Marsh AC club match.

The Top Lake at Rayne Lodge just outside of Braintree in Essex is the venue for what is the second Marsh AC club match of the year. A quick glance through the curtains confirmed that the forecaster hadn't been kidding last night and it promised to be a fine sunny day , so shorts and tee shirt were the order of the day. Cats fed and coffee drunk I loaded up the car and set off round to Dave's house where I met up Chris and Dave for the trip down to the fishery. An accident on the way to the Dartford Tunnel meant we had to divert round it making us a little late, but we still pulled into the car park just after 8am.

Soon all the kit was transfered down the hill to the lake and discussions were underway about the prospects for the day ahead. Vic( SHANGER) Nugent was fishing his first club match with us since joining and had brought his partner Diane along to fish as well , while Keith had brought workmate Mick along as his guest once more. Into the draw and peg 14 was mine for the day (one away from the one I had on my last visit here)......

while Keith drew peg 14A to my left......

 with Kevin and partner Jean to my right on peg 12 and Al next up on peg 11A......

I have to say that the lake looked cock on, There were plenty of fish showing, however they just appeared to be mooching about and it looked as if they were getting ready to spawn to me.

With us fishing from 10·15am till 4·15pm today there was plenty of time to set up, so everything got an outing today. 2 pellet waggler rods and a method feeder set up came out of their ready sleeves along with 3 top kits for the pole.

The top kits were set up with 2 Sackup CX 4x12 pencils on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's and a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG for the margin line. Feed was 6mm hard pellet, with dampened pellet for the method while hook baits were 6 & 8mm hard pellet, corn and a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.

Jean kindly provided me with my customary coffee and a bonus today in the shape of a freshly cooked sausage & bacon roll so I was well set by the time Dave sounded the All-In at 10·15am. A pot of pellets and corn onto each my selected lines then I shipped a banded 6mm pellet out to 7mtrs. A minute later and the float slid away and carp number 1 was on its way to the net . Unfortunately it was only a couple of ounces, not quite the stamp I was looking for . A better example of around a pound was next up and this was followed by a couple of skimmers and I got the impression that the fish I was really looking for weren't present in any numbers.

I'd started catapulting a few pellets across to the corner of the island and after around an hour took a look with the pellet waggler after re-feeding my pole lines. There were fish there alright, I could see them cruising, but after half an hour I'd only managed 3 small carp for my efforts. A quick look with the feeder was unproductive so it was back to the pole.

At this stage nobody appeared to be running away with it, and the word was that it was generally fishing slow. I started to get a few carp interested on my 7mtr line, nothing remarkable, but enough to make me feel that I was holding my own against Keith . Another coffee and sausage & bacon roll from Jean was most welcome , so having been re-fed myself, I re-fed the swim and took a quick stroll to try and see what was happening elsewhere.

Keith was starting to find a few on a more regular basis, though he was ruing the loss of a 'Double' that had taken off out of his swim and just kept going ......

 Simon appeared to be ticking along nicely picking up fish by alternating between on the deck and up in the water in an attempt to keep in touch with the fish......

 Diane was playing a fish as I passed and seemed to think that she might have the beating of Vic .......

 ...... and although Vic was also playing a fish, a quick chat revealed that he was far from confident in gaining the upper hand today ......

 Terry on peg 22 claimed to be struggling, though he was playing a fish while we chatted. while Eddie on peg 1 appeared to be ticking along nicely and enjoying his first day out on the bank for a while ......

Dave had started to catch fishing floaters under the tree to his left and while he was having trouble feeding due to the resident geese he seemed to be getting a decent stamp of fish , and it seemed that Martin had followed his lead and was starting to catch a similar stamp of fish from peg 6 round the corner from Dave ......

Clive was claiming to have a mare, but the fact that he was happy to pose with a small roach that he caught led me to believe that he might just be sand bagging about how his match was going .....

I found Mick in the corner on peg 11 and was shocked to see him fishing the waggler , but he was having a bit of a lean time and figured that it was the best way to tempt a few......

 As I got back to my peg Keith was into another fish so it was time to get my head down and concentrate. First put in and the float buried as a carp intercepted the bait and although the sport was never fast or furious, I managed to keep the fish coming on a reasonably regular basis by keeping the pellet going in to hold the fish. It was nip and tuck between me and Keith right the way to the end with a bit of banter back and forth between the two of us right up till the end when Dave called the All-Out at 4·15pm while I played a final fish that took my total up to 51 carp.

As we packed up I knew it would be to close to call between Keith and I and with the weigh in starting on peg 1 it had made it's way round to Martin on peg 6 before I caught up with it to find Dave leading with a fine 114¾lbs which would prove to be good enough to take the win on the day as Martin's net came up a little short at 103¾lb, but still good enough for 2nd . Clive had indeed been economical with the truth as his net came in at a level 89lbs for 3rd overall . Al managed 64½lbs while my fish weighed a total of 73lbs giving me the section and just edging out Keith's 71½lbs . Simon's 64½lbs allowed him to tie for 6th with Al . Round to peg 20 where Diane placed a level 48lbs on the scales to take the decision from Vic's 34½lbs, though of course we were all full of sympathy for him ................NOT

Back up the hill to the car park for the results and the section monies and that was it for another match . The next match is at Mill Barn Reservoir on June 11th where I'll be defending a narrow 1 point lead from Al and Clive with Keith just a point further back.

Mick the Chippy's Knock Up.

Back at the end of July Mick the Chippy placed a post on Maggotdrowning.com informing us that he'd booked the whole Match Lake at Hawkhurst for today. Needless to say the whole 20 pegs were soon filled for a day on a venue that has the potential to throw up some huge match weights, With a good café on sight serving an excellent breakfast and a load of like minded anglers fishing it's a match that I've been looking forward to for a while . However after a couple of days of real cold temperatures I was rather saddened to hear heavy rain beating against the bedroom window as the alarm went off and a quick glance out of the window confirmed it was pouring down . A mug of strong coffee soon had me functioning and having fed the cats and loaded the car it was off to Hawkhurst. It wasn't the best drive down, rain and heavy spray persisting till I got the other side of Tonbridge, where it started to ease off, however by the time I pulled into the fishery car park it had stopped .

Quite a few of the usual suspects were in attendance and a number of 'Golden Nuggets' had been wagered on todays outcome. Mick had set up a rolling draw so that we could get set up before partaking of breakfast in the fishery café. Peg 5 was mine for the day about half way up the roadside bank, and I was off to a good start when it was draw out as todays lucky peg, meaning that I just had to catch a fish to receive £10 .

I soon had myself settled in, the pegs are a decent size and allow you plenty of room to get set up. Just 3 top kits to cover the options today. 2 Malman 4x12 Champer's on 0·16 Power Match with size 18 QM1 hooks, the 1st to cover lines at 4mtrs at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, and the 2nd to cover 6mtrs straight out in front, while a 0.2 HB Grizzly on 0·16 Power Match with a size 18 QM1 took care of the margin line against the boards. Bait today was my usual selection of GOT Baits soft hookers, expanders and hard pellets while feed would be the fishery 6mm hard pellets.

Marsh AC club match.

It's off down to Hartleylands fishery at Cranbrook in Kent for another club match today. We've booked the whole of Nick's Lake and invited a few guests so hopefully all will have a decent day . A dark damp picture greeted me as I looked out of the window this morning and as I loaded the car there was a definite chill in the air , Autumn had well and truly arrived .
By 7·15am I was sitting down in the Knox-Bridge Café for a 'Full English' and I was soon joined by Mick the Chippy who was my guest for the day while John, Martin & Zack were soon followed by Graham, Al, Keith and Pete Thompson, all in search of some pre-match sustenance . So with breakfast taken care of it was back to the cars and off to the fishery for the draw.

Most of the usual suspects were present and with the sun beaming down hopes were high for a decent days fishing, though a cool north easterly wind made sure that everyone was glad that they were well wrapped up . Into the draw bag and peg 4 revealed itself as my home for the day at head, a nice short walk once I'd moved my car and I would have the sun on me all day to take the edge off the chill . I had Martin for company on my right on peg 2, while to my left I had Dave Collier along with daughter Chrissy and her partner Nick on pegs 7, 8 & 9.

Set up for the day would be nice and simple. Feeder rod with a small method feeder to fish to the island and 3 pole rigs. the 3 pole rigs were all Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·16 Power Match with size 18 QM1 hooks set at various depths to cover from the margins where I had around 2ft out to 5mtrs were there was around 4ft. I wasn't planning to fish any further out on the pole as the wind would make it awkward. Bait today was my usual selection of GOT Baits soft hookers, expanders and 6mm hard pellets while feed would just be a mix of 4 & 6mm hard pellets and some groundbait for the method.

While I waited for the All-In I had a few misgivings in that I hadn't seen many fish showing on what is normally a very prolific venue and the water had what I can only describe as a cloudy look to it as the algae was starting to break down with the onset of the cooler weather. Anyway at 10am Dave blew the whistle for the All-In and I cupped 2 pots of pellets in on the 5mtr line and fed both margins before going out to the island with the method feeder. Ken seemed to be straight into a few fish on the waggler ......

....... while Dave, Chrissy and Nick all seemed to be into fish as well . Twenty minutes in and I hadn't had as much as a knock on the method which was very unusual , however I noticed a couple of bubbles on the 5mtr line and soon swapped over to the pole line.

A couple of lift and drops and the float slid away, the culprit being a mint little Common of around a pound to get me underway .
Now I wish I could say that this was the start of a major bagging session but if I did I would be telling porkies . I did start to put a few fish together but it was far from fast and furious despite Jean arriving with a welcome mug of coffee . Two hours in and I'd only managed 10 small Carp from the 5mtr line and despite another couple of looks across on the method, had still not had as much as a tap on it .

Going nowhere fast I re-fed both pole lines and went for a stroll with the camera to try and suss out how others were catching, if indeed they were. Dave was dropping a bait by the young willow in his left margin and was soon into a fish as I watched ......

Chris was a picture of concentration and while he was getting quite a few small silvers had only had 2 small carp to go with them and boost his catch .......

Keith was having a bit of a struggle, but being comfortably ahead in the points table was using the day to experiment fishing paste which was producing some very positive bites but little in the way of fish .......

....... while Clive wasn't fairing much better, and I'm sure I heard him telling his drawing hand that he'd be teaching it another sharp lesson after today .......

Carrying on round I came to Colin who I knew had been down a couple of times practising during the week along with Tony, Terry and Dave. He'd caught well on paste (no surprise there ) but the drop in temperature looked to have scuppered his plans as he was having a struggle today .......

...... on the next peg Kevin had been struggling too, but he was just in the process of landing a small Carp, so hopefully things would start to pick up for him ......

 Al was ticking along and owning up to around 15 Carp in the net and Pete was a little frustrated that his plans for a days skimmer bashing was being thwarted by the fact that the skimmers were to small and Carp kept muscling in on the act .......

Mick seemed happy enough with his lot and was getting a few fishing the method but felt that he was waiting just a little to long between bites to do any real damage .......

Terry was another of those anglers who was finding that the fishing today bore no resemblance to that which he'd experienced earlier on in the week ......

Ken's bright start had slowed somewhat though he was still picking up the odd fish on the waggler and Graham was another of those who was finding to many small silvers and not enough Carp in the mix ......

Back at my peg it was just a case of getting my head down and getting the most from my peg for the rest of the match ......

It was far from fast and furious but by working away at it, constantly lifting, dropping and dragging the rig I kept picking up the odd Carp nothing bigger than 2 pounds and mostly smaller. My feeder line just refused to produce a fish despite another couple of looks and neither margin line produced a bite either . Dave's fish had slowed right up on him as well, but he'd got off to such a good start that I knew he was out of my reach. John and Zack came round to collect Martin as they were leaving early and John took the honours in the 3 way car sweep with his 18½lbs . I managed a bit of a spurt with 10 Carp in the last hour and when Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm I'd managed 36 Carp.

So to the Weigh-In and my fish gave me a weight of 45¾lbs which would be good enough for a section win on the day . Chrissy's 35½lbs had beaten Nick's 27lbs, but Dave had won the family battle with a very decent 72¼lbs for 2nd overall . Keith had suffered his worst result of the series with just 12¾lbs to show for his efforts , while Clive's 45¾lbs tied my weight . Tony's 55½lbs secured 3rd on the day , but todays winner was Al with a fine 84½lbs . Pete ended with a creditable 53½lbs for 4th on his first ever visit to the fishery , while Mick managed 41¾lbs and Ken took the honours from the car park bank with 32½lbs .

So that's it for this years Marsh AC matches. Thanks to Dave for organising yet another enjoyable series of matches .
Well Done to Keith, Mr Consistent topping the points table . Thanks to all the members and guests who have fished, you're the ones who make it such an enjoyable day out each and every time .

Finally a special Thank You to Jean for those mugs of coffee during the matches, they were much appreciated .

The club doesn't operate a Championship as such but this year Dave's collated a table of the seasons results using a 30 point system. Guests results were not included in the table. As you can see Keith has been Mr Consistent over the course of the season coming out on top with 212 points  while Tony was Runner-Up with 204 points and Colin finished 3rd on 194 points .

(d.n.f. = Did not Fish.   30 pts = Match Winner.)

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's the second Marsh match of the year today. There's a slight change of plan however as we were supposed to be fishing the Top Lake, but with only 22 pegs on there after some recent changes, and with 20 anglers booked in for todays match the decision was made to change to the Bottom Lake. I have to say that the last couple of matches that the club has had on there haven't really been resounding successes so hopefully it will fish a bit better for us today . 

I'd arranged to meet up with Dave at his house at 7am, and it's a good job I did. As I got out of the car I saw that I hadn't put my pellets in the car, Luckily Dave always has loads so I blagged some from him . Cars loaded and a quick trip through the Dartford Tunnel into darkest Essex saw us pulling into the fishery car park at Battlesbridge just before 8am .

It promised to be a glorious day weather wise with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky, but the first order of the day was breakfast  in the café cooked by Tony Runnalls (the Fishery Manager) while everyone caught up with the latest gossip. It was Dave's Birthday  today and his good lady Gladys had come with him on what has become her annual outing with the club. There's a bit of history here as on her first visit here in October 2007 she had beaten Dave off the next peg, while on our last visit in July 2008, I was the one being beaten, so the pressure was on to avoid being "Gladys'd" so avoiding frightful amounts of stick in the future .

Into the draw and I found peg 2 sticking to my hand, a nice short walk from the car park but not the best of draws as it's always struggled to produce in our matches on the lake. The peg itself looks glorious......

.......with the corner of an island that can be reached at around 20mtrs. For company today I had Keith on peg 1 ......

...... so the competition would be stiff, but at least the banter would be good   while peg 3 wasn't drawn.
I decided to be positive in my approach today targeting the larger fish that are present in the lake. I set up a couple of Shakespeare 11 ft pellet waggler rods and a feeder rod with a small method feeder to attack the point of the island, while I just set up 1 pole rig for a late look down the margin as a back up. Bait for the day was simply 6mm hard pellet and some corn, while the groundbait for the feeder was the new GOT 'Yellow Peril' with some added Atomic micros.
There's a huge head of smaller fish that can be caught fishing maggot, but the matches always seem to go to those who get amongst the better specimens, especially the Carp and Bream, so they were my targets for today.

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and we were underway, the method feeder being dispatched to the corner of the island with a banded pellet on the hook, while I pinged a few pellets over in preparation for the waggler later. Keith started on the lead to the island and was soon off the mark with a small Tench . I stuck at the method for 45 minutes before I was rewarded with my first fish, a small F1 that promptly dived at the keepnet and transfered the hook to it before I had the chance to net it. Carp 1-0 , Was it going to be one of those days?

Out with the waggler and i was finally rewarded with an Ide of around 1lb+ to get me off the mark . Dave was on an early stroll round and informed me that Gladys was catching well and already had 35 fish to crank the pressure up. Gladys always fishes maggot on a top 2 for whatever swims and while I knew most of her fish would be small there was always the chance of the odd bonus and she would probably put 10lbs+ on the scales at the end, so no pressure there then .

A Bream was my next fish and at around 2½lbs more than welcome, this was swiftly followed another, unfortunately this one was nearer 2½ozs. Keith however was reporting rather a lot of black Hydro being pulled from his topkit!!!!!!!!  The culprit proved to be a decent Common that was soon residing in the bottom of Keith's landing net.........

I was then briefly attached to something that decided to vanish at a rate of knots round the back of the island before shedding the hook and killing sport in the process. Carp 2-0 . I took a look down the margin that I'd been feeding regularly from the off with a grain of corn on the hook but without an indication to give me any encouragement after 15 minutes I decided to have a stroll with the camera. Tony on peg 25 was getting amongst some decent Ide down on peg 25, but the chap that seemed to be doing the best on that bank was Clive fishing meat long he'd picked up some decent Bream and a couple of Carp, but had lost a Bream that he reckoned was bigger than his landing net!!!!! ........

Gladys had slowed down a bit (Thank heavens for small mercies ) while Dave fishing his customary 4 sections had the contented look of a man who felt he had the measure of his wife ........

Over on the far side the wind was putting a nice ripple onto the water and Jim could be found steadily putting a net of small fish together, but was a little frustrated that he couldn't find any bonus fish  ......

....... Colin was having a bit of a struggle and had reverted to fishing the maggot, but Al was fishing hemp & tares up in the water and was finding a few Ide and bream. Tony (Wily Coyote) was tucked away in peg 5 but was having better luck catching the sun than getting the fish to co-operate  .......

Back at my peg and the waggler still failed to produce so I decided to fish the method for the remainder of the match in the hope that I could find a decent Carp to get me out of Jail. Tony meanwhile had hooked a decent Carp, a right lump in fact and was gingerly playing it on his new pole, and getting plenty of encouragement to give it a bit of teddy ........

....... needless to say the hook pulled, but at least he got plenty of Sympathy ........NOT!!!!!!!!

....... Well retribution for taking the micky out of Tony was swift as everything went slack, a pigtailed line showing that a knot had failed at the swivel ........

....... Mugger had been well and truly mugged. Carp 3-0 .

So a couple of hours to go and it looked like I needed snookers. I tied a new rig up, paying special attention to the knots this time and set up a hair rig to take 3 grains of sweetcorn, sh*t or bust time. Time ticked on, Keith managed another a smaller Carp from his margin, but not so much as a rattle on my tip .
3·55pm and just 5 minutes to go, time for one last cast before the inevitable stick that I just knew would be coming my way. 3 fresh grains of corn on the rig and back out accompanied with a little prayer................ Well the tip had barely settled when it steadily pulled round and just kept going . I just had to lift the rod and as soon as I felt it I knew this was the fish that I needed. A nervous couple of minutes followed, not helped by various shouts of encouragement (or was it disbelief ) from around the lake, before I slid it safely over the net accompanied by a shout of relief that could be heard around the lake, a definite double, I slipped it safely into the keepnet just as Dave called the All-Out .

As I packed my kit away I have to say that I felt pretty relieved, though I'm sure I could hear "Two Minutes  Two bloody Minutes " coming from Dave's direction. Keith and I were on the scales today and as we set off round the lake Tony on peg 25 took an early lead with a level 20lbs. Clive on peg 20 soon overtook that however with 45lbs . Gladys set the target of 12½lbs to avoid humiliation, which Dave sailed past with 22½lbs . Jim put 17lbs on the scales, but the main man on the day was Keith's guest Mick who comfortably took the win with 63¼lbs of mainly Bream . Al's 23lbs was to prove good enough for 3rd overall. My moment of truth arrived and that late Carp weighed just over 11lbs and boosted my total weight to 16¼lbs, so no 'Gladysing' for me . Keith rounded things off with a hard earnt 17¾lbs .

Back to the car park for the results, and most seemed to think that it hadn't fished that badly, and after a chorus of  for Dave we said our farewells  .  

My next trip should be down to Monk Lakes for the Faye Match in support of http://www.postpals.co.uk which should hopefully raise a good few quid for a very good cause. A full report of the day will appear here in due course .

Well the day promised to be a bit of fun as I was off down to Hartleylands to join a few of the lads that are fishing Nick Gilbert's 1st Invicta Angling Match League and were looking to have a bit of a practice prior to the 1st match there next week. Loading up the car at 7am in Sydenham it looked as if we could be in for a decent day with the sun rising into a bright blue sky, just a breathe of wind and a pleasant 7°C showing on the car thermometer.

By the time I pulled up at the Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast things had taken a turn for the worst however , with wind, thick grey clouds and the 1st hint of rain replacing the sun. A quick bit of breakfast with Matt, Nick, Alan and Ekythump and it was off to the fishery for the draw. Already there were Vince, Trevor, Jay and Kevin and while Nick sorted out the draw we sorted our kit out. Mistake no1 !!!! I'd left my jacket at home !!!!! Thankfully Matt saved the situation lending me his spare jacket for the day. Nice one Matt .

With the wind increasing I fancied one of the pegs in the 30's which were reasonably sheltered and almost flat calm. It was not to be as peg 25 was to be my home for the next few hours............

The wind was already starting to gust strongly as I settled in and set up and I just set up a maggot feeder and a couple of top kits to fish short, as i didn't fancy battling with a long pole in the conditions, not that I was jealous looking across to Alan on peg peg 32 setting up with what appeared to be a millpond in front of him !...........

10·30am and Vince blew the whistle for the All-in. I'd made up a slop of crushed hemp and Pineapple Atomic Cloud to feed the inside line and fished white maggot on the hook and this soon started to produce few small Roach . Sport in general appeared to be slow for most though Jay was getting a few Carp on the feeder over on peg 8, Nick had the wind full in his face on peg 6 (a most unusual occurrence for him ) while Matt was blasting maggot and fishing the waggler on peg 9 but this was producing mostly Roach for him rather than the hoped for Carp. In fairness though most of the lads were trying to sort methods for the upcoming League so it was more of a question of sorting out wouldn't work as opposed to sitting it out on a banker method.

Just after midday I had a look over on the feeder. 3rd cast and I stuck it into a tree on the island and cracked off. Temper? Laziness? I really should have stuck with it but didn't. Instead I had a cup of coffee and went for a walk with the camera to warm up.

Up on peg 21 Trevor was sheltered behind his brolly and had settled on the waggler with a fair bit of open water in front of him, and while it was mostly Roach the occasional Carp was putting in an appearance to keep it interesting........

while Ekythump 2 down on peg 23 was fishing his top 2 and finding a few more Carp amongst the Roach...........

Back down on peg 32 Alan was getting a few on the Waggler but had been feeding a margin line that as it turned out, was to come good for him in the last hour ..........

Kevin on peg 34 was having a bit of a grueller and was sitting it out on the feeder.........

Vince was on peg 32 and complaining that he was freezing despite being sheltered from the worst of the conditions. The feeder was producing the odd Carp for him as it appeared the fish wanted a dead still bait.......

Nick on peg 6 (a peg he didn't want to put in, so you just knew he would draw it) spent most of his time chopping and changing trying various methods out when he wasn't having a walk about chatting and trying to get out of the wind  .........

That just left Jay and Matt on pegs 8 & 9..........

........ and while Jay stuck it out on the feeder all day, Matt started the match on the waggler spraying maggot before switching to the method halfway through .............

I spent the rest of the match fishing the top 2 but unlike Ekythump, couldn't find a Carp for love or money, I did however manage a Barbel which was a bit of a surprise because as far as I'm aware Paul only stocked about 14 of them into the lake originally !!!! (needless to say it was in perfect condition )

3·30 and Vince blew the All-out, a most welcome sound , which was quickly followed by the weigh-in. 12lbs 12 ozs was my reward for the day, leaving Vince happy that he'd beaten me for the 2nd time this year. The lake had fished hard though in some of the worst conditions I've experienced there, though hopefully it will be better for the lads fishing the League there, starting next week.

Today's little jaunt started off when Pete Midgley posted up on the Maggotdrowning Forum at the start ot the week "Hi all. Have just spoken to Ryan and we are going down to Hartleylands this Saturday. If anyone else is interested in meeting up let me know and if there is enough we could even have a little friendly match "

Now while the day ticket is £7 a day at Hartleylands, peg fees for a small match are £6 and you can use keepnets, so with 6 of us commiting to the day a 'Match' was booked.

An easy drive down saw me pulling into the car park at around 9·20am to be greeted by Pete, Ryan and Ryan's dad Keith.Shortly after we were joined by Dave who had collected Alan on the way. A clear blue sky promised a decent day weather-wise though a heavy frost gave it away that the temperature was only 1°C.

Paul the Bailiff arrived to collect the peg fees and I managed to negotiate a £1 discount, which we put into a winner takes all pot. We had pegs 20-25 allowing everyone a feature to fish to, and after a quick draw made our way to our pegs.

I found myself with peg24 for the day...........

I would have prefered 25 or 23 which would have given me some open water to have dropped a feeder into, but decided to set up a Drennan 2½AA peacock insert waggler and fish double red maggot to keep busy and warm, though I did set up a small Drennan maggot feeder as a back up, leaving the pole in the rod bag. Pete had kindly picked up a couple of pints of red maggots for me, however I had a bit of a shock to find that they'd sweated up rather badly , but half a bag of GOT Baits worm flavoured Atomic Cloud added to them just about managed to salvage the situation, and this little fella kept popping back all day to sample them ...........

To my left I had Keith (Ryan's dad) for company, and having only recently returned to fishing, he contented himself to just set up the pole, while to my right on 23 Alan had set up a groundbait feeder and his pole. to his right Pete (peg22) had set up pole and feeder as well, while Dave (peg21) and Ryan (peg20) just set up feeders.

We got started around 11am and Keith was off the mark straight away with a small Carp..........

A pouchfull of maggots out to the island followed by my float soon saw me getting regular bites from small Roach and Rudd, nothing big, but regularly enough to keep me warm and interested. Alan was dropping his feeder just off the point of the island and was soon into his 1st Carp of the day........

Indeed everyone seemed to be getting a few and the banter was soon flowing. Pete was alternating between the feeder and the pole and it was while he was on the pole that he became the focus of a fair bit of stick ..........

He hooked into what most of us assumed was a 'lump' and with yards of elastic streaming from his top kit he soon reached the point where it appeared that he could do nothing with it, despite standing up, top kit reaching for the sky it wouldn't come to the net and despite us exhorting him to stand on his seat, he steadfastly refused on the grounds that "I'm not going to get my new seat dirty" What a Tart . Finally the leviathan of the deep was netted, a Carp that might have weighed 4lbs on a good day!!!!!!!!!!!

 Obviously Preston 11 hollo set loose was not quite what the doctor ordered leading to a quick change of top kit .

Dave meanwhile was quietly putting together a few small Carp on the feeder, nothing large, averaging around the 1½-2lb mark, but regularly enough to put him out in front............

 Ryan was getting a few as well, though he couldn't match Dave's catch rate on the day...........

I just kept plugging away with the waggler mostly keeping the silvers going with the odd small Carp. A couple of looks with the feeder had produced a couple of small Carp but the gaps between bites meant that the feeder was soon discarded in favour of the waggler.

All to soon 4pm rolled round and with the fishery closing at 5pm we had a quick weigh-in, with Dave taking the honours on the day and the £1's with his level 28lbs, while I edged Alan out of 2nd with my 20lbs 4ozs to his level 20lbs. then Ryan and Pete with Keith bringing up the rear.

A good day all round, a few fish, great company with plenty of banter and laughs, a typical Maggotdrowning day really . Thanks to Pete for organising it, I'm sure it won't be to long before we're doing it all again.

Today saw a few of the lads from the Maggotdrowning website meeting up for a friendly little knock-up on a Private Lake in East Sussex.
Loading up the car it had all the makings of a decent day ahead, Nice and mild  at 10°C with hardly a breathe of wind. I stopped off for a bit of breakfast in Bromley and was greeted by blue sky and the rising sun as i got back into the car, however as  I reached branched off the M25 onto the A21 I started to run into fog and the temperature started to drop.
By the time I reached the venue and turned into the fishery car park it said 2°C and everything was covered in a heavy frost.
It was soon obvious that Bill's enquiry as to whether anyone fancied "a fun day out plenty of banter and hopefully some of Dave the Fish's rum bottle" had recieved a good response with a dozen of us assembled in the car park. Now the attraction of this lake is that it has a bit of a reputation as a bagging water, especially in the summer, however it had recently suffered two heavy floods and a visit soon after by some of the lads was far from fruitfull, however with another couple of weeks for it to settle down we were hoping for better things today.
Bill had put in an appropriate number of pegs using his experience of the fishery and after a quick draw we made our way to our pegs. Kevin dropped into the 1st corner swim through the gate, while Bill and Tony shared the next corner. Pete, Alan, Dave and Colin were on the far bank while Terry, Vince, Myself, Paul and Ryan had adjacent swims on the near bank.

Setting up it was obvious that there was going to be a fair bit of banter with Paul to my left and Vince to my right..........

Vince had the gap between the two islands in front of him while I had a short chuck to it in front of me. I set up a feeder rod with a small maggot feeder and a waggler rod as well as the pole, though the last two were more as back up. Bill called the All-in at 9·45am and I potted some micro's and corn onto my pole line at 10mtrs and then went straight out with the feeder allowing the pole line to settle.
Kevin was quickly off the mark with a small Carp, but it was a bit of a false start as virtually everyone struggled for a bite from anything other than tiny Roach.
Vince had had a couple of wrap rounds that came to nothing before connecting with a decent Carp that proved to be a near double and Paul had nicked a Carp from his end of the island.........

............. while both the feeder and the pole line remained dead for me.
By 1pm with just a few small Roach from the pole line, i went for a stroll round. 1st port of call was Colin who was struggling.............

............... and Dave, where Dave was kind enough to offer me a warming nip from his bottle of Mount Gay Extra Old  Rum.

Pete and Alan had managed a couple of Carp apiece while Bill and Tony were having their own silvers contest. Working my way back I could see Ryan landing a Carp which was to prove to be the 1st of three that he had in quick succession.

Vince had managed another small Carp, but poor Terry just couldn't buy a bite from anywhere. Looking across however we were treated to a bit of fun as Tony having finally hooked a Carp played it in only to discover that he'd forgotten to set up his landing net  however he managed to land it by scooping it with the net minus handle. Meanwhile Pete ensconced on his new Space Station TX seatbox managed to land another couple of Carp to edge away into the lead.

Around 2pm I finally had a bite on the feeder resulting in a very welcome Carp of around 3½lbs, but as the afternoon wore on our side of the lake got cooler and cooler till even the tiny Roach stopped feeding though a few late Carp did show for those on the far side. Frankly the All-out was music to our ears and the quick weigh-in revealed just how hard the lake had fished.
Pete took the honours on the day with six Carp and a few bits for 34lbs 6ozs followed by Alan with 26lbs 4ozs and Bill taking the last place in the frame with 22lbs 8ozs.

Still despite the lack of fish it was still a decent day out in good company. Thanks to Bill for organising the day. I'm already looking forward to doing it all again once it's warmed up a bit and the lake has had more of a chance to settle down after it's recent double flooding.