Faye's Match

Organised by Maggotdrowning.com
With all proceeds going to support

Around this time last year Bill G organised a fund raising match in aid of PostPals.co.uk in support of a young lady called Faye, who has become very close to the hearts of a lot of the members who use the forum on the website Maggotdrowning.com and you can read the story of just how that day went HERE . It was such a success, that Bill has taken up the reins once more and we're back down at Monk Lakes today to do it all over again .

So having risen at some ungodly hour to take Mrs M to work for 6am, I couldn't help noticing just how cold it was outside , so the first job after another coffee and toast was to dig the thermals out and climb into them before loading the car. With one thing and another it was just gone 7 am once I set off, but a smooth run down saw me pulling into the car park around 8am . Evidently I passed Clive and Tony on the way down, but they were unable to pick up my slipstream and arrived a little later .
A good turnout seemed assured as people assembled and various breakfast goodies were devoured  as introductions were made to new faces and friendships renewed. People had come from far and wide for this match, notably Geoff and his better half Mags, from Motherwell in Scotland, while Arkwright and his good lady Pat had trekked down from Lancashire along with a few other 'Monkeys' from above the Watford Gap  and the 'Pink One' that is Jessebobs escaped from Bristol for the day .

Faye's Dad, Dave T had come down for the day to offer his support, as unfortunately Faye was still in Adenbrookes with Mum Liz keeping her company. With the draw rolling round it was also good to see Vince putting in an appearance . Unfortunately he's been suffering from a bout of pneumonia, preventing him from fishing, but he still found the time to come down to meet everyone and lend Bill a hand with the draw. So in for the draw and peg 145 stuck to my hand. Up on Lake 4 and I was quite happy as with the islands and a fair bit of vegetation it may offer a bit of shelter on what promised to be an absolute grueller of a day weather wise........   yeah right.

Well the peg looked great, but the wind was howling in, but at least it was at my back. It meant that I could comfortably fish at around 7mtrs on the pole and with a decent 2½ft in the margin and a nice level 3ft+ at 7mtrs those would be my 2 lines utilising 2 rigs that were still in my box from an earlier club match on the lake back in March. I also set up my feeder rod as I had it with me in its ready sleeve. Bait for the day was maggot, pellet and corn with some groundbait for the method. For company I had Bill's club mate John to my left while to my right was 'Mermaid' Linda's husband Chris and Al. Did I mention the wind  ??? 1st job was to retrieve my seat box cover that went flying past me and then navigated half the lake before docking in Jessebobs swim, mind you he was going to need all he could get if he thought he was going to fill 3 nets today  ......

So 10·30am and Bill called the All-In, feed onto both lines and out to 7mts with double maggot on the hook, a bit of lifting and dropping and 5 minutes in a nice fat Gudgeon broke the duck. The next hour saw just a couple of small Carp and a few skimmers for me, but John seemed to be finding a few as was Steve (spots) Potter up on peg 149......

Dave T came along for a chat and I gave him my camera with instructions to take a few pictures on his travels. Bill put in an appearance a little later, but word was that while most had caught, very few were catching regularly as the wind was doing its best to make life difficult for most on both lakes.

Next up Kevin's partner Jean and Pat (The Raffle Ticket Mafia) arrived and with their subtle charms had soon extracted cash from us all in exchange for 1000+ raffle tickets .

Meanwhile over on Lake 2 it was starting to look more like an audition for 'Deadliest Catch' than a fishing match as the wind , rain and occasional bouts of hail interspersed with sunshine was making conditions more than a tad difficult for a lot of the anglers. However tucked away behind his brolly on peg 67 Jon (Mutley) Reed was having one of those sessions we all dream about......

 Now Jon is no match angler but a combination of simple feeder tactics and regularly pinging feed over the top kept fish coming to his rod virtually all match .

Further up on peg 73 Keith (shallowman) Haynes was making the most of it fishing chopped worm & caster for anything with fins and was slowly building a good weight.

I'd invited a work colleague, Dave Janes along today to fish his 1st ever match, he's not long started pole fishing, and struggled a bit as the concept of a match was so new to him......

but he was delighted to get his best ever carp on the pole which weighed in at 12½lbs......

For a lot though it was just a case of battling through and nicking the odd fish where possible Geoff had told me that Mags always brings the rain with her when she leaves Scotland ............... He wasn't wrong . Arkwright must have wondered why he'd travelled all the way down from Lancashire, as us southern lads had obviously lied to him about these Southern 'Baggin' waters, but he stuck at it and had a few  ......

Mick was under severe pressure as he had granddaughter Rosie for company on the next peg  ......

......  No that's wrong as Mick really doesn't 'do' pressure, being one of the most relaxed anglers you could ever hope to meet......

...... and between nicking a couple and helping young Rosie, honour remained intact at the end with Mick getting the decision by a clear 10ozs .

Gary (garycatch) Catchpole had drawn the fabled peg 45 and was slowly putting a few together  ........

Linda aka Mermaid was also getting a few, and it was just a question of whether it would prove to be enough to give her the bragging rights over husband Chris who was over on Lake 4......

Meanwhile back on Lake 4 Trevor was getting a few towards the island when the wind dropped, but it was never for long enough......

Al was battling on and getting the odd fish, but couldn't put a run of them together......

So with a couple of hours to go I decided that enough was enough with the pole and reached for the feeder rod. 3 grains of corn hair rigged and lobbed towards the island. Within a minute the tip wrapped round and a small Mirror was safely into the net . That set the pattern for my last 2 hours, regular fish, but a few hook lengths were claimed by various snags that seemed to litter the area, but at least it kept me reasonably busy till Bill called the All-Out at 3·30pm.

Al and I had the scales for Lake 4 and thankfully given the conditions the Weigh-In didn't take to long as the weather started to close in once more. Steve (spots) Potter taking the section with 56½lbs  ahead of Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess's 42¼lbs.

So with the gear packed away it was back to the car park for the results. Overall the day belonged to Jon (Mutley) Reed  with a fine 101lbs to take the win  ahead of Keith (shallowman) Haynes's level 85lbs , while Steve (spots) Potter's 56½lbs filled 3rd place .

Bill G then said a few words of thanks before announcing that the total raised for Post Pals on the day had come to £853 and with another £270 still to come from an auction for a day at Rolfs Lake should take the total to over £1100 .

Dave T  then thanked everyone for their efforts and read out the following letter that Faye had sent as she was unable to attend  .....

Thanks to everyone for coming to the match.
  We know many of you have travelled a long way. I'm sorry I can't be there in
person. I was hoping to be there but Addenbrookes won't let me come home yet.
Me & my mum will be thinking of you all today. Hope you all caught lots of fish
& have enjoyed yourselves. Thanks for supporting my charity Post Pals. The money
raised helps many other seriously ill children.
Thank you for all your messages on the Maggot Drowners site.
A special thank you to Bill for organising everything again.
Hopefully I will see you all at the next one.

Love to you all
Faye.

Well after that all that remained was to draw the raffle, and with that out of the way farewells were bid. I'd just like to say a word of thanks, firstly to Bill G for all his efforts organising the day , and to all those anglers that took part , and Monk Lakes who donated a sizable part of the peg fees back to the cause . Same again next year folks?

Overall Results

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.

"hi pete what are the chances of a days practice before the big day so as you can show me how to snare a whiskery critter or two lol"  that was the PM that I received from Bill on the Maggotdrowning.com Forum. He'd also posted our intent on the forum and a couple of the newer members, Petemid and Ryan (Zephyr) soon agreed to join us as Ryan also wanted a Barbel.

So there I was loading my kit into my frost covered car for the trip down with the temperature registering 2°C . Suitably wrapped up as I know just how exposed Monk Lakes can be, the thermals were getting their 1st outing for a while.

Bill and I had decided that there was no need for an early start, and to meet at the fishery around 9 - 9·30am. I stopped for a couple of Sausage & Egg McMuffins on the way down and arrived just ahead of Bill, while a quick phone call revealed that that Pete and Ryan were already ensconced in pegs on Lake 2. Bill soon arrived and after he'd demolished a breakfast baguette we made our way up to Lake2, which i was pleasantly surprised to see was flat calm, a real bonus as the lakes normally catch the slightest breeze.

Pete had set up on peg47 with Ryan on peg48 and had been fishing for around an hour, so I let Bill take peg45 as I was positive that he would get his Barbel from there while i dropped into peg46.
On arrival I 'd had a chat with Ron the bailiff and he'd agreed that we could use keepnets for a little knock-up, and I'd brought a spare for Ryan as I knew he didn't have one.

We started the knock-up at around 10·45am after Pete & Ryan had gone and got something to eat and Bill and I finished setting up. Ryan was using a pole he'd borrowed from Pete for the 1st time and was soon into fish.

I set up a couple of rigs, a top 3 for dead depth at around 3ft deep for an inside line, which would double as an up in the water rig on my main line at around 8mtrs. My other rig was set to fish dead depth at around 6ft on the 8mtr line.Bait was to be double red maggot on the size 18 Fox series2 hooks attached to both rigs. I started with ½ a pot of micro's and a couple of dozen red maggots at 8mtrs and a pinch of maggots on the inside line, though I doubted whether the inside line would work today as the water was icy cold.
Bill appeared to set up just a single rig to fish at 6-7mtrs and was feeding pellet and maggot as well and alternating between corn and maggot on the hook.

1st fish for me was a little Tench followed by an Ide and I think Bill got off the mark with a Chub. I elected to pot more Micro's and maggots in, and for a horrible minute thought that I'd killed it, but the bites soon returned. Pretty soon I had the 1st Barbel, much to Bill's delight , soon followed by another couple, Vince phoned and found it hard to believe that Bill hadn't managed a Barbel at that point, especially as I managed another couple while chatting on the phone .
No sooner had Vince hung up and Dave(Red Leader) phoned for a report and much to Bill's delight, reckoned that he must be using Barbel-less hooks.

Both Bill and I were catching reasonably regularly and at one point I tried some cat food as a change bait and managed a run of 6 Barbel in 6 put ins, not that I was counting, Bill was though as he waded through the Chub, Tench and Carp to try and find a Barbel . A quick look down the bank revealed that Ryan was catching steadily, but Pete was struggling with big gaps between his bites .

Good to see as well, that the EA's bailiffs were out and about checking licences in the cold. On a day when there were no matches on and the weather ensuring very few anglers were at the fishery, they could easily have given it a miss and stayed in the warm without anyone being any the wiser.

Around 1pm the wind started to get up, blowing straight into us and realistically both Bill and I should have changed our light rigs to combat it, but we were both to lazy as we were still getting bites. Soon I looked up and could tell by the grin on Bills face that the fish sliding towards his net was a Barbel, which was soon captured for posterity .........

Shortly after Paul(nomorelongwalks) phoned for a progress report and let us know that he was off for a pint or two in a nice warm pub . Meanwhile I was building a nice mixed bag of Barbel, Mirrors, F1's, Tench (both green & golden) Golden Orfe and Ide, nothing big but regularly enough to keep warm .

By 3pm we decided to call time as the skies threatened rain and both Pete & Ryan had realised that trainers weren't the ideal footwear to keep your feet warm

My bag came to 26lbs, but you'll have to excuse the picture as Ryan was so cold by then that he couldn't hold the camera steady .................

Finally Bill weighed in with 21lbs including 4 Barbel that all beat his previous PB .............

Not the greatest of weights but given the light hearted nature of the day and the conditions, not to bad. Farewells made we set off, but we'll soon be doing it all again on the 15th December at the MD's Southern Fur & Feather match .

Back down to Monk Lakes again today, with Maria going out with a friend for a bit of early Christmas shopping it seemed as good an excuse as any to give a new purchase a 1st outing and see if I was comfortable using it.

 Yes my faithfull Boss 6 draw box has been retired from service and the new bit of kit that's taking it's place is a Platt-forms Series3 Tuff box..........

Anyway arriving after a leisurly drive down a chat with Ron while purchasing my ticket revealed that once again there were no Saturday matches on so I could take my pick of swims on the match lakes. With it being quite mild (12°C) and overcast I thought I might have a bit of a practice on Lake1 for the upcoming MD's Fur & Feather match  however it soon became obvious that the wind was  pretty horrendous so I drove down to Lake2 which offers a little bit of shelter as it sits lower than the other 3 match lakes. Peg45 was occupied by a father and son so I set up on Peg47 to give them a bit of space.

I was going to keep things very simple today, just a top 3 with a rig set up for dead depth (about 4ft) , a couple of pints of red maggots for bait and some pellets for feed.

A couple of handfulls of pellet into the swim followed by a pinch of maggots followed by the rig produced almost instantly, however it was just a razorblade of a skimmer  this was followed by a couple of Gudgeon and a micro Carp, but these were then followed by this fella................

........ who proceeded to upend himself in a determined attempt to get at the feed he had obviously seen me putting in.  Not content with that he decided it was bathtime, thrashing around getting himself soaking wet and then just sitting there preening himself.

However whilst all this had been going on the father & son on Peg45 had decided to move over onto Lake4, so not being one to miss an opportunity I quickly moved my kit over leaving Mr Swan to his ablutions . A quick replumb and I was set, I decided against feeding pellets as I felt the sound of the splash was what had attracted the swan, settling for just flicking out a pinch of maggot.

Now at this point I would like to say just how hard I fished, putting on a true piscatorial masterclass, chopping and changing with lots of tiny alterations just to keep the fish coming, but that would be a total lie . The truth of the matter is that it turned into one of those easy days fishing where it all goes right. A pinch of maggot, drop the rig in, watch it settle and 15-20seconds later watch the float slide under and the black hydro come out in reaction to the strike then net the fish. A mix of Barbel..........

............... Skimmers, Tench, Carp (both Mirrors and Commons) Chub and quite an large percentage of Ide............

........... a fish that I've not caught in any quantity before from Lake2, and not forgetting of course a number of F1's..............

Monks really should be regarded as the home of the F1 given that Simon who owns the complex originally developed F1's on the adjacent Riverfield Fish Farm.

By 3pm I'd had 250 fish and with the clouds threatening rain I packed up (well I wouldn't have wanted to get the new box wet first time out would I? ) What about the box? well the seat is probably the most comfortable I've spent 6 hours on, but Ill post a full review of the box later.

So that was it for the day, Far better than being dragged round the shops by Maria, and if Lake1 fishes anywhere near as well on the 15th December we should be in for a good day, We'll see.

Well with Maria working today and arranging to meet up with a friend after work I took the opportunity to pop down to Monk Lakes for a session today. I was thinking of having a session on Match Lake 4 providing I could get on there, to see if I could get amongst a few of the better Tench that have recently been stocked.

Arriving just after 8am I stopped off and had a chat with Ron the bailiff while I paid my day ticket. He informed me that apart from a club match on Lake 1 there was nothing on any of the remaining 3 match lakes. I drove up to the top car park and could see that there were a few people on Lake 4 but still plenty of swims left, however as I got out of the car I could see that apart from a solitary angler on Peg 47 there was no one else on Lake 2, and that meant that Peg 45 was free.

All thoughts of Lake 4 vanished, and my kit was soon occupying Peg 45. It's a corner peg which the prevailing wind normally blows into and usually provides a good days fishing.

A quick chat with the angler on Peg 47 (Mick) revealed that he'd looked in on the Maggotdrowning.com forums for some information on the lakes before his visit, and he was already catching well on the pole.

With it being a mild overcast day and the surface of the lake being smooth as glass I decided to set up a 2ssg styro pellet waggler from Malman Floats so that I could give my Shakespeare Mach 3, 11ft Micro Pellet Waggler Rod a work out later on with the prolific stock of F1's that are in the venue. I also set up a couple of top 2's for the pole to tackle the margins as it's normally possible to catch well close in especially on a day like today when there's very little pressure on the venue.

Bait for the day was pretty simple, just a combination of  GOT Baits  4mm pellets for feed that I could also fish banded on the pellet wag and a pint of red maggots.

So a handfull of pellet fed at my feet and straight in with a top 2 rig and as soon as the float settled it slid away and a minute later a fin perfect Tench of about 1lb slid over the net. The fish were just lined up and hungry for the bait and soon it was one a chuck from a variety of Chub, Barbel, Carp and Tench, both green & golden with even a few Gudgeon sneaking in amongst them.

Around 10·30am a car pulled up behind and a chap got out with his son. He came over for a chat and it turned out that his son was just getting into fishing and he'd brought him down to try his luck here. They strolled over to Lake 4 to set up, but seeing them take a couple of uncut loaves over for bait, I did wonder in the back of my mind whether they might struggle.

Anyway back to the fishing and out with the pellet wag. 2 good pouches of pellet at around 25 yds followed by the float soon produced a plump F1 around the 2lb mark and by regularly feeding around 10 pellets a time these were soon coming regularly with the odd better Mirror muscling in on the action when they could beat the F1's to the bait.

About 1pm I decided to have a stroll over to lake 4 to see how the father and son (Stuart & Jack) who had spoken to me earlier had got on. Dad had a carp rod and baitrunner set up with a small float set a couple of feet deep, while Jack has a small 4 mtr whip with the same set up but way too much line. A brief chat revealed that they were struggling with just a couple of small stockies to show for their mornings efforts.
With his Dads permission I spent 5 mins sorting out Jack's kit, showing him how to plumb the depth etc and shortening the rig down to a more manageable set up. Apart from the bread they had some corn, so I showed him how to bury the hook into a kernal and as he settled down we fed a few grains round the float.
Soon his float shot under and he was into a small Mirror of about 1lb, netted by his dad and layed on the unhooking mat for hook removal and a picture. A couple more followed then a Golden Tench much to Jack's delight so I left them to it with Stuarts Thanks.

Back to my peg and Mick came along for a chat, He was a little taken aback by the number of fish he'd caught, telling me that after 30 years angling he mostly fished rivers and natural lakes these days, and he couldn't get over the condition of the Barbel he was catching as he'd always been led to believe that they didn't florish in lakes!!!!
By now the wind had got up blowing straight into me and while there were still fish to be caught on the pellet wag, feeding and presentation were proving problematical. Jack appeared holding his whip explaining that the float seemed to be behaving strangely, and a quick look revealed the shot weren't locking the float properly, and with the wind getting up he was having trouble so I changed it over to a Drennan blue from my box and reshotted it and he was soon back in action.

After this I went back onto the top 2 feeding maggot with double red on the hook. Soon it was obvious that the Barbel had moved in with a vengance. Most of these were in the 1-2lb mark and all super fit, giving the Black Hydro a good work out.

3pm soon rolled round and Stuart and Jack stopped by as they were leaving to thank me for my help. Jack watching me land another Barbel remarked that he would love to catch one, so sitting him down on my box I handed him the top2 and told him to hang on, Soon the float slid away and he was in, the look of surprise as the elastic shot out was priceless, but he soon had it under control and I netted it for him,

with both maggots still on the hook I told him to drop it in again and sure enough another Barbel obliged. Stuart managed to capture the moment on his camera phone, hopefully to provide treasured memories to a confirmed angler in years to come. I think Jack's fishing could cost Stuart a few bob in the years ahead.

That seemed to be a good point to call a halt to proceedings, Soon the kit was packed away, leaving me to reflect on what had proved to be a most enjoyable day both in terms of fish caught and helping Stuart and Jack with a few pointers in the right direction.

Just a quick visit.

Well today promised to be a bit of fun as I was taking Dave, the owner of Maggotdrowning.com down to Monk Lakes for a few hours. Nothing strange in that you might say except for the fact that Dave lives in Leeds!!!!!

He'd actually brought his Wife and eldest daughter down to London as they had tickets to the Prince concert at the O2 arena, so we thought we would make the most of  the opportunity to sneak a few hours fishing while he was down. Word had got out however and it seemed like there may be a few more members of Maggotdrowning making the trip down to Monk Lakes to meet up with him.

So Dave finally rocked up at my place at around 12·30 and by the time we arrived at Monks it was close to 2pm. We went up to match lake 4 to find Vince, Dave Collier and Bill Gibbins already ensconced. Welcomes over Dave and I settled in, with Dave opting for the pole while I had travelled relatively light with just my new Shakespeare Pellet Waggler rod, a chair and a box of bits chucked into my carryall.

The others had been there since around noon and had built their swims up so that they were all catching well, mostly small stockie Carp and Tench, though a few of the better Tench had shown up including a near 5lb'er for Vince who had managed a decent bag from the lake a few days previously.

While Bill contented himself with taking the stockies at the rate of 1 a chuck.........

I however was soon caught out as having made a schoolboy error .  Playing my 1st fish of the session, a small Carp, things didn't feel quite right and a quick look soon revealed that I had missed out one of the eyes on the rod when I threaded the line through them while setting up , not that the lads got any pleasure from taking the mickey out of my mistake.

Dave Collier was getting a few, but soon went into "Butler" mode popping down to the snack wagon and returning with the burgers and the teas  so a halt was called as those were consumed. Behind us on match lake 1 a match had recently finished and I could see a few fish moving in the margins where the departing anglers had disposed of their unused bait. As I was finding sport slow in my own swim I took the decision to move over onto the closest swim to see what I could manage from the margins.

Dave meanwhile was sticking at it, even though he took a bit of convincing that his normal "Yorkie" frugal feeding regime needed stepping up now that he was down south where the fish are hungry and need a decent feed, not pidgeons portions .

I'm sure he could be heard sobbing quietly to himself as he stepped up the feed from 1 pellet every 10 minutes to a hand full every couple of minutes, but it soon started to reap rewards as he found some better fish including a nice Tench...............

Meanwhile I had settled in and with the margins appearing to resemble fish soup I just needed to keep the pellet going in and  using either a GOT Baits  6mm expander or corn on the hook resulted on a fish  virtually every put in, a mixture of Carp, Tench and Barbel with even the occaisional Skimmer thrown in for good measure.

Chatting to Bill earlier he had mentioned that he had only ever caught 1 Barbel and that had only weighed a couple of ounces, and with the Barbel in Monks now going around the 2lb mark I invited him over to see if he could get one as I had had a dozen already. Well Bill sat there for a good ½hr with me feeding the swim for him, but try as he may all he could manage was a succession of Carp and Tench with me performing the Ghillies duties. It did at least give him a chance to try my rod out with which he was suitably impressed, but of course you don't need me to tell you that as soon as he passed the rod back to me the 2nd fish I caught was.............. A Barbel.

Just to rub Bill's nose in it Vince wandered over and dropped into a peg next to me and promptly had a Barbel as well.

With home time fast approaching Dave came over to try his hand with my gear.........

............ and was soon into a fish, not the hoped for Barbel but the first of a few Carp that came in a hectic few minutes, topped off with a nice chunky little Mirror Carp...................

So that was it, session over, short and sweet but a real fun session in good company and more than a few fish thrown into the mix as well, It would be greedy to ask for anything more really.

Marsh AC club match.

Well my 1st outing of 2007 saw me loading up the car at 6·30 am, and things weren't looking to promising, the sky was starting to lighten but it was looking ominously grey and the wind was gusting strongly. Driving down the M20 things showed no improvement and as I arrived at the fishery the 1st drops of rain were starting to fall.

A sausage bagette and a cuppa seemed like a good idea as opposed to a walk round the lake we were fishing, especially as I knew it would be windswept anyway. Soon the rest of the lads and lass (Judy ) who make up the membership of Marsh AC were arriving. I've fished with them as a guest on a few occaisions over the last few seasons, always enjoying the days out, and for this season have been invited to join up.

Once the breakfasts were over Dave collected the seasons subs' and the day's fees and the draw was made.
Tony had the numbers in the hat and passed it round and peg 45 stuck to my hand (a noted flyer) only for a false start to be called as a couple of pairs had to draw 1st. Back in and 48 came out this time, still a nice short walk from the car park and a real bonus as the copse of trees behind it offered some shelter from the wind that was blowing onto our backs, others on the causeway weren't so fortunate, fishing into the teeth of it, though I fancied them to do better as the carp normally follow the wind on this venue.

To my left on 49 I had John for company with young Zack next to him on 50, while to my left was Martin on 47 then a spare peg leaving Judy alone on 45. Dave(The Fish) was tucked down in the corner to my left (right out of the wind) with his former Boss for company, while Tony (spamwham) was opposite me on 58 on the causeway and Terry (Wily Coyote) was on 64 towards the end with just Jim on the end peg 66.

The wind had at least blown the clouds away, leaving a sunny and clear blue sky, but the wind was destined to stay with us for the whole day.
I had just set up my pole to fish at a comfortable 10mtrs into the 7ft of water with a second rig for the margins that could double up as a shallow rig on the main line. Bait for the day was going to be a selection of the new GOT hook pellets that had been sent to me to try, with the back up of some catmeat that had in the past produced fish for me at the venue.

At the all in a big pot of 4mm sinking pellet went in at 10mtrs and a handfull into both margins.
Initially there was a fair bit of tow on the water, but laying about 4" of line on the bottom soon cured this.
I spent the majority of the match aternating between the 3 different flavours of 6mm pellets (natural, Liver & Catmeat) and the most notable thing was that the F1's and a lone Ghostie fell to the naturals, Liver produced nothing but Tench while the catmeat accounted for Barbel, Chub and a few skimmers. It was so noticable that I could actually predict what I would catch dependant on what I put on the hook.

Sport was never fast and furious, but steady throughout the match, the only downside being that I couldn't really get them to have it in the margins, though John on the next peg caught the majority of his fish from the margins.

A trip down to see Dave mid match saw him catching a few, though he reckoned he'd been struggling to put a run of fish together.

The last hour was a bit of a struggle as a slight shift in the wind coupled with the sun dropping lower produced a dazzling ripple making things awkward, thankfully I had my Polaroids with me to save my eyesight.

The final whistle saw a pretty windswept collection of anglers packing up prior to the weigh-in.

Weigh-in time revealed that everyone had managed a few despite the conditions with my 53lbs 5ozs winning my section and putting me in with a chance of a frame place.
Tony was owning up to around the 50lb mark having fished into the teeth of the wind all day and wasn't far out putting 49lbs 8ozs on the scales. Last but one to weigh was Terry (Wily Coyote) ouncing me out with a level 54lbs and taking the honours on the day was Jim Boase with a fine net weighing 67lbs 4ozs from the end peg.

All in all a really enjoyable days fishing in great company, despite the conditions. Looking forward to doing it all again soon.

Total weighed in by 15 anglers was 518lb 6oz an average of 34lb 8oz

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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