results. The Winner on the day and Maggotdrowning Southern Champion 2011 was Nick Gilbert . Al Loader took second place on the day while Nick Costar was third overall .

Thanks to Nick for organising the match and to all those that supported it on the day .

Lastly to Hartleylands Farm, what a fishery Over 1700lbs of fish weighed in, meaning an average of over 100lbs per angler, it shows the quality of the fishing on offer .

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf’s Pairs Tournament 2011.

Dave the Fish’s

Invitation Match.

Well today sees the start of what has become an annual 3 day trip to Rolfs, starting today with Dave the Fish’s Invitation match that precedes the Maggotdrowning.com Rolfs Pairs Tournament over the Saturday and Sunday . This has become a match not to be missed as it’s fished by a few less people and it normally sees the best fishing of the 3 days, and being a member of Dave’s club (Marsh AC) ensures that I’m fortunate enough to receive an invitation every year .
Being a weekday Maria was already up and had fed the cats and I’d promised to take her to work, so with that done I loaded the car up. It’s surprising how much extra stuff there was, bivvie, bed chair sleeping bag etc, but it all slotted in without problem before I set off . It was a bit overcast, but warm enough and the forecast for the next 3 days was good with plenty of sun for the weekend. As usual I stopped off in Battersea for Breakfast , Al was hoping to join me, but got delayed and missed out on the delights of a “Full English” before I was back in the car and on my way to Rolfs.

A steady run down saw me pulling into the car park around 10·15am to find a good few already in situ. Malc had taken Dai and Ann along with Beau up with their caravan on Wednesday and then come back up from Wales early today so we were due to face the might of the whole ‘Doyle Clan’ over the course of the weekend . Others had also arrived early to ensure a good pitch in Maggotville, so it was out with the bivvie to secure a spot. My little 1 man bivvie has seen a fair bit of use over the years, and today one of the poles decided it had enough and snapped . However with some gaffer tape from Scott and a hacksaw from Dai it was soon repaired and in place .

A stroll round soon came to an abrupt halt however as i came face to face with John’s new guard dog !!!!!!!, Black and Tan, was it a Doberman, Rottweiler???

No, Ollie is a Dachshund, and at around 8 weeks old the cutest bundle of fun you could imagine on 4 legs, and already proving a huge hit with everyone .

Well with 19 of us assembled. and only a single Rolfs Virgin in fellow club member Simon Watkins present, Midday signalled draw time. The general opinion seemed to be that the Big Lake was the place to draw today as the wind had been blowing up into it for the past 3 days, so you can imagine my delight to find Peg 38 in my hand , I couldn’t be further away if I’d tried.

As I made my way down to my peg I saw that Mitch had drawn Peg 34, while Dai was on Peg 40 with Kevin on Peg 2, so I was OK for a mid match coffee .
Opposite me on Peg 4 was Jon, with Scott for company on Peg 5. Alex had drawn Peg 7 while Simon was on Peg 8, a great draw for a 1st timer .

Setting up was a matter of 3 rigs, A 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG would be for straight out at 7mtrs where I had an even 3 feet of water in all directions, a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used to fish by the bush/grass to my left, and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used on top of the ledge tight to the grass next to Peg 37, while the waggler rod was on standby to have a search around if it got really tough. Bait was 6,8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and some paste should the lumps turn up in the margin.

Clive popped round as we waited for the All-In with news that he’d ended up on Peg 13 , I didn’t laugh much though as I’d have happily swapped with him today.

2pm saw John ring the fishery bell for the All-In and 2 pots of pellet were deposited onto the 7mtr line along with a good handful into each margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to 7mtrs but unfortunately didn’t provoke the desired response, in fact the Little Lake was proving hard for nearly everyone, with only Mitch appearing to take an early fish …….

 A switch to 6mm pellet finally brought some action for me, but it was only in the shape of a couple of hand sized skimmers, that were welcome none the less to get me off the mark, and looking across it was obvious that Jon was resigned to a hard session as he was already out with a maggot rig in a bid to hunt down some silvers ……

 After a couple of hours I looked across to see that Dai was at last into something substantially larger with plenty of elastic streaming from his pole, but after a good scrap he had it safely in the net, an absolutely superb Common that rolled the scales round to 21¾lbs, a new PB that I was happy to photograph for Dai ……

I’d hoped that it would be the signal for some fish to get their heads down, but it was not to be , so I re fed all my lines and gathered up the camera for a stroll round to see how others were doing. Scott over on Peg 5 was suffering as well, but he was feeding plenty into the margin next to empty Peg 6 and praying that the fish would turn up over the feed before the match finished ……

 Alex had been more than happy to find Peg 7 was his, but had been brought back down to earth a bit as despite producing a couple of early fish they weren’t coming at the rate he’d been hoping for …..

Simon had a double to show for his first ever visit to Rolfs , but had been left a little shocked by the power of the fish, having also been seen off by a couple ……

Terry was over on Peg 32 and was getting a bit of action, but unfortunately he’d had the misfortune to have a top kit reduced to more than it’s standard two parts by an angry foul hooker that smashed it and vanished with the rig and elastic ……

Clive was indeed on Peg 13 and at this point in time was suffering with foul hooked fish, but he was confident that sooner or later he’d sort it out and start putting a few in the net ……

Malc was tucked away in Peg 14 and seemed happy enough with his lot , while a chat with Dave Moore revealed a swim that resembled a jacuzzi, but although there were obviously plenty of fish there, they were reluctant to take a bait . Looking across we could see Al on Peg 24 playing a fish on the pellet waggler, but as I raised the camera having warned him to be careful, it shed the hook, of course we were full of sympathy as ” Nobody likes to see that “ but Al seemed less than pleased ……

Dave was on Peg 18, obviously the draw bag had been kind to the organiser , and as we chatted Dave dropped a ball of paste into the left of the peg and the float buried straight away, the fish steamed off and looked like it was foul hooked, and it had the last laugh when it did Dave under the right hand bush ……

Round to Peg 22 where I found Paul happily playing a fish, he was having what appeared to be a decent day, ticking along nicely and regularly putting fish in the net ……

Mr Maggotdrowning himself Dave aka ‘Webbo’ was on Peg 26, but today didn’t seem to be quite right for his Feederless Feeder and he’d reverted to the pole in order to keep a few coming his way ……

Nick was on Peg 29, and it was a case of steady away for him putting one or two fish together, but he’d also sacrificed a top kit to the cause today ……

Back at my peg things didn’t really improve for the rest of the match, in fact the only one to really do anything was Dai who managed another 4 fish during the course of the afternoon . I even spent a while on the waggler, but that was no more successful than my pole lines, However with an hour to go a look on my 7mtr line produced a foul hooker that headed of toward the Big Lake at a rate of knots leaving me with just a scale for a souvenir . Kev finally managed to snare a carp over on peg 2 and with 45 minutes to go I finally managed to hook and land a carp that weighed 13lbs, however it was to little to late and just another couple of small skimmers came my way before John rang the fishery bell for the All-Out at 7pm.

Packing away didn’t take long as I took my kit back to the bivvie that was only about 40 yards away, and so onto the Weigh-In. Mitch kicked off with a hard earned 49lbs while my silvers added to the solitary carp came to 16lbs. Dai’s 5 fish weighed a fine 70¾lbs . Kev had 5½lbs to show for his efforts while Jon had all silvers for just over 13lbs. Scott had a couple turn up late for a level 26lbs. Alex recorded 61¾lbs with Simon managing 25¼lbs for his first effort .
Tricky(Richard) managed 54lbs from peg 9 on his Birthday , while Steve had struggled with just a single carp for 7½lbs on peg 10 . Clive had indeed managed to sort it out recording 83½lbs but it was Malc on peg 14 who would take the win on the day when he put 103½lbs on the scales . For Dave Moore it was a case of what might have been with his fish weighing 36lbs, but he’d fished on for a bit after the whistle and caught 6 fish in 6 put ins . Dave had 95¼lbs from peg 18 to take third in his own match . Paul was the only other angler to record a ‘Ton’ with 100¼lbs to take 2nd . Al with 65½lbs and Nick with 67lbs were edged out by Webbo’s 74lbs while Terry was last to weigh with 81¼lbs .

So once Dave had sorted out the results and payed out the monies from the day people dispersed to chat over the days events and sort out their food etc.
Al, Webbo, Paul and I elected to visit The Harvester for Dinner along with Richard and Scott and washed it all down with a couple of pints before returning to the lake where the banter flowed along with a few more beers into the night as Simps, Gem and Budgie joined us ahead of the weekend .

By around 11·30pm I turned in to get some sleep ahead of the Main Event. How would it go? We would soon find out.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it’s off to Essex for me today and a club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake.
The view out of the window this morning promised a nice sunny day ahead and after a couple of cups of coffee and having fed the cats and loaded the car I was off and heading for Whitam in Essex, and a trouble free run down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·30am, where Kevin and Jean, along with Simon were already in attendance . Into the fishery lodge for a Large Breakfast , and we were soon joined by Terry Keith and Pete along with Lee, Dave and a couple of other Morefax lads who were joining us today along with a couple of guests, so it should be a good turn out . Soon the rest of the gang arrived and with breakfast taken care of I went outside to discuss the prospects for the day ahead.
The club normally fishes Pathfield Lake when we visit Colemans, so this is something new, at least for me as I’ve never fished Wood Lake before, but luckily for me Paul Law (justin case) has furnished me with a detailed peg by peg rundown on the lake so I wasn’t not going into it totally blind . Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw up and running and after dipping into the bag I found myself with peg 14 for the day, which according to Paul’s run down was just an average peg.

So collecting my tackle I made my way down to my peg. Terry was on peg 1, with peg 2 drawn for Paul who was running late due to a blow out on the way down . Keith was on peg 6 (one Paul had reckoned was worth running to ) with Pete Thompson on peg 8. Tony Roberts was on 10, Clive on 11 and Simon on 12 with 13 not drawn. To my left was Martin on peg 15 while I could see Dave in the corner on peg 18.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to tackle it. I had a gap between 2 islands out in front I elected to cover that with a waggler and got out a Shakespeare Micro that was already set up with a 2AA peacock insert waggler. I opted for 3 pole lines. Straight out at 6mtrs where I had 5ft of water with a Sackup CX 4×12 pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG, and 2 margin rigs, both NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin’s on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG’s plus a paste rig of an NG 0·2 Margin paste float on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Fox series 2. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm hard pellet for feed with 6 and 8mm pellets for the hook along with some corn, a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and GOT Atomic Paste (green halibut).

Kevin had arrived while I was setting up with a cup of coffee and with a bit of time prior to the off I strolled back to the car to collect a bottle of water, only to find Paul arriving by Taxi (having changed his blown out tyre only to find the spare knackered as well !!!!!!!!!!! ) so helped him to his peg with his gear, then made my way back to mine. At 10am Dave signalled the All-In and we were off . 2 big pots of pellet at 6mtrs followed by a handful in each margin were then followed by a banded 8mm shipped out to the 6mm line. A couple of tentative digs then the float buried resulting in a Carp tearing off and the rig flying back with a scale on the hook , not quite the start I’d hoped for, but at least there were some fish about. Next put in the float buries and it’s fish on again, a good solid surge and it didn’t want to get it’s head up, a bit more pressure and up it popped, not he expected Carp but a Barbel and at around 3lbs a nice way to get off the mark . A couple of Carp quickly followed this, not big fish, but really solid, giving a good account of themselves which I estimated at around 4lbs each.

Looking around I could see that Martin had a fish on the feeder that he was playing and most were starting to find a bit of sport, so it was looking like it should be a good day for most, in fact I looked down toward Dave and saw that he was engaged in what looked like a tug of war with plenty of red hydro streaming from his top kit ……

For the next couple of hours it was just a question of things ticking over, a couple of Carp, then a Barbel or two, still putting some weight in the net, but I couldn’t seem to up my catch rate . I’d been using my clicker as there’s a net limit at Colemans which I didn’t want to fall foul of, and reckoned I had about 35lbs of carp by 12·30pm. I’d had a look down both margins, the right hand had produced hardly anything though despite the next peg being empty, so decided to concentrate on the left hand one. With this in mind I re fed it quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle and take my coffee mug back to Jean .

Looking down from my vantage point I saw that Clive was busy unhooking a fish that he’d just netted ……

While on the next peg along Tony was doing his best to get the landing net under a fish of his own ……

 Pete had left his peg, but I could see him sitting next to Keith and having a chat with him as he netted a small carp …….

 Terry was being a bit cagey as to what he had exactly, but didn’t reckon he was setting the place on fire. Paul was having a frustrating time trying to tempt some action from his margins, but Rod seemed to be enjoying a bit of sport ……

 Kev was owning up to 3 fish and hoping things would pick up for him later in the day, and looking across I could see Lee and Judy on adjacent pegs ……

 Strolling back Keith reckoned he had around 35lbs but was adamant that Pete was doing better , and I couldn’t help notice that he was fishing short just in front of his nets, and made me realise that last year I’d caught tight to my nets on Pathfield, perhaps that was the way to go today ……

 Pete was back on his peg and of course though that Keith was just edging him as he struck into a carp just as I moved on ……

 Indeed it was starting to become obvious that the fish were starting to get their heads down, and I could see Ken on the far bank getting ready to slide a small Carp over the net ……

 Tony was attached to yet another fish, that seemed to be giving a good account of itself with plenty of orange vespe coming out of his top kit …….

 and there was Clive just slipping the landing net under yet another fish that he’d taken on the method feeder ……

 Simon however wasn’t feeling so positive, complaining that he’d never lost as many fish as he’d done today and considering that he’d lost a fair few on the last match at Mill Barn, you could safely say that he wasn’t best pleased ……

 Back at my peg I dropped my 6mtr rig in on a top 3 at the end of my nets and found just a couple of inches less on the depth, so fed a handful of pellet there and stuck a 6mm pellet on the band. This soon produced a Barbel of around 3lbs and was swiftly followed by a couple more , then a small Carp as Dave arrived with another Mug of coffee from Jean . The next fish made me jump as an acrobatic skimmer did a passable impression of a Trout leaping clear of the water as I struck . Another couple of Barbel followed and I’d noticed Al on peg 22 collecting a second carp net so he was obviously going well and from what I could see was fishing the method. Dave was still catching well and he was next to go for a second net. Another small carp followed for me before a couple of foul hookers ran me ragged and seemed to kill the swim .

Time for a look in the margin with the paste rig, a couple of knocks and the float buried , the strike meeting with firm resistance as a good fish powered of into open water. The fish stayed deep not wanting to get its head up, but steady pressure finally told as a double figure Mirror slid into the waiting landing net . With that fish I reckoned I had about 55lbs in the net so went and got a second carp net for myself .
Back in with the paste and it was obvious that the fish were there as the float buried straight away, a barbel this time with a taste for paste, and I took another 7 carp before Paul came up to see how I was doing with 15 minutes to go. Unfortunately this coincided with a spate of iffy bites and I only managed one more Carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm while he played a final fish.

Packing my kit up and chatting to Martin I was convinced that I had around 80-90lbs, but I wasn’t really sure as I’d got it somewhat wrong last year when we fished Pathfield but with the kit packed away in the car all would be revealed as I set off for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off with 63¼lbs from peg 1 , which Keith topped from Peg 6 with 86¾lbs just edging out Pete’s level 86lbs to take the bragging rights on their trip home to Milton Keynes .

Tony on peg 10 put 70lbs+ on the scales with his first net, but thankfully Graham (The Owner) decreed that as long as it wasn’t over 80lbs there would be no penalty. His final tally was 143¼lbs, a total that wouldn’t be beaten ensuring he took the honours on the day . Clive managed 69½lbs and Simon just 40lbs.
Round to my peg and as soon as I lifted my 1st net I knew that I’d underestimated as well , thankfully it came in under 80lbs and my total of 141½lbs that would be good enough for 2nd today . Dave had a good day as well on peg 18 with 122¼lbs and Nick Bondeau recorded a new PB match weight of 71lbs .

Al was left regretting a slow last half hour when his weight came out at 131lbs but still ended up 3rd overall . Lee Rose on peg 34 took the best weight among the Morefax lads with a level 98lbs while Roger, Ken and Graham managed 50lb weights . So back to the fishery lodge for coffee and results.
Dave soon had the results and the sections sorted and payed out, 1700lbs + had been weighed in for an average of 62lbs+ per angler so it was fair to say a decent day had been had by most . Next up for Marsh AC is Blasford Hill on August 13th.

For me however the next stop is 3 days at Rolfs Lake next weekend for Dave’s Friday Invitation match and the MD’s Pairs weekend .