Bill G

  • Hawkhurst Fishery. The Match Lake.

    Mick the Chippy's Knock Up.

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    2.jpg Hawkhurst Match Lake. picture by pnm123

    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 .

     My peg.

    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.

    So with everything ready to go it was time to adjourn to the café. Lots of banter and mickey taking ensued as always while a Full English ( double sausage, double bacon, double eggs, mushrooms, beans/tomatoes, fried slice + toast and tea or coffee for £5) set things up nicely for the five hours ahead of us.

    With everyone fed, watered and back at their pegs Mick called the All-In at 10·30am and the match was underway, and if I'm honest that is where I went wrong . Quite simply I overfed it . It may be a renowned big weight water but I didn't take into account the two hard frosts on Wednesday and Thursday followed by the heavy overnight rain. Rather than feel my way in I stuck 2 big potful's on the 6mtr line and a big potful on both my 4mtr lines . I wasn't the only one however. I finally managed my first fish after 30 minutes, a welcome Common that at least guaranteed me £10 for the lucky peg . Indeed the only person that seemed to be catching with any regularity was Ian Harper next door on peg 4, but even so it was far from fast and furious for him.

    Looking around I could see Mick who had placed his faith in 'MaryQ' as he refers to the new Marukyu baits, but he didn't appear to be having his faith rewarded today .........

    image004-11.jpg Mick the Chippy. picture by pnm123

    Keith was struggling as well and was already having an early look down his margin line in an attempt to winkle out something .......

    image005-11.jpg Keith Powell. picture by pnm123

    While Bill was suffering from one of those nightmares that we all suffer with on occaision........ unmissable bites that he simply couldn't connect with ........

    image006-9.jpg Bill Gibbins. picture by pnm123

    A couple of hours in and I was going nowhere fast with just 3 carp in my net to show for my efforts . I decided that the time was right to have a stroll and try to see what others were doing and maybe give me some inspiration. S Dyball on peg 7 had a few but didn't really appear to be doing much different from what I could see........

    image008-8.jpg S Dyball picture by pnm123

    Jeff on peg 8 had around 8 carp to show for his efforts, while Clive on peg 9 was owning up to something like 7 fish in the net, but was into another as I arrived which he soon had safely in the net .......

    image012-8.jpg Clive. picture by pnm123

    Al was fishing just a little longer than those around him and was slowly starting to put a few fish together, despite having thrown his pole in earlier having got confused about which hand he was feeding with ........

    image013-8.jpg Al. picture by pnm123

    Bill was still having a struggle and appeared to be in danger of parting with a few 'Golden Nuggets' in the side bet stakes .......

    image010-7.jpg Bill Gibbins. picture by pnm123

    Then there was Nick, and quite surprisingly he was fishing at 13mtrs with a pot on the end of his pole , however he'd not had as much as a bite on pellet and had switched to maggot fished shallow .......

    image016-6.jpg Nick. picture by pnm123

    Mick was still struggling to find fish to put in the net, but still had a smile on his face ........

    image017-7.jpg Mick the Chippy. picture by pnm123

    ..... thanks to the fact that his brother Richard on the next peg was having an even harder time of it than he was .......

    image019-7.jpg Richard (DHL man) picture by pnm123

    Tony was tucked away on peg 1 and was having a slightly better time of it, but his bites were very finicky and he felt that he was having to wait far to long between them to do any real damage ........

    image018-7.jpg Tony Roberts. picture by pnm123

    Mick McMillan was on peg 4 on his first time at the fishery, a very good angler, the venue should have suited him down to the ground, but he couldn't match Ian on the next peg .......

    image020-6.jpg Mick McMillan. picture by pnm123

    Unfortunately my peg was no better on my return the rest of the match turning into a real grind for me and quite a few of the others . Greg over on peg 17 started to pick up a few toward the end of the match, and Nick's maggot fished shallow had started to produce for him as well. I managed 3 carp in the last half hour meaning that I had 9 carp in the net when Mick called the all out at 3·30pm.

    Thankfully the scales didn't take long to arrive. Tony's 36½lbs and Mick McMillan's 41½lbs both being comfortably beaten by Ian Harper's 64¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for the win on the day 1st.gif 1st picture by pnm123. Jeff Driscoll saw his 44lbs edged out by Al Loader's 45lbs to give Al 3rd on the day 3rd.gif 3rd picture by pnm123. While Nick Gilbert took 2nd place with 47½lb after his switch to maggot fished shallow produced for him late on 2nd.gif 2nd picture by pnm123.

    Thanks to Mick for organising a nice smoothly run day , not his fault that the fishery hadn't produced like it can on the day .
    At least I got a tenner for the Lucky Peg , and while I had to hand over a 'Golden Nugget' to Al and Clive, I got 3 back from Mick, Keith and Bill .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st  Peg 4  Ian Harper   64lbs 04ozs
     2nd  Peg 14  Nick Gilbert   47lbs 08ozs
     3rd  Peg 11  Al Loader   45lbs 00ozs
     4th=  Peg 8  Jeff Driscoll   44lbs 00ozs
     4th=  Peg 17  Greg Andrews   44lbs 00ozs
     6th  Peg 3  Mick McMillan   41lbs 08ozs
     7th  Peg 7  S Dyball   38lbs 04ozs
     8th  Peg 1  Tony Roberts   36lbs 08ozs
     9th  Peg 9  Clive Pritchard   31lbs 00ozs
     10th  Peg 5  Peter Morton   23lbs 08ozs
     11th  Peg 16  Andy Bench   21lbs 08ozs
     12th  Peg 2  Graham Franklin   18lbs 08ozs
     13th  Peg 10  John Chambers   17lbs 08ozs
     14th  Peg 18  Mick Pearson   15lbs 08ozs
     15th  Peg 19  Richard Pearson   11lbs 04ozs
     16th  Peg 13  Bill Gibbins    9lbs 04ozs
     17th  Peg 12  Rich    8lbs 08ozs
     18th  Peg 15  Keith Powell    6lbs 00ozs
     19th  Peg 20  Toby Wells    2lbs 04ozs
     20th  Peg 6  Pete Bolt

    DNW

     

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2 & 4.

    Faye's Match

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Organised by Maggotdrowning.com
    With all proceeds going to support


    ML.jpg picture by pnm123

    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 icon_smile_thumb.gif Thumbs Up picture by pnm123. 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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123.

    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 cold.gif Cold picture by pnm123, 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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123. Evidently I passed Clive and Tony on the way down, but they were unable to pick up my slipstream and arrived a little later icon_smile_tongue.gif Tongue picture by pnm123 .
    A good turnout seemed assured as people assembled and various breakfast goodies were devoured Eating.gif Eat picture by pnm123 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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123.

    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 icon_smile_wink.gif Wink picture by pnm123. 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........  nono.gif No picture by pnm123 yeah right.

    ah.jpg My peg for the day picture by pnm123

    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 icon_smile_angry.gif Angry picture by pnm123 ??? 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 icon_smile_tongue.gif Tongue picture by pnm123 ......

    bi.jpg Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess picture by pnm123

    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......

    bo.jpg Steve (spots) Potter picture by pnm123

    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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123.

    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......

    bm.jpg Jon (Mutley) Reed picture by pnm123

     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 icon_smile_wink.gif Wink picture by pnm123.

    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.

    ab.jpg Keith (shallowman) Haynes picture by pnm123

    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......

    bd.jpg Peg 77  Dave Janes 1 picture by pnm123

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

    af.jpg 12½lb Carp for Dave picture by pnm123

    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 icon_smile_tongue.gif Tongue picture by pnm123. 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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123 ......

    ad.jpg Arkie in the rain picture by pnm123

    Mick was under severe pressure as he had granddaughter Rosie for company on the next peg icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123 ......

    bn.jpg Rosie picture by pnm123

    ...... nono.gif No picture by pnm123 No that's wrong as Mick really doesn't 'do' pressure, being one of the most relaxed anglers you could ever hope to meet......

    bk.jpg One in the net for Mick picture by pnm123

    ...... and between nicking a couple and helping young Rosie, honour remained intact at the end with Mick getting the decision by a clear 10ozs icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123.

    Gary (garycatch) Catchpole had drawn the fabled peg 45 and was slowly putting a few together icon_smile_wink.gif Wink picture by pnm123 ........

    bh.jpg Gary (garycatch) Catchpole picture by pnm123

    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......

    az.jpg Linda (mermaid) Billington 1 picture by pnm123

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

    bl.jpg Trevor (MT Net) Little picture by pnm123

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

    ac.jpg One in the net for Al picture by pnm123

    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 icon_smile.gif Smile picture by pnm123. 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 icon_smile_wink.gif Wink picture by pnm123 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 1st.gif 1st picture by pnm123 ahead of Keith (shallowman) Haynes's level 85lbs 2nd.gif 2nd picture by pnm123, while Steve (spots) Potter's 56½lbs filled 3rd place 3rd.gif 3rd picture by pnm123.

    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 icon_smile_thumb.gif Thumbs Up picture by pnm123.

    Dave T  then thanked everyone for their efforts and read out the following letter that Faye had sent as she was unable to attend icon_smile_sad.gif Sad picture by pnm123 .....

    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 icon_smile_thumb.gif Thumbs Up picture by pnm123, and to all those anglers that took part icon_smile_thumb.gif Thumbs Up picture by pnm123, and Monk Lakes who donated a sizable part of the peg fees back to the cause icon_smile_thumb.gif Thumbs Up picture by pnm123. Same again next year folks?

    Overall Results

    Position Peg                Angler Weight
     1st Peg 67 Jon (Mutley) Reed 101lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 73 Keith (shallowman) Haynes   85lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 149 Steve (spots) Potter   56lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 45 Gary (garycatch) Catchpole   44lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 154 Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess   42lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 146 John Manktelow   39lbs 12ozs
     7th Peg 151 Trevor (MT Net) Little   35lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 145 Peter (Mugger) Morton   31lbs 12ozs
     9th Peg 152 Steve (badpegpicker) Oswick   31lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 77 Dave Janes   26lbs 12ozs
     11th Peg 64 Michael (mickeym) McMillan   25lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 62 Jay Lay   24lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 142 Al Loader   23lbs 04ozs
     14th Peg 52 John (arkwright) Anderson   21lbs 08ozs
     15th Peg 143 Chris (mr mermaid) Billington   21lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg 68 Linda (mermaid) Billington   21lbs 02ozs
     17th Peg 146 A Ellis   21lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 46 Alan (Genus 9) West   18lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 59 Brian (indiginous3556)   16lbs 08ozs
     20th Peg 58 Clive (black hydro) Pritchard   15lbs 08ozs
     21st= Peg 76 Simon Elsey   15lbs 00ozs
     21st= Peg 155 (pegg)   15lbs 00ozs
     23rd  Peg 74 Tony (spamwham) Roberts   14lbs 00ozs
     24th Peg 56 Russell (Russ G) Graves   13lbs 04ozs
     25th Peg 63 Michael (redspike) Ashby   13lbs 00ozs
     26th Peg 49 Keith (keith 74) Powell   12lbs 00ozs
     27th Peg 65 Andrew (greentura) Green   10lbs 04ozs
     28th Peg 57 Geoff (geoff p) Palmer     8lbs 00ozs
     29th Peg 148 John (old tart) Ashby     7lbs 08ozs
     30th Peg 70 Chris Withall     7lbs 00ozs
     31st= Peg 66 Kevin (kev the catch) Loveland     6lbs 08ozs
     31st= Peg 51 Toby (vassago) Wells     6lbs 08ozs
     33rd Peg 69 G Flynn     6lbs 04ozs
     34th Peg 54 Mick (the chippy) Pearson     3lbs 12ozs
     35th Peg 48 Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff     3lbs 04ozs
     36th Peg 47 Dean (Marvin Waggler) Kershaw     2lbs 04ozs
     37th Peg 75 Sven (svenc) Castle            08ozs

    Section Results

    Section A   
     1st Peg 45 Gary (garycatch) Catchpole   44lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 52 John (arkwright) Anderson   21lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 53 A Ellis   21lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 46 Alan (Genus 9) West   18lbs 08ozs
     5th  Peg 49 Keith (keith 74) Powell   12lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 51 Toby (vassago) Wells     6lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg 54 Mick (the chippy) Pearson     3lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg 48 Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff     3lbs 04ozs
     9th Peg 47 Dean (Marvin Waggler) Kershaw     2lbs 04ozs
       
    Section B   
     1st Peg 64 Michael (mickeym) McMillan   25lbs 04ozs
     2nd  Peg 62 Jay Lay   24lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 59 Brian (indiginous3556)   16lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 58 Clive (black hydro) Pritchard   15lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 56 Russell (Russ G) Graves   13lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 63 Michael (redspike) Ashby   13lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 65 Andrew (greentura) Green   10lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 57 Geoff (geoff p) Palmer     8lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg 66 Kevin (kev the catch) Loveland     6lbs 08ozs
        
    Section C   
     1st Peg 67 Jon (Mutley) Reed  101lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 73 Keith (shallowman) Haynes   85lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 77 Dave Janes   26lbs 12ozs
     4th Peg 68 Linda (mermaid) Billington   21lbs 02ozs
     5th Peg 76 Simon Elsey   15lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 74 Tony (spamwham) Roberts   14lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 70 Chris Withall     7lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 69 G Flynn     6lbs 04ozs
     9th Peg 75 Sven (svenc) Castle            08ozs
        
    Section D   
     1st Peg 149 Steve (spots) Potter   56lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 154 Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess   42lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 146 John Manktelow   39lbs 12ozs
     4th Peg 151 Trevor (MT Net) Little   35lbs 04ozs
     5th Peg 145 Peter (Mugger) Morton   31lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg 152 Steve (badpegpicker) Oswick   31lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 142 Al Loader   23lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 143 Chris (mr mermaid) Billington   21lbs 04ozs
     9th Peg 155 (pegg)   15lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 148 John (old tart) Ashby     7lbs 08ozs

     

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 4.

      Marsh AC club match.

    MM4.jpg Monk Lakes. Match Lake 4. picture by pnm123

    Well after what seems like forever I'm finally getting back out on the bank . A combination of atrocious weather and pressure of work has seen me having my own private close season since Christmas ,  but today sees the 1st Marsh AC club match of the year down at Monk Lakes on Match Lake 4, so it's time to blow the cobwebs away and see if I can remember how to catch a few fish .

    So with the alarm going off at 5·30am I soon had the cats fed and my coffee made and drunk before loading up the car and setting off for Monks . I pulled up in the car park around 7·45am with the sun shining to find a few of the lads already in attendance and tucking into breakfast in various forms. A bacon & egg baguette washed down with a tea took care of things for me as the rest arrived. Dave took care of collecting in the subs and peg fees while Tony and I strolled up to lake 4 to check out the pegging . The lake was almost flat calm with barely a hint of breeze, though as this is Monk Lakes the odds were that the wind would get up as soon as we settled into our pegs . Only peg 157 needed to be left out as it's tight in a corner.
    Keith, Clive and Al who have been regular guests for quite a while had accepted invites to join the club this year , while Bill G was guesting as was Pete Thompson who had travelled down from Milton Keynes with Keith, and Kevin & Jean were also back with us having had to cancel their plans to move to The Bahamas.

    So into the draw bag and with none of us having any real experience of this lake, nobody seemed to worried about what peg they would draw. Peg 136 ended up in my hand, at least I would be able to park pretty close to it. Getting the kit out of the car I could feel the wind starting to get up and by the time I'd set up it was blowing quite briskly onto my back . For company I had Bill G on 137 who had the end of the island in front and had set up a waggler to fish it and he would alternate between this and the pole all match to keep some fish coming. At least we would have a bit of banter regardless of the outcome . My peg looked OK with a comfortable 14½ mtrs to the island. With the depth being a pretty constant 3½ft all over I just set up a couple of rigs, both 4X12 Malman Champers on 0·16 power match to 0·14 with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Bait for today would be a selection of GOT 6mm soft hookers and some sweetcorn with GOT micros for feed.

    a1.jpg Peg 136. Monks Match Lake 4. picture by pnm123

    10·00am saw Dave call the All-in, and Bill was in straight away with a Carp of around 3lbs on the pole at 13 mtrs . My start wasn't so good with lots of rubbish on the bottom of my chosen line against the island I had to come back about a meter from the island to find a clear patch. Bill probably had 7 or 8 fish before I managed my 1st, a small Carp of around a pound and while Bill appeared to be ticking along nicely I was just getting the odd Gudgeon and small Tench......

    a18.jpg Just waiting for a bite. picture by pnm123

    Around 11am Vince arrived to see how we were getting on and brought me a welcome cuppa . By this time the wind had got up to a decent blow making things more awkward and I sent Vince off with my camera to take a few photos and see what others were doing . Bill was still catching though he was suffering from a few bumped fish and a snag on his waggler line seemed to be costing him a few hook lengths, but he was still on course to take our £1 side bet.

    a17.jpg Bill Gibbins on peg 137. picture by pnm123

    On Vince's return his report was that although everyone seemed to be catching, nobody was taking it apart, though most seemed to be fishing maggot, so I asked Vince to pop down to the site shop and get me ½pint of reds and he duly obliged. 1st put in with double red on the hook I landed a small but scale perfect Golden Rudd which Vince photographed before saying farewell and heading for home.

    a19.jpg Golden Rudd. picture by pnm123

    Young Zack had a bit of a shock when his double maggot was taken by a 5lb+ Pike (I had no idea there were any present) which he weighed and returned. All the time it was getting colder and with the sky getting darker it was obvious that we were due some rain at some point.
    At least the red maggots were starting to pick up a few more fish for me, not enough to do any damage, but in all honesty I was just enjoying being out on the bank again after a 3 month layoff. Jean as always appeared with a welcome cup of tea and even went and got a burger for Bill and I . After the burger I fed a load of micro's with some corn and a few reds at 7mtrs and went for a stroll of my own with the camera to allow it to settle.

    Keith was fishing a top 3 and right on cue caught a decent skimmer for the camera .........

    a20.jpg A decent skimmer for Keith. picture by pnm123

    While Colin was doing his best 'Bankside Bush' impression in his camo gear, and as usual was keeping how he was doing pretty close to his chest, although admitting to having a few ........

    a16.jpg Colin Sharrard. picture by pnm123

    Tony was looking remarkably cheerful , despite having the no9 section of his 401 fall apart in his hands earlier in the day (Tony has had no luck with this pole since he brought it secondhand, with countless sections breaking ) .........

    a14.jpg Tony looks happy. picture by pnm123

    Further round Pete Thompson was struggling to hit his bites, and felt that he was falling behind Clive on the next peg.........

    a23.jpg Pete Thompson willing the float to go under. picture by pnm123

    Clive was looking like someone out of an advert, sitting on his shiny new Space Station and using a shiny new pole , which seemed to be doing the business for him .......

    a24.jpg Fish on for Clive. picture by pnm123

    Indeed he landed a decent Carp while I was chatting to him leading me to believe that he was doing better than he was letting on......

    a25.jpg Safely in the net for Clive. picture by pnm123

    By the time I got round to Dave the wind was blowing full on into his peg and causing his joints to suffer, though he'd managed a few, admitting to around 10 different species in his nets ......

    a26.jpg Looking down from Dave's peg. picture by pnm123

    Kevin was just glad to be out fishing, having had the misfortune to suffer a couple of strokes in recent months, but with Jean keeping a careful eye on him to make sure he didn't overdo things, he'd had a succession of small Carp to his feeder tactics and was obviously enjoying himself ......

    Back at my peg the feed appeared to have done the job as there were a few bites to be had, very few Carp though, but a mixture of small skimmers, Ide, Gudgeon, Tench and Roach kept me interested as squalls of rain made things uncomfortable for everyone.

    With about an hour to go Bill lost yet another hook to the snag on his waggler line and decided he'd have a stroll, while I kept plugging away picking up the odd fish including a solitary small Carp of around 2lbs that I managed to nick from my left hand margin before Dave called the All-out at 4pm.

    Thankfully it didn't take to long to pack up and get the gear back to the car as it was only parked about 10 yards away.

    Monks4.jpg Peter and Pete follow the Weigh-in. picture by pnm123

    The weigh-in started at my peg where my net weighed a level 21 lbs which was more than I thought I had. Bill's 26lbs safely secured the £1 side bet between the two of us. Colin's mixed bag weighed in at a level 33lbs.  Next up was Keith who put a fine 50¾lbs onthe scales that would eventually net him 2nd place . Hot on Keith's heels was Tony who despite the disaster with his pole weighed 45¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for 3rd place  . The winner however proved to be Clive round on peg 152 who used his new kit to good effect putting a level 54lbs on the scales to take the win on the day .
     
    Position   Peg            Angler    Weight Points
     1st Peg 152 Clive Pritchard 54lbs 00ozs

    30

     2nd Peg 140 Keith Ashby 50lbs 12ozs

    29

     3rd Peg 143 Tony Roberts 45lbs 04ozs

    28

     4th Peg 139 Colin Sharrard 33lbs 00ozs

    27

     5th Peg 161 Jim Boase 30lbs 04ozs

    26

     6th Peg 163 Kevin Loveland 27lbs 08ozs

    25

     7th Peg 151 Pete Thompson        (guest) 27lbs 04ozs

    n/a

     8th Peg 137 Bill Gibbins            (guest) 26lbs 00ozs

    n/a

     9th  Peg 160 Al Loader 25lbs 08ozs

    24

     10th Peg 150 John Holdsworth 24lbs 04ozs

    23

     11th Peg 141 Zack Johnson 23lbs 00ozs

    22

     12th Peg 156 Dave Collier 22lbs 12ozs

    21

     13th Peg 136 Peter Morton 21lbs 00ozs

    20

     14th Peg 155 Chris Withall 16lbs 00ozs

    19

     15th Peg 158 Terry Goff 14lbs 08ozs

    18

     16th Peg 149 Martin Hucker 11lbs 08ozs

    17

     17th= Peg 145 Judy Hermite 11lbs 00ozs

    16

     17th= Peg 164 Simon Watkins 11lbs 00ozs

    16

     19th Peg 147 Roger Noakes 10lbs 12ozs

    14

     20th Peg 153 Graham Manning   5lbs 12ozs

    13

     21st Peg 162 Rod Turner     DNW

    5

     
    So that's it, the 1st trip of the year done and dusted and hopefully a few cobwebs blown away. Where next? who knows, but the report will appear here from wherever it is .

     

  • Wyland International Angling Centre, near Battle, East Sussex.

    Maggotdrowning.com

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Southern Fur & Feather.

    w1.jpg Wylands, House Lake. picture by pnm123

    Time for the annual Maggotdrowning Southern Fur & Feather match and we're back down at Wylands on House Lake today. Pressure of work has meant that I haven't been out fishing for nearly 2 months so it was good just to be going fishing today . I was hoping that the weather would be a little kinder than last year, but looking through the curtains it was looking pretty cold and that was confirmed as I loaded the car. I rolled into the car park around 7·50am in tandem with Mark (MoleMan) and found Bill, Simon, Trevor and Wayne already in residence at the tea hut. The bad news however was that there was no food on the go , and the bailiff had only opened it so we could get a cuppa before we started.
    Looking across the lake it was obvious that some drastic gardening had gone on since last year with the island that's reached by the footbridge cut in half to form two, a lot of the trees cut back and a number of bivvy friendly swims installed on the woodside bank and the bank to the left of the bridge.
    Mark soon had the draw underway for the 14 of us in attendance and put in 3 more pegs for absentees who hadn't cancelled . I ended up with peg 16, one of 4 new pegs to the left of the bridge. For company today I had Tony to my left on 17, while to my right was Wayne on 15 and Trevor on 14 next to the bridge. Positioning my box I couldn't help noticing the icy easterly that was blowing from right to left into our pegs, and then for good measure it started raining .

    A1-13.jpg My peg on House Lake. picture by pnm123

    Now with a good head of silvers present and the cold snap probably slowing the carp down, I'd picked a couple of top kits with soft white Hydro and made up a couple of silvers rigs, 4X12 carpa tricky's on 0·12 to 0·10 with size 20 Red Drennan Barbless Carp Maggot hooks. Now the main body of house lake offers depths of around 4-6 ft on the pole line, so I was a little taken aback to find no more than 2½ft regardless of where I plumbed up . Bait for today was red & white maggot, 4mm expanders and some micro pellet.

    10am and Mark blew for the All-in, I potted some maggot and pellet straight out at 8mtrs and a similar amount about 10ft to the left of it.
    Out with the rig baited with a single red maggot and 30 seconds later a small roach made sure that I wouldn't be facing a DNW . Further small roach followed in the next 2 hours, but Tony and I were really struggling, Wayne appeared to be doing a bit better, while Trevor fishing the whip was definitely doing the best of the four of us......

    A4-13.jpg Looking down the backwater. picture by pnm123

    Feeling a little disheartened I grabbed the camera and took a stroll. Jeff had once again drawn on the island and was getting regular action with some skimmers helping him build a decent net. Looking across I could see Mark on the 1st peg and rumour had it that he already had a bonus Carp in the net.......

    A5-13.jpg "Hathers" picture by pnm123

    Indeed it appeared that all those on the wood bank had got off to a decent start, especially Simon and Andy......

    A7-13.jpg The Woods bank. picture by pnm123

    and I could see that Vince over on the dam was getting a few meaning that he was looking odds on for another Golden Nugget off me today ......

    A6-12.jpg Vince on his way to a "Golden Nugget" picture by pnm123

    I could see Bill sitting in splendid isolation with the tea hut bank all to himself, and as I made my way over he was into a fish that was taking just a bit to much elastic for it to be anything other than a Carp. A couple of anxious minutes followed, but soon it was safely in the net, a nice bonus fish ......

    A9-12.jpg A nice chunky Carp for Bill. picture by pnm123

    Mick looked to be lost in concentration and getting amongst a few silvers himself ......

    A10-11.jpg Mick the Chippy. picture by pnm123

    Indeed the whole of the main part of the lake seemed to be fishing quite well as I made my way back to my peg. I stopped off for a chat with Trev to try and pick his brains as it's his local fishery and he suggested that I needed to up my feeding despite the bitter cold as that's what the fish normally responded to. So back to my peg and off with the kinder pot and out with the catapult.

    Well it worked to a degree, in that the roach started to come a bit more frequently, but they were still just 1-2oz fish with the occasional 4oz bonus fish. With around half an hour to go Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff appeared having come down to see how we were getting on, and it was as I chatted to Tony that I struck into another roach bite only to see quite a lot of White Hydro , and a nervous couple of minutes followed before I slid the net under a Carp of around 5lbs. However that was the end of the excitement for me and Mark blew the All-out at 3pm just as the rain returned for us to pack up in. Thankfully we were using fishery keepnets so were able to pack up in double quick time and get the gear back to the car before the weigh in .

    Mark kicked off with 20¾lbs and was rapidly overtaken by Simon with 24¼lbs, Stuart managed 15½lbs before Andy brought 37lbs to the scales including 3 Carp. Vince's 16lbs+ secured the Golden Nugget from yours truly Crybaby [:C]while Jay put a match winning 38¼lbs on the scales . Mick recorded 12¾lbs while Bills level 34lbs left him ruing 3 lost carp, anyone of which would have given him the win. Next up Jeff and Trevor both put 25½lbs on the scales for joint 5th place. Wayne had 14½lbs, my meagre total was 11lbs 6ozs leaving poor Tony last to weigh and last on the day with just 4¼lbs to show for his efforts .

    At least everyone took home a prize on the day , one day hopefully we'll catch it on a day when the weather gods are smiling on us.
    A Big Thank You to Mark for organising the match , and to all that turned up on the day. Same again next year folks?

    Position              Angler                          Weight     
     1st Jay Lay 38lbs 04ozs
     2nd Andy (CU) Cummings 37lbs 00ozs
     3rd Bill Gibbins 34lbs 00ozs
     4th Nick Gilbert 26lbs 06ozs
     5th= Jeff Driscoll 25lbs 08ozs
     5th= Trevor (M.T.Net) Little 25lbs 08ozs
     7th Simon Elsey 24lbs 04ozs
     8th Mark (MoleMan) Hathaway 20lbs 12ozs
     9th Vince Gould 16lbs 06ozs
     10th Stuart (squeaky roller) Wilson 15lbs 08ozs
     11th Wayne (map) Taylor 14lbs 08ozs
     12th Mick (The Chippy) Pearson 12lbs 10ozs
     13th Peter (Mugger) Morton 11lbs 06ozs
     14th Tony (spamwham) Roberts   4lbs 04ozs

     

  • Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Peartree Lake.

    Peartree.jpg Hartleylands Farm. Peartree Lake. (peg plan) picture by pnm123

    Well today is a rare midweek day out with a few of the lads from Marsh AC and Maggotdrowners . Not a club match as such, just a days fishing as Kevin has returned to these shores for six weeks before he and Jean finally make their move to The Bahamas. So that Kevin can get a final bit of fishing in ahead of their departure we'd arranged this trip down to Hartleylands today along with a final official club match at Colemans Cottage on Saturday .

    I've still got a few days of Holiday to fit in before the end of the year, so booked the day off to venture out for an all to rare weekday session . Loading up the car just before 6am it was noticeably chilly and the car thermometer only read 4°C . I'd arranged to meet a few of the lads at The Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast beforehand and when I got there Kevin, Jean and Al were already tucking in and we were soon joined by Tony and Jim. Soon we made our way down to the fishery to find the car park packed as there was a Police match on Nick's and Bramley.

    Dave soon had the draw organised and with just 13 of us fishing we just used the odd pegs on Peartree and I found Peg 19 in my hand. I soon had my gear round to the peg, though a soft trolley tyre made it harder work than usual .

    a8-11.jpg Panoramic View of Peartree Lake. picture by pnm123

    Settling in I had plenty of island to go at and I decided on a nice simple day fishing the method feeder, so setting up really took no time at all seeing as the rod was already set up in its ready sleeve. Indeed I had plenty of time to go back to the car and sort out my trolley tire.
    For company today I had Tony to my right on Peg 17 and DaveT (Faye's Dad) on Peg 15, while to my left on Peg 21 was Terry. Apart from the groundbait I just had a selection of pellets for the hook and a few maggots.

    a1-11.jpg Peg 19. picture by pnm123

    Dave blew the All-In at 10·15. I banded a white 6mm pellet and with the feeder clipped up dropped it around a foot from the island. Within 30 seconds the tip wrapped round and a nice little Common Carp of around 1lb was soon safely netted to get me off the mark . Back out and the tip wrapped again and Common number 2 was safely netted. The third cast produced exactly the same result, Happy Days .

    Or not as it proved , subsequent casts produced not even a tremble on the tip, going through various hookbaits had no effect at all and after an hour I decided to get the pole out. A quick look in my box found a suitable rig, a 4X12 KC Tricky on 0·14 power match with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Plumbing up at around 9mtrs I found a nice even patch at around 3½ft deep. It was noticeable that nobody had really been catching much, apart from Bill up on Peg11, so I decided to go for it and balled 6 balls of groundbait in to see if I could draw a few fish, Then went back out on the method to let things settle. Another 20 minutes on the method produced nothing however , so time for the pole. 20 minute on the pole was biteless as well so I fed 2 pots of pellets and took a stroll.

    Tony had a few on the method and had mugged a 4lb'er from the margin, but was struggling to put any sort of run of fish together......

    a3-11.jpg Tony on peg 17. picture by pnm123

    Dave T was happy with his lot as he'd managed to snare a carp that he was sure was his best ever on his new pole ......

    a5-11.jpg Dave T on peg15. picture by pnm123

    Jim was having a bit of a struggle tucked down in a corner on peg 13 and was having to watch Bill regularly putting a fish or two into his nets, even though he was suffering blank spells of his own......

    a4-11.jpg Bill on peg 11. picture by pnm123

    Martin and Rod were suffering in a similar vein to Jim , though John was managing the odd fish on the feeder from the end of the island.
    I got round to Dave just as he was into another fish on the feeder, just a small stockie carp but welcome all the same ......

    a6-10.jpg Dave into a fish on peg 3. picture by pnm123

    Al strolled round with his wife who'd come down to see him for a couple of hours and she and Jean were taking orders for pies from the farm shop, so with my order placed I strolled round to Kev who was actually into his second fish of the day ......

    a7-11.jpg Kevin plays a fish on peg 1. picture by pnm123

    Stopping for a chat with Terry he was struggling big time without a single fish to show for his efforts , despite there being fish moving in the reeds in his left hand margin.

    Settling back into my peg I banded a 6mm pellet and shipped out and settled for feeding just 10-15 pellets every put in. 10 minutes of lifting and dropping finally produced a bite, and a chunky little Mirror of around 1½lbs was a welcome result . Jean and Al's wife arrived with the pies, and that Meat & Potato pie looked like it was going to be the best bite I was going to get on the day . I wish I could say it got better as the day progressed, but it didn't, apart from Jean turning up with a freshly brewed mug of tea courtesy of Dave . Far to long between bites was the story, but I plugged away and ended with 19 fish which I thought might scrape 20lbs, by the time Dave called the All-Out.

    The Weigh-In didn't take long. Kev kicked off with just a couple of fish for 2½lbs. Dave had fared better with 28¼lbs to show for his efforts, while John managed 14¼lbs. Bill took the bragging rights on the day with a hard earned 49lbs while DaveT managed 30½lbs for second (Including his 8½lb PB Common ) Tony managed 22¼lbs to edge out my 19¾lbs. Terry managed to find a few in the end to weigh 16¼lbs while Al managed 30¼lbs for third on the day.

    So no great shakes fishing wise, but good company and far better than a day at work . It's off to Essex and Colemans Cottage on Saturday and hopefully a few more fish.

    Position Peg          Angler            Weight      
     1st Peg 11 Bill Gibbins 49lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 15 Dave Talbot 30lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 23 Al Loader 30lbs 04ozs
     4th Peg 3 Dave Collier 28lbs 04ozs
     5th Peg 17 Tony Roberts 22lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 19 Peter Morton  19lbs 12ozs
     7th Peg 21 Terry Goff  16lbs 04ozs 
     8th  Peg 5 John Holdsworth  14lbs 04ozs
     9th  Peg 9 Martin Hucker   4lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 13 Jim Boase   3lbs 08ozs
     11th  Peg 1 Kevin Loveland   2lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg 25 Roger Noakes   1lbs 12ozs
     13th Peg 7 Rod Turner      DNW

     

  • Private Lake, East Sussex.

    Marsh AC club match.

    untitled.jpg picture by pnm123

    Down to a Private Lake in East Sussex today for a Marsh AC club match. This isn't really an official club match, but Dave managed to get a booking and felt that some of the members might enjoy the chance to have a days fishing there . We're expecting 16 of us to be fishing, including 5 guests. The Lake is a prolific fishery with a large head of Carp that's well capable of throwing up some very good weights . However the weather leading up to the match has been very changeable so just how it'll fish today is anyones guess .

    Looking out through the bedroom window it looked like we were in for a decent day weather wise and I soon had the car loaded. A quick stop for a bit of breakfast on the way and I was pulling into the fishery car park just after 8am. A good number had arrived before me including the guests. Keith & Mick had come down from Milton Keynes, Bill and Clive had joined us as well for the day and Al arrived in the nick of time as usual .

    Dave, in his usual efficient manner, soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. Keith drew Peg 1 and Bill couldn't disguise his delight at drawing Peg 4 in the other corner . I found myself holding Peg 12, up on the right hand bank with Terry on Peg 11 and Tony on Peg 13 for company today .

    Reaching the peg I realised that I'd fished it once before, and caught bugger all off it , but that had been in the depths of winter, so hopefully today would prove to be better .

    a1-7.jpg My Peg. picture by pnm123

    So down to business and get set up for the day. I set up a couple of Malman 4X12 Adam's on 0·18 Power Match with size 16 Drennan Carp hooks to fish pellet and corn as well as a small Malman SC Paste float on 0·20 Power Match with a size 12 Ashima Barbless hook. I also set up a Malman Slapper on 0·18 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook for up in the water and to double up down the margins. Todays bait was various pellets, paste and corn with 6mm pellets for feed .

    With a few minutes before the All-In I strolled down to see Tony who appeared to be covering all the options with half a dozen top kits set up ......

    a2-8.jpg Tony, ready for the All-In. picture by pnm123

    Keith and Mick appeared deep in thought , Keith no doubt wondering if he was going to get the better of Mick today, as Mick has developed the happy knack (for him ) of beating Keith when they fish together ......

    a3-8.jpg Keith and Mick. picture by pnm123

    So at 10am Dave blew the whistle for the All-In I shipped out a pot of mixed pellets and corn to the 8mtr line and some fed by hand into the margins, but before I could ship my rig out I could see both Bill and Colin into fish straight away !!!! Anyway out with the rig with an 8mm banded pellet A bit of lifting and dropping of the rig soon saw the float slide away and I soon had my first fish of the day, a nice plump Common of around 4lbs safely in the net .

    Looking across Jim had an early fish on the feeder to get him off the mark and so had young Zack .......

    a6-7.jpg Zack and Jim. picture by pnm123

    Word had filtered round that Chris had got himself a decent Tench , and that Clive had found a couple of fish as well to get him off the mark . I'd taken another couple of Carp before I lost a fourth when the rig line parted for no apparent reason , it hadn't parted at a knot or where any of the stotz had been applied. Anyway back out with another rig and I was soon into a fish once more , this one being a better sized Mirror that must have been around 7lbs. So with about an hour gone I reckoned I had about 20lbs and felt things looked good for the rest of the match .

    a23-3.jpg Peter. picture by pnm123

    Tony had taken 3 fish by now ("1 about a foot deep, 1 at around 3 ft and another on the drop" ) while Terry to my right had 5 in the net ......

    a5-8.jpg Terry Goff. picture by pnm123

    In the next half hour I managed just one more fish, a Common around 5lbs, but it was noticeable that sport had slowed all round the lake apart from Peg 15 that is, as Al seemed to be the only one catching regularly. I decided to re feed quite heavily to see if I could draw some fish, and took a stroll with the camera .

    Indeed Martin on peg 10 hadn't even had a bite and was at a loss to explain why , while Terry seemed to have a re-occurrence of a problem he'd suffered with here before, in that he was losing 50% of the fish he hooked for no apparent reason
    Chris was concentrating on the end of the bush in the right hand margin of his swim but was only admitting to 4 fish in his nets ......

    a14-8.jpg Chris fishes his margin. picture by pnm123

    Clive had resorted to casting a straight lead to the island, and as I arrived he was playing a Common that was giving a good account of itself, but was soon safely in the net ......

    a13-8.jpg Clive with a Carp on the lead. picture by pnm123

    Colin was fishing his favourite paste down the right hand margin, but despite a decent start was now biteless ......

    a18-5.jpg Colin feeds the margin. picture by pnm123

    Bill tucked away in the corner had started off like a house on fire, his first to put in's having resulted in a couple of doubles, which had swiftly been followed by a couple of smaller fish, but he was struggling to and had resorted to fishing hard up to the reeds to try and tempt a bite from fish that could be seen moving in them ......

    a16-7.jpg Bill. picture by pnm123

    Indeed the tactic seemed to have worked for him, because as I reached Jim's peg I looked back just in time to see him playing a fish ......

    a12-8.jpg A bit of an elastic puller. picture by pnm123

    Keith on Peg 1 was another having a bit of a frustrating time having been told he'd drawn one of the favoured swims. He'd managed a double early on followed by another couple of smaller fish, but was now struggling for a bite ......

    a19-3.jpg Keith takes a look down his margin. picture by pnm123

    Al however was now putting a steady run of fish together, though he reckoned they were mainly small ones , but at least he was catching regularly ......

    a20-3.jpg Another comes to the net for Al. picture by pnm123

    I wish I could say that things improved from that point on, but I would be lying if I did . It was as if someone or something had switched the lake off with only the very occasional fish coming out in the next 4 hours. I had one more bite at around 3 pm which produced another Carp, but that was it for me . In fact there was a communal sigh of relief at 4pm when Dave sounded the All-Out to put us out of our collective misery.

    As we packed away, the inquest on the days events started, with everyone scratching their heads and at a loss to explain just why the lake had appeared to have switched off, not that anyone could come up with a convincing answer though.

    So to the Weigh-In, Keith kicked things off with a hard earned 30¾lbs, and just a single fish for both Zack and Jim. Bill registered 40¾lbs and was immediately overtaken by Colin with 42½lbs . Dave had just 2 fish while Simon managed 20½lbs. Clive managed 45¼lbs for the lead at that point, meaning that Bill had to part with a Golden Nugget and Chris recorded a level 31lbs. Round to the opposite bank where Martin had dry netted . Terry's seven fish came to 36¼lbs leaving him regretting those lost fish . My six fish totalled 29½lbs while Tony's six came to 26½lbs. Mick's fish weighed in at 20¼lbs meaning that Keith had done him for once today . Al was home and dry with his first keepnet and eventually recorded an even 122lbs for a very comfortable win on the day , and was also the last to weigh as unfortunately Graham had dry netted as well .

    So back to the car park. Congratulations to Al and a lot of head scratching all round, as none of us had experienced a day like that on the lake before and were at a loss to explain it. Still it had been another good day in great company and pleasant surroundings, even if the fishing hadn't been up to expectations. We'll have to do it all again soon, just a few more fish would be nice though .

    Position Peg                  Angler                 Weight      
     1st Peg 15 Alan Loader                 (guest) 122lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 8 Clive Pritchard             (guest)  45lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 5 Colin Sharrard  42lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 4 Bill Gibbins                 (guest)  40lbs 12ozs
     5th Peg 11 Terry Goff  36lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 9 Chris Withall  31lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 1 Keith Ashby                 (guest)  30lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg 12 Peter Morton  29lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 13 Tony Roberts  26lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 7 Simon Watkins  20lbs 08ozs
     11th Peg 14 Mick Wright                (guest)  20lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 6 Dave Collier  10lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 3 Jim Boase   6lbs 12ozs
     14th Peg 2 Zack Johnson   5lbs 04ozs
     15th= Peg 10 Martin Hucker     DNW
     15th= Peg 16 Graham Manning     DNW

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    Maggotdrowning.com

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2009.

    Rolfs.jpg Rolf's Lake pegging plan. picture by pnm123

    So 7am and the sun is shining through the bivvy door as I raised myself from my slumber . First things first and on with the kettle for that first cup of coffee to jump start my brain . Terry greets me with several expletives as it seems my snoring woke him around 6am , I reckon it was just John mowing the grass . I was going to catch a lift with the lads down to Tesco's for a bit of brekkie, but missed the lads, so Paul, Terry and I decided to pop up to the services for breakfast. Let's just say that it filled a hole and leave it at that .

    Back to the Lake and today there's going to be 30 members of the Maggotdrowning forum assembled from all over the country fishing the 2009 Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Tournament, a 2 legged affair that gets fished over both the Saturday & Sunday. It's very much a social occasion apart from the matches, and as such is always oversubscribed and has become an annual fixture in the forum calendar . This is the 4th year running that the competition has taken place. I was fortunate enough to win it with Tony(spamwham)Roberts in 2007, and would love to be the 1st person to win it twice, as I'm sure any of the other previous winners would .

    Soon the car park was full, and as people sorted themselves out for the weekend ahead the banter was flowing. I had a chat with Simon and Budgie who had decided to stay on even though he wasn't fishing, The excitement was too much for Gemma however who snatched 40 winks (probably dreaming of Minxings to come ) ..........

    a26-1.jpg Gemma catches 40 winks. picture by pnm123

    At 11 o'clock the draw for the Pairs was made by Gemma who had risen from her slumbers. Not Experts and Novices this year as the majority fishing now have various degrees of experience at Rolf's . Some interesting pairings came out and I found myself paired with my fellow MD's moderator Dirk . With the draw for todays match not being till 12·30pm I took a stroll round the lake with Terry, and as is usual at Rolf's there were plenty of Carp sunning themselves in all the swims .........

    a27-1.jpg Carp at Rolf's. picture by pnm123

    Where did I want to draw? well anywhere between peg 1 and 8 would do me, in fact anywhere but 13 . Getting back to the car park for the draw I noticed that some wag (Vince ) had written 'Peg 13' by my name on the draw board, It couldn't happen could it?

    a29-1.jpg Waiting for Saturdays draw. picture by pnm123

     So at 12·30pm the draw started with Webbo drawing 1st and ending up with peg 11, the same one he'd struggled on yesterday. I then stepped confidently forward stating "Let's get peg 13 out of the way then" and promptly drew it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gutted , though the assembled crowd found it hilarious. The rest is a bit of a blur as various lads offered their sympathy ............. NOT .

    a33.jpg It says it all really. picture by pnm123

    Well I walked my gear round to you know where, with the match being fished from 2-7 there was plenty of time to set up and it really wasn't going to take me long as I still had my top kits set up with the rigs from the previous days match, so no need to go over the details of them here. I'm sure you're all fed up with looking at the photo from behind the peg, so I had a stroll along the bank to get a different angle on things .............

    a34.jpg Peg 13 yet again. picture by pnm123

    I stopped and had a chat with Webbo, and he didn't seem to be to enthused about his chances and then stopped for a chat with Clive who was looking a bit happier with his prospects for the match ahead .......

    a35.jpg Clive waits for the off on Saturday. picture by pnm123

    Looking at the draw I had to fancy Paul East (peg 9) and (peg8) Dave Moore's chances in the Pairs today, while a Golden Nugget looked to be in danger as Vince had drawn peg 6 . Looking across from my peg as I waited for the off I could see Dirk on peg 29, Malc on peg 30, Tony on 31 and Tim on 32..........

    a31.jpg Dirk, Malc, Tony and Tim. picture by pnm123

    So 2pm and John rang the fishery bell for the All-In, feed as per yesterday and out with a banded pellet at 6mtrs. Not a lot happened though, a few bubbles were rising from the swim, but there were no bites to be had. I plugged away but from what I could see sport in general appeared to be slow, though Paul on peg 9 was getting a couple ........

    a39.jpg In the net for Paul(nomorelongwalks)East. picture by pnm123

    Half an hour in and I had a bite !!!!!!!! I was so shocked that I missed it but latched onto a foul hooker. Lots of elastic poured out of the top kit as I was obviously attached to a Carp via its tail. Despite loads of encouragement I managed to get it to the net, a weigher to get me off the mark ........

    a67.jpg 1st of the day on Saturday. picture by pnm123

    Paul Thompson had a bit of a mare as he was connected to a Carp when the sound of smashing carbon was heard leaving him to play the fish on the remains of a shattered top 2 .........

    a36.jpg Tommy plays a fish on a busted top kit. picture by pnm123

    A few more foul hookers followed for me, none of which I landed, so feeling that I was getting nowhere fast, I decided to feed and have a short stroll with the camera . Dave Moore on peg 8 had got off to a good start and was picking up a few fishing paste down the track and was into another fish as I watched ........

    a42.jpg Dave playing a Carp on peg 8. picture by pnm123

    ...... Unfortunately a bit of a disaster was to befall Dave a few moments after this though, as his keepnet fell in and by the time he retrieved it 3 carp had escaped .
    Simon, over on peg 34 had hooked a big Carp which ploughed into the lillies on his right hand side, he tried to free it but only succeeded in breaking his No 4 section. Lucky Mitch was on hand and soon stripped down to his boxers and recovered his top kit .......

    a40.jpg Mitch after rescueing Simons top kit. picture by pnm123

    Gemma's customary scream was heard from peg 22 meaning a few more hearts dropped , and with good reason as she was receiving a bit of coaching from visiting Rolf's regular Eddie Turner-Green on the finer points of paste fishing, something that Eddie excels at ........

    a45.jpg Gemma(The Minx) on peg 22. picture by pnm123

    Bill was up on peg 20 and had endured a fishless 2 hours before he'd had his 1st fish, a decent weigher at 14¾lbs to get him off the mark at last ........

    a44.jpg Bill G on peg 20. picture by pnm123

    Now a bit of light relief is always nice to raise the spirits when things are tough, and today it was provided by Terry on peg 15 . It turned out that his landing net had parted company with his handle as he tried to land a Carp, and having lost the fish he was faced with having to take a dip to retrieve it. Well it would have been rude to have ignored the photo opportunity wouldn't it .......

    a46.jpg Terry plays "Hunt the Landing Net". picture by pnm123

    Things really didn't improve a lot for me, I was simply plagued with foul hookers though I did manage another couple of smaller fish that had actually taken the bait.......

    a69.jpg Peter playing a Carp on peg 13. picture by pnm123

    Opposite me my pairs partner Dirk was suffering too, while Malc had sat doing his best garden gnome impression for over 3hrs before taking his 1st fish ........

    a37.jpg Malc(The Jinx)Doyle. picture by pnm123

    In fact Malc was about to provide one of the funniest moments of the day ...... Now Malc likes to sit with his pole between his legs, and after lifting into a bite and missing it a Carp must have grabbed the bait and powered off, the force of which pulled the pole down and the butt right up into his family jewels !!!!!!! You could hear the scream across the lake, the fish got off leaving Malc to wipe the tears from his eyes while receiving sympathy from all those around him ......... NOT .

    Clive was sliding a few into the net on the quiet, but was having a bit of a problem with his keepnets that were floating around in front of him, and in the end would cost him 3 lost Carp ........

    a48.jpg Fish on for Clive. picture by pnm123

    Tony was another enduring a frustrating day as he tried to get to grips with fishing paste on peg 31, even picking John Bennett's brains, but they weren't really having it despite Tony striking like Zorro on numerous occasions , though he did finally manage to connect with a couple........

    a43.jpg Fish on for Tony(spamwham)Roberts. picture by pnm123

    I managed just one more before John rang the fishery bell for the All-Out at 7pm, and I have to say that I was glad to hear it after enduring what had been a very frustrating 5 hours for me . All that remained was to pack the kit away before the weigh-in, and I was seriously debating whether to just leave it there . It was just a question of if I'd suffered a Minxing and whether Vince had taken a Golden Nugget off me as well. All would be revealed by the weigh in .

    So the Weigh-In started with Simon on peg 34 who put 41¾lbs on the scales to kick things off . This was swiftly overtaken however, firstly by Alex Malman (peg 37) who weighed 83lbs+ and then his brother Gaz who recorded 113¾lbs from peg 38 . Vince had managed 56¾lbs from peg 6 and I knew that my 18 month run had come to an end and a Golden Nugget would be going his way at last . Dave Moore's 116¾lbs from peg 8 proved to be the winning weight on the day despite his earlier disaster with his keepnet . Clive's 110¼lbs from peg 10 gave him 3rd place on the day and Webbo's 52¾lbs from peg 11 meant another Nugget disappearing to Yorkshire as my 39½lbs came up short . Indeed with nobody else threatening the frame, It was just a question of whether I could avoid a Minxing I avoided that by the skin of my teeth as Gemma's fish came to exactly the same weight as mine at 39½lbs . Malc's weight of 80½lbs was the best from the final pegs .
    So with the Weigh-In over the inquests started, and Eddie was good enough to capture the moment when I had to part with a Golden Nugget and hand it to Vince Crybaby [:C] ...........

    a73.jpg A Golden Nugget for Vince. picture by pnm123

     Dave Moore & Paul East were leading with 13 points while Dirk and I were stone cold last with 44 points . Paul, Vince and I popped down to the pub for a couple of drinks with Dirk and his son, before raiding Asda's for something to pop on the barbie for dinner and the evening wound down with a chin wag and a few beers round the barbie before I hit the sack around 1·30am. What would tomorrow bring? We'd soon find out

    Sunday, August 09, 2009

    I stuck my head out of my sleeping bag around 7am and it was obvious that plenty of people were already up and about. This was probably down to the fact that people had to get their bivvies and all the other paraphernalia packed away prior to the match so after a couple of cups of coffee and a bite to eat it was time to dismantle my bivvy and get it packed away into it's improbably small bag . Considering that I only use it once a year it always amazes me that I manage to do it, but once more it went away OK .

    Now we were going to draw at 11·30am and fish from 1pm-6pm in order to allow everyone to get off homeward at a reasonable hour. Having got all my gear packed away I came across our hosts for the weekend John & Pauline tucking into a spot of breakfast themselves .

    a56.jpg John and Pauline. picture by pnm123

    There was a bit of speculation as to whether I could possibly draw Peg 13 for a third day in a row (How much suffering did people want to see me go through? ) and it had been agreed that I would draw first to put myself out of my misery. So at the appointed time I dipped my hand into the fateful draw bag, and pulled out ............................................ Peg 20 . (Not the best of pegs, and 13 would probably fish it's head of today ) It was a shortish walk anyway and Bill had briefed me on how he'd fished it yesterday. For company I had Dave(Rockyroads)West on peg 19 and Tony on peg 22, while Webbo was next up on peg 23 .

    a59.jpg Peg 20 for me on Sunday. picture by pnm123

    Setting up was a simple job as I still had the top kits set up from yesterday and with just 8 inches less depth I merely adjusted the depth of the rigs that were already in place. So plenty of time till the off, meaning a stroll with the camera was in order. Down on peg 34 Paul was settling in and with his partner Dave having drawn peg 9 it looked as if they would take all the catching , though it wasn't impossible ......

    a52.jpg Paul prepares for Sunday. picture by pnm123

    Tony(teepee) was settling in next to Paul on peg 35, and it was good to see him fishing again after he had to miss out last year when he was taken ill .......

    a51.jpg Tony(teepee) gets ready on Sunday. picture by pnm123

    My partner Dirk had drawn peg 38 and appeared to be warming up with a bit of Tai Chi, and a repeat of Gaz's performance off that peg the previous day would be the minimum we needed (No pressure there then )........

    a55.jpg Dirk limbers up. picture by pnm123

    I couldn't help noticing Gemma on peg 8, she's good enough to Minx a lot of us, without her drawing a flyer like peg 8, but I'm sure it was a cunning plan to distract us further by fishing in those shorts ........

    a54.jpg Gemma showing some leg. picture by pnm123

    As I made my way back I had a brief chat with Vince who'd drawn peg 32, and I feared he'd be taking another Golden Nugget home with that peg today . I also saw that Bill was settling into peg 11 which hadn't really produced all weekend.

    a57.jpg bill gets ready on peg 11. picture by pnm123

    Back at my peg it was just a question of waiting for the All-In and Rocky did the honours with my camera (more like a condemned man waiting for the gallows )

    a60.jpg Peter waiting for the All-In on Sunday. picture by pnm123

    Anyway at 1pm the All-In sounded and we were off, I fed a line at 7mtrs out in front and another to the bush to my left. Starting with hard pellet and alternating between those, expanders, paste and corn produced not a touch , though Tony was off the mark pretty quickly with a decent fish. The Big Lake was pretty slow however, and word had it that the Little Lake was the place to be today. Rocky had managed a nice common and had then lost another. In fact most people had taken the odd fish, mostly on the pellet waggler and Webbo had taken a couple on a floating rocket feeder . For me it was just a question of keeping faith and hoping that something would turn up. I did get the pellet waggler out briefly after Simon had threaded the line through the rings for me (I was struggling without my glasses ), but was pretty restricted in where I could cast so soon gave it up as a bad job and went back to trying the bush to my left.......

    a71.jpg Peter on peg 20. picture by pnm123

    One person who did seem to be doing OK though was Mitch who was on peg 13, fishing up in the water at 13mtrs, I'd seen him going to the scales with weighers on several occasions . Simon had managed to extract a couple of fish from peg 15, and had resorted to fishing at 14½mtrs to try and nick a couple more........

    a64.jpg Simon fishing at 14½ meters. picture by pnm123

    Gemma had been noticeably quiet on peg 8, despite Simon reckoning that she'd caught, but when she let out a scream halfway through I thought I was in trouble . Webbo had nicked a couple more and I'd seen Vince picking John's brains about peg 32 and could see him into a fish, so that wasn't looking good either in the Golden Nugget department .........

    a62.jpg Vince heading for another Golden Nugget from Peter. picture by pnm123

    I finally managed to tempt a Carp from the bush, nothing big at around 7lbs, but a fish none the less . Al seemed like he was in pretty much the same boat as me, and just sticking it out in the hope that they would turn up.......

    a58.jpg Alan Loader. picture by pnm123

    With about an hour to go I managed to get another Carp from the bush, again around the 7lb mark , and next put in hooked another that I played with kid gloves. However Webbo just couldn't resist saying "make sure you get that in the net" , which of course was the cue for the hook to come free leaving me muttering under my breath .

    With half an hour to go I had a final bite, but rather than a surging run from a Carp there was just momentary resistance before a skimmer of about 2½lbs slid over the net. Not quite what I was after, but welcome none the less . Finally at 6pm the All-Out was sounded, and I have to say that I felt glad it was over, and was quite happy to pack my kit away and get it back to the car.

    Paul East was first to weigh and his 69¼lbs from peg 34 would net him 6th place on the day bringing him good points . However Gaz on peg 37 blew everyone away with 165lbs and the win on the day . Meanwhile his brother Alex on peg 40 weighed 79lbs for 5th overall. Malc weighed 93½lbs from peg 4 for 3rd, while daughter Gemma only managed 16¼lbs off of peg 8. Dave Moore had a mare on peg 9 managing just 18lbs throwing the whole match wide open. Mitch weighed a very creditable 89¼lbs from peg 13 for 4th overall . Round to my peg where incredibly my 2 carp and a skimmer weighed 16¼lbs meaning I'd tied with the Minx and escaped again for the second day in a row .
    However I lost another Golden Nugget to both Webbo and Vince , while Scott recorded the best weight off the car park bank with a fine 94¼lbs on the day for 2nd overall .

    a72.jpg Waiting for the results. picture by pnm123

    So back to the fishery hut and while Dave sorted through the points the banter flowed. It transpired that 1st day leaders Dave Moore & Paul East had been pipped by a single point in the final reckoning, which meant that the winners of the Rolf's Pairs 2009 were.............

    Alex Malman & Dave Collier
    Congratulations to both of them .
     
    a65.jpg Alex Malman, Dave Webster and Dave Collier. picture by pnm123

    Finally a few words of thanks are due to
    John & Pauline Bennett for allowing us the use of their superb fishery during the weekend.
    Dave Webster, for bringing us all Maggotdrowning.com and organising the whole weekend.
    Finally, all the anglers that took part, It's you that make the weekend the success it is.

     Overall Pairs Result.

     Position               Pairs                    Points 
     1st Alex Malman & Dave Collier 42 pts
     2nd Dave Moore & Paul East 43 pts
     3rd Gaz Malman & Alan Loader 45 pts
     4th Mitch Auger & Scott Weston 48 pts
     5th Chris Kendall & Adrian Wood 52 pts
     6th Bill Bibbins & Tony Roberts 53 pts
     7th Malc Doyle & Mick Pearson 56 pts
     8th Clive Pritchard & Ant Haywood 57 pts
     9th Tom Little & Chris Ellis 61 pts
     10th Dave Webster & Gemma Doyle 67 pts
     11th Dirk Williams & Peter Morton 79 pts
     12th Simon Mound & Colin Sharrard 80 pts
     13th Terry Goff & Tony Prentice 80 pts
     14th Vince Gould & Tim Westmoreland 82 pts
     15th Paul Thompson & Dave West 82 pts

    Saturday Individual Result.

    Position Peg               Angler            Weight   
     1st Peg 8 Dave Moore 116lbs 12ozs
     2nd Peg 38 Gaz Malman 113lbs 12ozs
     3rd Peg 10 Clive Pritchard 110lbs 04ozs
     4th Peg 37 Alex Malman  83lbs 05ozs
     5th Peg 30 Malc Doyle  80lbs 08ozs
     6th Peg 18 Chris Kendall  72lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 17 Chris Ellis  69lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 25 Paul Thompson  60lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg 6 Vince Gould  56lbs 12ozs
     10th Peg 20 Bill Gibbins  55lbs 00ozs
     11th Peg 11 Dave Webster  52lbs 12ozs
     12th Peg 9 Paul East  49lbs 12ozs
     13th Peg 34 Simon Mound  41lbs 12ozs
     14th Peg 31 Tony Roberts  41lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 2 Tony Prentice  40lbs 06ozs
     16th= Peg 13 Peter Morton  39lbs 08ozs
     16th= Peg 22 Gemma Doyle  39lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 19 Scott Weston  38lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 7 Mick Pearson  36lbs 08ozs
     20th Peg 14 Terry Goff  30lbs 04ozs
     21st Peg 16 Dave Collier  28lbs 04ozs
     22nd Peg 15 Alan Loader  26lbs 08ozs
     23rd Peg 40 Colin Sharrard  20lbs 12ozs
     24th Peg 35 Mitch Auger  15lbs 00ozs
     25th Peg 32 Tim Westmoreland  12lbs 08ozs
     26th Peg 23 Adrian Wood  10lbs 00ozs
     27th Peg 4 Tom Little   9lbs 06ozs
     28th Peg 29 Dirk Williams   7lbs 00ozs
     29th Peg 26 Ant Haywood   3lbs 08ozs
     30th Peg 28 Dave West      DNW

    Sunday Individual Result.

    Position Peg            Angler            

     Weight       

     1st Peg 37 Gaz Malman 165lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 26 Scott Weston  94lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 4 Malc Doyle  93lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 13 Mitch Auger  89lbs 04ozs
     5th Peg 40 Alex Malman  79lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 34 Paul East  69lbs 04ozs
     7th Peg 6 Chris Kendall  66lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg 31 Clive Pritchard  53lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 2 Chris Ellis  49lbs 12ozs
     10th= Peg 11 Bill Gibbins  39lbs 04ozs
     10th= Peg 38 Dirk Williams  39lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 30 Dave Collier  37lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 29 Adrian Wood  36lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg 15 Simon Mound  31lbs 08ozs
     15th Peg 23 Dave Webster  30lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg 16 Paul Thompson  28lbs 12ozs
     17th Peg 7 Ant Haywood  23lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 25 Tom Little  22lbs 04ozs
     19th Peg 22 Tony Roberts  22lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 17 Alan Loader  19lbs 12ozs
     21st Peg 32 Vince Gould  19lbs 04ozs
     22nd Peg 28 Terry Goff  18lbs 12ozs
     23rd Peg 35 Tony Prentice  18lbs 08ozs
     24th Peg 9 Dave Moore  18lbs 00ozs
     25th= Peg 8 Gemma Doyle  16lbs 04ozs
     25th= Peg 20 Peter Morton  16lbs 04ozs
     27th Peg 10 Tim Westmoreland  15lbs 12ozs
     28th Peg 19 Dave West   9lbs 08ozs
     29th Peg 18 Mick Pearson   7lbs 08ozs
     30th Peg 14 Colin Sharrard      DNW

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    Dave the Fish's

    Invitation Match.

    Rolfs.jpg Rolf's Lake pegging plan. picture by pnm123

    Today saw 16 of us assembled at Rolf's for an invitation match organised by Dave the Fish as a prequel to the 2009 Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Tournament . I was really looking forward to it, as I'd be fishing the Pairs on the Saturday and Sunday as well, and hopefully it would give me the chance to get into the swing of things ahead of the weekend . However it had absolutely chucked it down overnight and that can have a big influence on how Rolf's fishes so we'd see how it goes. Looking out of the window this morning showed a dull grey morning and there was still a bit of light rain as I got all the gear loaded into the car . There was a fair bit to take as well as I was stopping at Rolf's for 3 days including my bivvy, bed-chair and sleeping bag and all the other paraphernalia that you seem to think you'll need. Anyway I bid Maria farewell and set off around 8·30am as I wanted to get down in plenty of time to set up the bivvy and get sorted out before this afternoons match. Having made my usual stop for breakfast in Battersea, I had an uneventful trip down and pulled into the car park at Rolf's around 10·30am to be greeted by Pauline & John and to find that I was the 1st to arrive.

    I noticed I had a missed call on my phone from Bill, and phoning him back I found out that he and Mick were devouring a KFC bucket in the services while they waited for Al to arrive and guide them down to Rolf's. Dave was the next to arrive and was soon showing me his latest bit of kit, A Power Walker Trolley, and I have to say it's quite an impressive bit of kit, especially at the price Dave paid for it .

    a66.jpg Daves new power walker trolley. picture by pnm123

    Soon the rest started to arrive, and once John had finished cutting the grass we set about getting the bivvies and tents set up for the weekend, though Bill found that the bivvy that his son had lent him came without poles rendering it useless so ended up sharing with Mick. The only fly in the ointment was a phonecall from Webbo informing us that he was stuck on a gridlocked M40 due to a car on fire , so we agreed to draw for them both in the event of them not arriving on time. Chris(Cybermanc)Ellis & Tom(tommodiesel)Little arrived and while not fishing today had decided to travel down early and get settled in for the weekend ahead.

    So at 1·30pm with the sun starting to heat the afternoon up, we made our draw. We had The Big Lake today (pegs 9-32) as another club was there for a match on The Little Lake (pegs 34-8). So into the draw bag and with only 2 pegs left in Peg 13 stuck to my hand . Now it's not a bad peg, but I just can't get to grips with it and it's the 3rd time I've drawn it in 5 matches at Rolf's this year so I can't pretend I was delighted, though the assembled company thought it was hilarious .

    a33.jpg It says it all really. picture by pnm123

    So I made my way round with my gear, on what is becoming a well trodden path for me, and settled into what are becoming far to familiar surroundings for my taste. One thing is that I know just what rigs I need to tackle it with, but with just under 1½hrs till the start of the match I decided to tie up some fresh ones up anyway. These rigs ended up as a MW 0·4g XT for the 6mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hook. a MW 0·6g Cane Diamond for the 8mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 and a MW 0·3g Margin on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hook for the inside line. I also set up a Malman SC paste on 0·22 Power Match with a size 10 Ashima barbless for Paste. Bait was my usual combination of pellet paste and corn.

    a1-3.jpg Peg 13, Friday. picture by pnm123

    Waiting for the All-In I could see Simon, Bill, Budgie and Scott across on pegs 29-32 and Dave and Mick on pegs 9 & 10, while peg 11 waited for Webbo and peg 14 Tony(teepee) on their arrival. So at 3pm the All-In was called, a couple of pots of pellet onto the 6 and 8mtr lines and a handfull down the right hand margin and a banded 8mtr pellet was swung out to 6mtrs. Nothing really happened for me though, and I think Scott may have been the first off the mark on peg 32 with a weigher. After 30 minutes Webbo appeared with Tony in tow, and I remarked that I'd been decent enough to wait for him, Bill having been seen off by a couple of foul hookers soon had a real introduction to Rolf's in the shape of a Common that went 18lbs (a new PB for him ) closely followed by a 17½lb'er . I got off the mark with a 12½lb Mirror and Dave on peg 9 seemed to be into steady action ...........

    a19-1.jpg Dave gets ready to land a Carp. picture by pnm123

    While Mick having decided to do his own thing settled in with his avon rod awaiting his first action...........

    a10-3.jpg Mick waits for a bite. picture by pnm123

    Things in general were quiet for the most part though I'd added a Common of around 8lbs, so I re-fed and took a stroll with the camera. Scott was concentrating intently on peg 32............

    a12-3.jpg Scott(Methodgob). picture by pnm123

    While a look down the car park bank revealed a distinct lack of action for the most part ..........

    a13-3.jpg Looking down the car park bank. picture by pnm123

    Indeed Simon on peg 29 was looking decidedly unimpressed with the way his match appeared to be going ........

    a14-4.jpg Simon wasn't looking best pleased. picture by pnm123

    The only person on the car park bank that appeared to be having any real joy was Al on peg 23, while Tony despite his late start was quietly slipping into gear and sliding a few into the net . Webbo was having a bit of a mare with foul hookers, though everyone was suffering similar frustrations to a degree. Dave sidled up with a Common he was proud of and got Cyber to take a photo with my camera ......

    a21-1.jpg A lovely Common for Dave. picture by pnm123

    Mick had managed his 1st fish from Rolf's, not a huge fish at around the 7lb mark, but it certainly left an impression on Mick with it's spirited fight ........

    a25-1.jpg Look at that rod bend!!!!! picture by pnm123

    Simon finally got in on the action, and gave his purple 19 elastic a good stretching ..........

    a20-1.jpg Simon gets his elastic stretched. picture by pnm123

    ....... though Marcus(Budgie) provided the best entertainment as he explored the lengths that his elastic could stretch to with a few sizeable fish on peg 31, resulting in John having to lift the ropes to the aerator at one stage . I was managing to keep the odd fish coming, nothing big, just regulation 7-8lb'ers and while I wasn't exactly bagging felt that I was on for my best result so far from this peg . Bill was getting a better stamp of fish though and I always felt that he had the edge on me.......

    a22-1.jpg Bill gets to grips with one of Rolf's Babies. picture by pnm123

    Though Bill must have felt it was close between us as he remarked that my last fish could make a difference as I netted it just as Dave signalled the All-Out at 8pm........

    a70.jpg Peter landing a Carp on peg 13. picture by pnm123

    We packed our kit away prior to the Weigh-In and Dave kicked things off from peg 9 with a fine 101¾lbs which would net him 3rd place . I was one weigher short of a Ton recording a level 91lbs for 5th on the day. Tony took the days honours with a creditable 110½lbs from peg 14 . Al took 2nd place with 107½lbs from peg 23 , while Bill managed a Ton on his 1st ever visit to Rolf's with 100½lbs, a fine effort for 4th .

    So with the match over people sorted out some grub in various guises and generally wound down, discussing the events of the day and the prospects for the weekend ahead. The general consensus appeared to be that it had been a fine way to kick off the weekend and as we retired to our various sleeping quarters most would probably be dreaming of how the weekend ahead would go. We'd soon find out .

    Position  Peg    Angler                   Weight     
     1st Peg 14 Tony Prentice 110lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 23 Al Loader 107lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 9 Dave Moore 101lbs 12ozs
     4th Peg 30 Bill Gibbins 100lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 13 Peter Morton  91lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 27 Clive Pritchard  63lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg 16 Tony Roberts  62lbs 08ozs
     8th Peg 24 Paul East  58lbs 00ozs
     9th= Peg 31 Marcus Burgess  46lbs 08ozs
     9th= Peg 32 Scott Weston  46lbs 08ozs
     11th Peg 18 Terry Goff  36lbs 00ozs
     12th Peg 29 Simon Mound  34lbs 08ozs
     13th Peg 26 Dave Collier  29lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg 11 Dave Webster  25lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 19 Tim Westmoreland  19lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg 10 Mick Pearson  16lbs 08ozs

     

  • Private Lake, East Sussex.

    untitled.jpg picture by pnm123

    Well it's off down to a Private Lake in East Sussex for an impromptu session at Bill Gibbins invitation as he's booked the Lake for today and invited a few of us down to join him for a bit of a Knock Up .
    It looked like being a nice day as I loaded the car up and set off, though some idiot trying to drive through some roadworks to escape the attention of the local constabulary nearly stymied things at the off . However it didn't really delay me and I arrived at about 8·45am .

    Bill was off round the lake pegging out so I dipped my nets and chatted with Roger, John, Ray, Al, Terry and Clive and as Bill returned Dave rolled up to complete the numbers for the day. Al collected the cash as Bill organised an impromptu draw. Peg 2 was my reward, while Al got peg 1 and Dave peg 3 (both rated pegs ). Roger had peg 4 with a comfy chuck to the small island, while John was just round the corner out of my site on peg 6. Bill had the back of the large island all to himself on peg 7. Terry had peg 8, while Ray and Clive had pegs 10 & 11 to round things off .

    Not having fished the lake much I'd asked a bit of advise and the general consensus was a line around 10mtrs out in front and another down the left hand margin where the outflow to the lake is as it normally holds a few. Sitting there in the morning warmth with a mix of sun, clouds and a bit of breeze it didn't look bad at all .

    a8-6.jpg Peg 2 at Shannon's picture by pnm123

    Setting up was nice and simple as I was just after a nice relaxed days fishing so I wasn't about to over complicate things with numerous rigs and options. Just 2 4X12 Malman Adam's to 0·18 with size 16 Drennan Carp Match hooks to fish 8mm banded pellet on the deck at 10mtrs straight out and a MW Trev with similar line and hook for up in the water that could double up down the inside. Bait was 8mm pellet with 6mm for feed.

    10·00am and the All -In was called and I dumped a large pot of pellets out at 10mtrs and fed down the left margin by hand. Straight away I could see Roger was into what appeared to be a decent fish on the feeder, and indeed he was soon into a steady run of them .

    I could hear a fair bit of splashing coming from Al's peg, but it turned out that apart from one early fish he was having a bit of a mare, with fish slipping the hook and trashing a couple of rigs .

    I'd managed a couple of Carp of about 3lbs each by the hour mark........

    a7-7.jpg Almost in the net. picture by pnm123

    ......... but was being pestered by small roach snatching at the pellet, as a brief change down to a 6mm on the hook confirmed. From what I could see Terry was getting amongst a few, but it transpired that he was losing just as many as he was managing to get into the net .

    a11-6.jpg Terry concentrates on peg 8. picture by pnm123

    Ray and Clive seemed to be ticking over nicely, with Clive seemingly having the better of it from his peg and rumour had it that he's had an absolutely cracking Tench .

    a12-4.jpg Clive on peg 11. picture by pnm123

    Dave was fishing down into the corner on peg 3 and had around 9 fish when he went for a stroll at about 12·30, which was a couple more than I had. Bill came wandering round on the way to fetch his sunglasses and reckoned that John had 7 fish and was admitting to having had around 20 fish himself (though he reckoned they were on the small side )

    By 1·30 I decided to stretch my own legs so Having topped up both pegs with a decent quantity of feed, strolled round with my camera. Dave had gone back to fishing short (4 sections) down the side as it was more comfortable for him and it was still producing for him . Roger was still catching on the feeder, even if he was having a bit of a fight to get them in the landing net .

    a13-4.jpg Roger nets a Carp. picture by pnm123

    Battling through the undergrowth I found Bill in the act of unhooking yet another Carp, and although he tried to play it down I'm sure I detected a quiet hint of confidence .

    Terry, while having caught a few, had it seemed lost just as many again including a proper lump that gave him no chance .
    Ray was suffering the attention of to many Roach, hindering his attempts to build a weight, but Clive was looking happier than I've seen him look for a few weeks as he was starting to put together a decent bag as his margin swim got stronger .

    a14-3.jpg Clive fishes the margins. picture by pnm123

    Al had finally come to terms with his swim as well, and after his initial troubles early on was starting to put some decent fish in his nets .

    a17-3.jpg Al slides one towards the net. picture by pnm123

    Back to my peg and I continued to pick up fish to the end of the session, but try as I may finding one over 3lbs seemed beyond me  

    a6-6.jpg Peter playing a Carp. picture by pnm123

    while Dave was catching at pretty much the same rate as I was, his fish were of a noticeably better stamp than mine.

    a10-6.jpg Dave plays a good un. picture by pnm123

    The All-Out was called at 4pm and I knew that it wasn't going to be a place for me today . Chatting to the owner as I packed up he reckoned that with 24 fish I should have a comfortable ton, but I knew that my fish were small, and told him I would be lucky to have 75lbs. Anyway we would soon see as the scales were starting at Al's peg. It was immediately obvious that Al had caught a much better stamp of fish as he recorded 140¼lbs to set the standard . My fish went 74lbs 6ozs, so I wasn't far out . Dave had a little more than he thought with 103¼lbs, while Roger suffered with to many small fish recording 122½lbs. John's fish only came to 61lbs but none the less represented his best ever weight from the lake . Bill was next up and halfway through things were looking close, but he came up just short with 136lbs meaning the loss of a Golden Nugget to Al . Terry was left a bit frustrated with his 85lbs, which left him ruing the loss of so many fish during the course of the day. Ray had the lowest weight on the day with 60½lbs, but it was Clive who finally took the honours on the day, and a Golden Nugget off Bill , with a fine 149lbs which included a cracking Tench, which if it hadn't recently spawned would have gone way better than the 7lbs 2ozs that it actually weighed.

    a18-4.jpg Clives Tench 7lbs 2ozs. picture by pnm123

    So that was it for the day, 9 anglers putting over 900lbs of fish on the scales, in lovely surroundings, with good weather and even better company. It doesn't get much better than that .

    Position Peg     Angler           

     Weight       

     1st Peg 11  Clive Pritchard 149lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 1 Al Loader 140lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 7 Bill Gibbins 136lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 4 Roger Harris 122lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 3 Dave Collier 103lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 8  Terry Goff   85lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 2 Peter Morton   74lbs 06ozs
     8th Peg 6 John Manktelow   61lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg 10  Ray Vicary   60lbs 08ozs

     

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2.

    Faye's Match.

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Organised by Maggotdrowning.com
    With all proceeds going to support


    M.jpg Monks Match Lake 2. picture by pnm123

    Back in December last year a young lady contacted the Maggotdrowning.com website with the following appeal...................

    Dear whoever is reading this letter.

    My name is Faye and I’m 19. I have been seriously ill for 7 years and am bedridden, in a wheelchair and fed by a tube. My doctors have told me that I don’t have long left now and that this will more than likely be my last Christmas. I am trying to make it special for my family so we have great memories. If you would like to find out more about my illnesses you can look at this site
    http://www.lovequiltsuk.com/FayeT.html . I don’t have any money to buy any nice presents for them so I was wondering if you could help out at all. If there was anything you could send me to give to my Dad who loves fishing and fish, it would mean so much to me and I would never forget your kindness. I do understand completely if you are unable to help me though.

    Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter, I know you must be very busy.

    Faye.
     
    Needless to say the members of the forum rallied round, and you can read about the results of their efforts HERE.

    Anyway Faye remarked that she would love to meet up with as many of us as possible, so Bill arranged this light hearted match down at Monks, where Faye could come down and meet us, and as a bonus we could raise a few bob for an organisation that is close to Faye's heart Post Pals . Which is why we are down at Monk's today.

    Well Dave(Webbo)Webster had stopped overnight at my place, having travelled down from Leeds the day before to fish this match, so there were 2 loads of kit to load up as we set off around 7am in bright sunshine, and good trip down saw us pulling into the car park at Monks at around 8am . Most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with a few new faces who had travelled from further afield to support the day and the reason behind it. Various combinations of rolls and sandwiches were soon consumed by the assembled company and around 8·30 Bill got the draw underway aided and abetted by Matt .

    Vince walked past having drawn peg 54, so of course being a polite sort of chap I was duty bound to draw peg 55 and did . It would give the day a little extra edge as Vince had previously suggested that the loser of todays Golden Nugget would add an extra £5 to the charity pot and he was feeling confident having done a bit of "homework" on the venue and sorted his tactics ahead of time .

    Thankfully "The Management" allowed us to park up by the lake today, so our kit was quickly in place and setting up commenced. Peg 55 is a corner peg, but not one that I was particularly chuffed to have drawn, as it never seems to produce like the others . Setting up was pretty easy. I'd earmarked 2 pole lines, the 1st at around 7mtrs and the other down the left hand margin. The rigs were actually the 2 that I'd used previously at Mansfield's, a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook, and a smaller 4X12 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook. I also set up a 3AAA waggler on my Shakespeare 11ft Micro. Bait was red maggot, pellets and meat with pellet for feed.

    b0.jpg Waiting for the off. picture by pnm123

    Tony(spamwham) had remarked on my arrival, that he couldn't believe that the lake was flat calm without a ripple on it. He should have known better, because as 10am approached I could feel the wind starting to get up and a few grey clouds coming into view. Both aerators were running that I felt would generate a tow as well.......

    096.jpg Aerator. picture by pnm123

    As we waited a look down the bank to my right revealed Vince taking a photo of me (Surely this would be used in his Blog when he related how he'd battered me and finally taken the Nugget today )

    a4-3.jpg Looking down from peg 55. picture by pnm123

    So 10AM and with the breeze making things feel noticably cooler I slipped on my fleece just in time before Bill called the All-In. I potted a large cup of maggot and pellet onto the 7mtr line and a handfull of pellet into the margins..........

    083.jpg Feeding the margins. picture by pnm123

    .........while Vince fed 5 balls of groundbait onto his pole line . I shipped out 2 maggots to 7mtrs, while Vince started off on the pellet waggler.

    262.jpg Vince. picture by pnm123 

    The float soon slid away and the 1st fish of my day, a small Ide was soon residing in the keepnet , a couple of small skimmers soon arrived to keep it company followed by a humble Gudgeon, but alas nothing substantial.

    Looking across the lake Al appeared to be into a fish every time I looked.............

    209.jpg Al landing a fish. picture by pnm123

    and Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick opposite on peg 66 seemed to be trying to find out just how far his elastic would stretch as he was into a regular run of fish ..........

    249.jpg Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick picture by pnm123

    NB: I must give a mention at this point to Jon(Mutley)Reed who while not fishing himself, spent the day strolling round taking photos and gave me permission to use as many as I liked for this report. Nice one Jon .

    In general though, the fishing wasn't as good as everyone was hoping for , though most were putting one or two in their nets. Although I couldn't see from my peg, rumour had it that the far side of the causeway was proving just as hard. MD's answer to Jan Porter, Matt Love having a bit of a grueller on a water that he knows well .........

    121.jpg Matt Love. picture by pnm123

    It can't have been that bad though as I could see that Mike(Omega Mike) Jameson was still at his peg, which meant that he must have been catching something .............

    126.jpg Mike(OmegaMike)Jameson. picture by pnm123

    Tony(spamwham)Roberts was reported as having his own "Mugger Moment©" (payback for him taking the micky when I'd had a mare in a recent club match ) and was having a real struggle to find anything to add to his net.......

    329.jpg Tony(spamwham)Roberts picture by pnm123

    while Kevin(the catch)Loveland under the watchful eye of partner Jean was having a most enjoyable session, netting a regular succession of fish .........

    136.jpg Kevin(the catch)Loveland. picture by pnm123

    For some of the watching audience though, the excitement of the day was proving to be just too much ................

    255.jpg To much excitement picture by pnm123

    Simon Elsey was having fun on his end peg next to Al, and while not able to keep up with his catch rate was still sticking a few decent fish in his net ............

    163.jpg Simon Elsey. picture by pnm123

    Over on peg 46 Mick the Chippy was having a fine old day , having drawn between Trevor(MT Net)Little and Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard, he was simply fishing the feeder and regularly popping fish in the net...........

    175.jpg Mick(The Chippy)Pearson. picture by pnm123

    In fact poor Clive was having one of those days when no matter where he looked, it seemed that everyone appeared to be catching more than him ........

    370.jpg Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard. picture by pnm123

    with Steve(jessebobs)Burgess in his pink sweatshirt to his left enjoying his first visit to Monks and finding the fish in his swim in a particularly obliging mood............

    078.jpg Steve(jessebobs)Burgess. picture by pnm123

    Which is more than could be said for Vince and I . I had managed to add a solitary small Barbel from my margin swim...........

    283.jpg netting (2) picture by pnm123

    while Vince converted his waggler rod over to the feeder in an attempt to put something in the net ..........

    a5-2.jpg Vince readies the feeder. picture by pnm123

    Indeed with the feeder seeming to produce for so many, I took mine out of it's ready sleeve and rigged it with a maggot feeder as the pole was proving hard work for little reward, but I'd noticed that Colin on the peg to Vince's right was starting to get a few on his feeder rod.........

    261.jpg Colin(The Pike)Sharrard. picture by pnm123

    Further up my bank could be found Linda(mermaid)Billington, who despite claiming little or no knowledge of match fishing had turned up with a fully equipped Rive seatbox along with a sherpa in the form of hubby Chris to transport it all ..................

    292.jpg Linda(mermaid)Billington picture by pnm123

    Jay over on the causeway appeared to be making hay with a good run of fish and appeared to be giving Al a run for his money...........

    202.jpg Jay Lay. picture by pnm123

    while Roger(upyah)Harris had started to get the odd one or two from peg 49............

    290.jpg Roger(upyah)Harris picture by pnm123

    The feeder seemed to have the desired effect for Vince as he put a run of 3 Carp together, threatening me with the loss of a Golden Nugget , but by dropping a maggot feeder up against the marginal rushes to my left, I managed to keep enough Barbel coming to stay ahead ...........

    p.jpg Peter fished the feeder. picture by pnm123

    a6-3.jpg Across to the marginal rushes. picture by pnm123

    Around about 2pm Dave T arrived with wife Liz and the young lady the day was in aid of ..... Faye , and they spent the last hour of the match touring the lake with Bill meeting the anglers.

    3pm and the All-Out was called, and with Faye taking the weights down and Bill and Kevin performing the weighing duties it was soon apparent that although the weights hadn't matched the expectations a few scalps had been taken on the day and Golden Nuggets exchanged, with Al taking the honours with a final weight of 94¾lbs for a fine win .

    The final 2 to weigh were Vince and I, and for Vince it was an all too familiar story with his 13½lbs not matching my 25¼lbs meaning he waved farewell to yet another Golden Nugget .

    Back to the car park for the results, and a number of the days winners generously returned their winnings to the pot , Then the fun really started with Bill removing his beard for the cause (and a few bob in the pot), only to reveal that he was actually "Razor"Ruddock in disguise !!!!!!!!!!!

    a8-2.jpg Bill1 picture by pnm123a11-2.jpg Bill2 picture by pnm123

    a10-2.jpg Bill3 picture by pnm123a9-2.jpg Bill4 picture by pnm123

    More good news followed when it was announced that Monk Lakes owner Guy Harrison was returning £5 from every £8 peg fee to add to the pot, and that the fishery staff had been round the rest of the fishery with a bucket raising over £100 on the condition that Fishery Bailiff Andy sacrificed his curls to the cause which duly happened .........

       a12-1.jpg Andy....Before. picture by pnm123a13-1.jpg Andy......After. picture by pnm123

    To round things off Faye got stuck in and drew the raffle, which went down a treat with plenty of banter flying around as some improbable prizes found new homes. Bill announced that the total raised on the day was £580 and with more to come as a result of a tackle auction, a very decent effort .

    a17-1.jpg Faye draws the raffle. picture by pnm123

    a15-2.jpg Waiting for their numbers. picture by pnm123

    Dave T made a little speech of Thanks on behalf of Faye and her whole family, and very moving it was, I'm sure I saw a tear in the corner of a few rough, tough fishermen's eyes .
    A team photo of the day to bring proceedings to a close  .......

    a1-3.jpg Faye and the usual suspects. picture by pnm123

    ......... before farewells were made, and we departed for homes far and wide.

    A few Thank You's are in order at this point .......

    Bill G who organised the whole thing and didn't even fish, spending the day walking the banks offering help and encouragement, as well as taking the pee on the day. Well Done fella, a great effort .

    Matt, Kevin, Vince and Paul for helping Bill at various points during the day, and to Jean (Kevin's partner) for doing the business flogging the raffle tickets .

    Guy Harrison, the owner of Monk Lakes and his staff at the fishery for all their help and support on the day .

    Finally, all the members of Maggotdrowning.com and the anglers who attended on the day, as well as those who supported the day from afar, a very big Thank You as we couldn't do it without your support. The day was a real success, we may just have to do it again next year .

     Position   Peg                     Angler                         Weight     
     1st Peg  57 Alan(Al)Loader   94lbs 12ozs
     2nd Peg  61 Jay Lay   81lbs 06ozs
     3rd Peg  64 R Lovewell   72lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg  66 Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick   67lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg  48 Steve(jessebobs)Burgess   62lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg  74 Kevin(the catch)Loveland   52lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg  76 Chris Withall   49lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg  46 Mick(The Chippy)Pearson   49lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg  52 Paul(nomorelongwalks)East   45lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg  56 Simon Elsey   42lbs 08ozs
     11th Peg  72 Mark(MoleMan)Hathaway   41lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg  45 Trevor(MT Net)Little   40lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg  75 Dave(Webbo)Webster   35lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg  47 Clive(BlackHydro)Pritchard    35lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg  49 Roger(upyah)Harris   32lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg  67 Brian(Croydon Angler)Gray   30lbs 14ozs
     17th Peg  70 Mike(OmegaMike)Jameson   29lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg  59 Paul(paulvis69)Slater   29lbs 02ozs
     19th Peg  68 Dave(the Fish)Collier   27lbs 10ozs
     20th Peg  55 Peter(Mugger)Morton   25lbs 04ozs
     21st Peg  50 Linda(mermaid)Billington   22lbs 00ozs
     22nd Peg  71 Matt Love   20lbs 09ozs
     23rd Peg  65 S Foot    16lbs 12ozs 
     24th Peg  53 Colin(The Pike)Sharrard   15lbs 08ozs
     25th Peg  54 Vince(VinceG)Gould   13lbs 08ozs 
     26th Peg  69 Tony(spamwham)Roberts   13lbs 00ozs
     27th Peg 62 Chris Billington    5lbs 04ozs

     

  • Mansfields Lake, Broad Oak, Canterbury.

     May Madness at Mansfield's.

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Mansfields.jpg Mansfield's Lake picture by pnm123

    Well it was back to Mansfield's Lake again today, for another MD's Knock Up organised by Mick(The Chippy)Pearson with the help of "The Committee", and with the promise of loads of banter, a few fish and a ready supply of bread pudding and cakes in the offing, it looked like it would be fun .
    Now it's a bit of a trot for me (65 miles) but a nice sunny morning and a surprisingly clear A2/M2 saw me arrive just after 8am to find to find a number of reprobates fine upstanding members of the community already in situ and devouring humongous "Breakfast Rolls" courtesy of Paul and his Burger Van . As always these Knock ups are more of a social event than a serious match and the banter was soon flowing and the side bets made, with Vince and I having our usual £1 coin on the outcome . Anyway with full bellies, and the chat being about how well it might fish as some decent weights had come out recently we assembled for the draw. Hand into the bag and I found peg 17 on the North bank would be my home for the match.

    a1-2.jpg Peg 17 Home for the match. picture by pnm123

    I have to say that I was a little disappointed as I fancied one of the pegs on the South bank as they all had beds of lilies or rushes offering features to fish to. However I had nobody in the pegs to my left and Ryan to my right for company. Opposite I had Mike, with Richard(DHLman) to his right and Vince to his left, so at least I would be able to keep a check on the destination of the £1.
    With a overhanging tree I was a bit limited, but set up 3 top kits. The 1st was for around 7mtrs where the old stream bed was and I had around 6½ft of water and that consisted of a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook, the 2nd for the left hand margin that shelved off into around 3ft of water towards the empty peg 16 was a smaller 4X12 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook while the third consisted of a Malman MTD2 dibber on 0·14 direct to a size 18 Drennan Maggot hook for tight into the right hand margin where there were a load of small roach apparently spawning in the weeds.
    Bait for the day was a mix of pellets, punched meat, corn and hemp.

    a20-1.jpg Peter on peg 17. picture by pnm123

    So at 10am Colin gave a blast on his whistle to signal the All-in and we were off . I potted a mix of pellet, hemp and a few grains of corn onto the 7mtr line and the left hand margin and just flicked some hemp into the right hand margin. Out with a pellet to 7mtrs, the rig settled and stayed there. An hour later and the float tip was still dry as a bone . Vince however had nicked an early Carp that looked around 3lbs on the waggler while he let his pole lines settle.......

    a4-2.jpg Vince fishing the waggler. picture by pnm123

    and Mike had had a couple of small tench on paste tight to the lilies. Sport in general was very slow though with just the odd fish showing, and most of those appeared to be coming from the opposite end of the lake where the deeper water was. Ryan was getting the occasional tiny roach while Pete next to him was biteless like me.

    a5-1.jpg Ryan (Zephyr) Wells. picture by pnm123

    Two hours in and Mike had added a small Carp, Richard had had a couple of small Roach and I still hadn't had a bite, it was starting to look grim . After another half an hour I decided to take a stroll and see what was happening elsewhere (and get some maggots off Mick ). Standing on the empty end peg (peg14) and looking down the lake it looked lovely....

    a7-2.jpg Looking down the south bank. picture by pnm123

    and I could see a couple of tail patterns in the water, perhaps the fish had backed off into the quieter parts of the lake? Mike however wasn't happy with the lack of action , he's one of those anglers that likes to keep busy......

    a3-2.jpg Mike (Omega Mike) Jameson. picture by pnm123

    Vince was looking quietly confident as there were obviously fish in his swim (could this be the day he finally prized a Golden Nugget from my grasp?) Kev obviously had a shed load of fish in the reeds in his left hand margin, but could he solve the problem of interesting them in his bait? Mick had taken what he hoped was a first Crucian of many and kindly let me have some maggots and casters . Dean aka Marvin Waggler had accounted for a couple of Carp and Tony was determinedly trying to feed off the small roach. Meanwhile Mutley had extracted 3 Carp from the lilies next to his platform . Keith (Ryan's Dad) had snared a solitary Carp while Mick(Old Carper) was having a bit of a struggle (and dreaming of Manor House cake and Country Slices ).......

    a9-1.jpg Mick (Mr Kipling) picture by pnm123

    and at the same time having to watch Al opposite get amongst a few Carp, Indeed by the time that I got round to Al he was playing his 6th Carp of the day and already looking good to take the win ..........

    a10-1.jpg Al plays a Carp. picture by pnm123

    Bill had had just 2 bites all morning, but at least had 2 Bream in the net..................

    A21-1.jpg picture by pnm123

    ..........and Mick's brother Geoff was consentrating hard in an effort to get one over on his brother for once.............

    A22-1.jpg Geoff(geoffallday)Pearson. picture by pnm123

    .............. while Colin had a couple of Carp and missed an absolute sail away on the paste as I watched and Dave had just a solitary carp to show for his efforts.......

    a8-1.jpg Dave Collier. picture by pnm123

    As I walked back I noticed Vince playing what looked to be another Carp, and as he netted it and popped it into the keepnet I'm sure I saw a little smile of satisfaction on his face .........

    a11-1.jpg Vince playing his second Carp. picture by pnm123

    Settling back in at my peg, another look at 7mtrs produced nothing with a similar result in the left hand margin . Remembering the tail patterns I'd seen earlier I kept feeding the left hand margin heavily, in the hope that some fish might wander down late on and dropped a maggot on the dibber rig into the right hand margin in an effort to avoid the dreaded DNW. It did the job and in the next half hour I stuck around 25 tiny roach into the net that might have weighed a total of 8 ozs if I was lucky. Mike opposite had decided on a similar approach to keep himself busy but had been unfortunate enough to have hooked a couple of Carp that broke him in the lilies and when it happened to him for a third time around 2pm it was the final straw and he decided to pack up and head for home as he wasn't enjoying himself .

    This however opened up an option for me, so I quickly got my feeder rod out of it's ready sleeve and changed the cage feeder that it was rigged with for a ½oz bomb with a hair rigged piece of punched meat. The overhanging branches were a bit of a problem but with a sideways flick I could drop it onto the edge of the pads opposite, now I just needed an inquisitive Carp to co-operate to be in with a chance of salvaging my £1 coin from Vince , and more importantly avoid the inevitable stick that would come my way on the forum should Vince take it off me in the assembled company . An hour later and I hadn't had a touch , Richard had managed to extract a couple from his patch of lilies and a few more fish had been caught further down the lake, most notably by Dean (Marvin Waggler), Geoff who was looking to put one over on his brothers Mick and Richard, while Colin had tempted a couple more from down his margin .

    With 45 minutes to go it was looking as though Vince was going to mug "Mugger" when I noticed a tail pattern in the left hand margin that I'd kept feeding heavily. Having had no joy with punched meat on the feeder I tied up another hair rig to take 4 bits of corn hoping that a highly visible bait might do the trick and dropped it in and waited.
    10 minutes later and the tip wrapped round and after a couple of anxious minutes a Common Carp of just over 3lbs was safely in the net . Could I get another? Dave walked up and as we chatted another fish topped, but the tip stayed still. I could hear Mick saying that the All-out was imminent when I remarked to Ryan that I could see a Ghostie hovering over where my bait was, but refusing to go down on the bait when the rod was almost wrenched out of my grasp , almost instantly the whistle blew for the All-out and I shouted "Fish On". From various parts of the lake I could hear shouts of disbelief or was it encouragement and I have to say that I was one very relieved angler when I slid the net under a Common Carp that looked to be just over 4lbs .

    Looking across to the opposite bank Vince's face said it all, had he had his moment of triumph snatched away from him in the final seconds by "Mugger" ???????? As we packed away there was a lot of banter flowing back and forth. Ryan reckoned that I'd hooked the fish 8 seconds from the end of the match, now it would be all down to the scales.

    As the scales made their way round Dean in his 1st ever match had taken the early lead with 26lbs 10ozs edging out Mutley by 4lbs, but I was taking my gear back to the car when Vince's fish were weighed and nobody would tell me what he had weighed as it came to my turn. As I tipped my fish into the net there were various mutterings and when the weight of 8lbs 10ozs was called Vince's face gave the game away , The Mugger had struck again and yet another Golden Nugget was coming my way .
    Al was last to weigh and took the honours on the day putting a very creditable 44½lbs on the scales on what had proved to be a very hard day .

    AlsCatch.jpg Al's winning catch. picture by pnm123

    A quick mention should also be made of the fact that Mick (the chippy one ) is for the most part a confirmed rod & line man when it comes to his fishing, but Bill has taken Mick under his wing so to speak, in an effort to impart some of the dark arts of match fishing and the use of the pole. Well today the pupil beat his teacher and he fished the pole all match . Does this mean that Mick has graduated or will the teacher be putting him in his place next time out? We'll see .

    Back to the car park and Mick (Old carper aka Mr Kipling ) had set the table for tea and cakes.......................

    A23.jpg Aftermatch tea and cakes. picture by pnm123

     while the Pearson brothers Mum had supplied Bread Pudding for all, as had Vince's Mum in Law . All in all a very civilised way of ending the match.
    Vince somehow managed to raise a smile when he manfully posed for a photo as he handed over another Nugget ...............

    a12.jpg A Golden Nugget comes my way. picture by pnm123

    While Mick had to part with a Golden Nugget to Geoff in the battle of the brothers ............

    a15-1.jpg Mick pays his quid to Geoff. picture by pnm123

    Al took home a nice tankard complete with a few beer tokens for 1st on the day .................

    a16-1.jpg Geoff hands the winnings to Al. picture by pnm123

    While Dean(Marvin Waggler) fishing what was his first ever match took more coin for his second place than he reckoned he'd spent on his rod .

    Marvin.jpg Dean (Marvin Waggler) Kershaw. picture by pnm123

    A little bonus for me was that the assembled company reckoned that my last minute Carp, was best fish on the day, due to the amount of entertainment that it had provided for everyone at the end of the match, so £10 came my way .

    Finally Vince presented The Chippy One with a little something to show our thanks for his efforts .............

    a18-1.jpg Vince presents mick with a little something. picture by pnm123

    evidently it's part of Mick's autobiography ......

    a19-1.jpg Mick's life story. picture by pnm123
     
    Thanks to Mick and "The Committee" for organising the day, and to all that attended, making for a good day despite the fishing being a little harder than we would have liked .
     
    Next Saturday it's Faye's Match at Monk Lakes that Bill G has organised. It looks like being a good turn out and hopefully Faye will be attending herself and we'll be able to raise a few bob for her nominated organisation http://www.postpals.org/ .
    Obviously you'll be able to read a report on the day here
     
    Position   Peg            Angler    Weight
     1st   Peg 28   Alan(Al)Loader 44lbs 08ozs
    2nd  Peg 6 Dean(Marvin Waggler)Kershaw    26lbs 10ozs
     3rd  Peg 3 Jon(Mutley)Reed 22lbs 10ozs
     4th  Peg 21 Colin(The Pike)Sharrard  19lbs 12ozs
     5th  Peg 24 Geoff(geoffallday)Pearson 14lbs 05ozs
     6th  Peg 17 Peter(Mugger)Morton   8lbs 10ozs
     7th=  Peg 4 Tony(spamwham)Roberts    7lbs 08ozs
     7th=  Peg 8 Mick(The Chippy)Pearson   7lbs 08ozs
     9th  Peg 20 Dave(The Fish)Collier    7lbs 03ozs
     10th=  Peg 11 Vince(VinceG)Gould    6lbs 12ozs
     10th=  Peg 26 Bill(Zak Dingle)Gibbins   6lbs 12ozs
     12th  Peg 1 Mick(OldCarper)Perry   6lbs 01ozs
     13th  Peg 2 Keith(Chief)Wells   5lbs 00ozs
     14th  Peg 13 Richard(DHLman)Pearson   4lbs 06ozs
     15th  Peg 10 Kevin(KevtheCatch)Loveland    2lbs 08ozs 
     16th  Peg 18 Ryan(Zephyr)Wells    1lbs 08ozs
     17th=  Peg 19 Pete(petemid)Midgley        DNW
     17th=  Peg 12 Mike(OmegaMike)Jameson         DNW

     

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2.

    Marsh AC club match.

    MonksMatchLake2.jpg picture by pnm123

    Well today saw the 1st Marsh AC match of the year taking place at Monk Lakes on Match Lake 2 . These matches are always light hearted affairs and there's bound to be a bit of banter flowing throughout the day, and hopefully a few fish to be had .

    Loading up the car for the drive down it was dull grey and drizzling and by the time I arrived around 8am nothing had really changed. A cup of coffee and a bacon sarnie took care of breakfast . 15 club members and a couple of guests lined up for the draw One of those being Dave Talbot, who had received a new pole as a result of his daughter Faye's appeal on the Maggotdrowning.com forum at Christmas. (You can read the relevent thread HERE ). Bill G had come along too, but he was going to spend the day helping Dave get to grips with the pole has he hadn't used one previously .

    Into the bucket and peg 51 stuck to my hand. Colin and Dave drew last and ended up with the two flyer's 66 and 45 . Settling into my peg, despite having a free peg to my left with Judy next up on peg 53 and what turned out to be a free peg to my right as Bill G had drawn it (but would spend the match coaching Dave Talbot) I can't say I was delighted with it, the wind was blowing straight into it and I would have to watch those on the opposite bank fishing with the wind off their backs for the whole match . Also it's a peg that doesn't get fished a lot during the week, pegs 45, 46 and 47 seeing a lot of action on a regular basis due to the resident Barbel.

    W2-5.jpg Match Lake 2. Peg 51 picture by pnm123

    Setting up I selected 2 top kits with Black Hydro, these were rigged with a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook for a 10mtr line where I had around 6ft of water and a KC 4x12 Carpa Tricky on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook for a closer margin line where I had 2-2½ft of depth. I also set up my Shakespeare Mach 3 Micro - 11' Waggler which was rigged with a Premier 4AAA insert waggler. Bait wise, Got 6mm expander pellet along with 6 and 8mm hard pellet along with corn and meat would hopefully provide something appetising for the fish while 6mm pellet and some Special G groundbait took care of the feed.

    10am and Dave blew the All-in. I fed 3 balls of ground bait on the 10mtr line and some pellet into both margins.
    Dave Talbot on peg 49 had been under instructions from Daughter Faye to catch a Barbel, and got off to the perfect start as the 1st fish on his new pole proved to be a Barbel (Mission Accomplished ).

    W11-4.jpg Dave watched by Bill picture by pnm123

    After about 5 minutes I had my first bite on the 10mtr line and with what felt like a decent fish taking elastic, was more than a little put out when the hook pinged free as i was getting ready to net it .
    From that point on my day went downhill rapidly. Judy was sorting out a few of the lakes resident Ide and Dave T was taking some decent fish on a regular basis, much to Bill G's delight , was it Bill's coaching or was he sitting on a shed full? It didn't matter really because I couldn't buy a bite .

    W3-5.jpg Dave Talbot and Bill Gibbins picture by pnm123


    Wherever I looked people were catching fish, Colin was fishing towards the aerator on peg 66 and steadily putting fish in the net..................

    W6-5.jpg Colin Sharrard Peg 66. picture by pnm123

    If I looked to my right, Dave, Kevin and young Zack were filling their boots from the early pegs. Indeed the only angler who seemed to be as inactive as me was Martin over on peg 60...................

    W9-5.jpg Martin Hucker Peg 60 picture by pnm123

    I finally managed to put a fish (a small Tench) in the net after about an hour and that was quickly followed by a Gudgeon before things ground to a halt for me once more. A look on the waggler fared no better but as I could see young Zac and Kevin catching regularly on feeder set ups I got my feeder rod out of it's ready bag and chucked a banded 8mm pellet out in desperation. After 10 minutes the tip wrapped round, the culprit being revealed as I netted it as probably the smallest F1 in the lake. Needless to say no more bites followed in the next 30 minutes after this .

    By this point in the proceedings word had of course got out, and I received several visits from those who were keen to commiserate with my predicament and offer some sympathetic words of advice.......................NOT

    By now the sun was shining, but all that did was blind me as I tried to fish the ripple on my 10mtr line, so I came shorter and 1st put in I was rewarded with an F1 of around 1½lbs, but that again proved to be a solitary fish. Things were getting truly desperate for me by now, I'm sure that Bill hid my knife in case I was contemplating suicide , and when Dave C strolled down again with more words of sympathy (Yeah Right ) I strolled back with him to see what a decent peg looked like and acquire some maggots off him.

    By now I was convinced that I was stone last on the day, the maggots were at least getting me some bites, but these were only from 1oz blade skimmers and even smaller Ide fry . I was so fed up that with half an hour to go I stripped my top kits down to pack them away, and as I did that the wind dropped down a bit, so I decided to give the waggler a final chuck. Two red maggots on the hook and at last I could catapult some feed out to a reasonable distance, out with the waggler, it sailed away and a nice chunky F1 was soon in the net. I pulled out of the next one trying to bully it in too quickly but did manage another three before Dave blew the all out at 4pm .

    The weigh-in started from the opposite side with Colin on peg 66 putting 71¾lbs on the scales for a fine win on the day . Dave C took second on the day with 63¾lbs from peg 45 while Dave Talbot completed the frame with a fine 48lbs, a fantastic effort using a pole for the 1st time, and a result that I'm positive will ensure that Faye is suitably proud of her Dad ..............

    W14-1.jpg Dave Talbot picture by pnm123 

    My few fish weighed a meagre 12¼lbs much to everyones delight, my one consolation being that Vince hadn't been able to make it on the day, thus missing out on what would have been his best chance this year to get one of his £1 coins back from me .

    The next Marsh AC match is at Pea Lane in Essex in 3 weeks time, I've never been there and evidently it's predominantly silvers, so I could be on for another battering to provide yet more entertainment for the club members , but before then it's the Match Lake at Hawkhurst where Vince and I will resume the battle of the £1 coins, and normal service will hopefully be resumed . I'll keep you posted .

    Position Peg         Angler    Weight 
     1st  Peg 66 Colin Sharrard 71lbs 12ozs 
     2nd  Peg 45 Dave Collier 63lbs 12ozs
     3rd  Peg 49 Dave Talbot      (Guest) 48lbs 00ozs
     4th  Peg 57 Ken Walker 42lbs 12ozs
     5th  Peg 61 Tony Roberts 39lbs 08ozs
     6th  Peg 56 Graham Manning          35lbs 12ozs
     7th  Peg 46 Kevin Loveland 33lbs 00ozs
     8th  Peg 47 Zack Johnson 30lbs 00ozs
     9th  Peg 64 Terry Goff 17lbs 00ozs
     10th  Peg 58 Roger Noakes 16lbs 08ozs
     11th  Peg 62 Chris Withall 14lbs 08ozs
     12th  Peg 53 Judy Hermite 14lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 51 Peter Morton 12lbs 04ozs
     14th  Peg 65 John Holdsworth 11lbs 04ozs
     15th  Peg 54 Rod Turner  7lbs 00ozs
     16th  Peg 60 Martin Hucker  2lbs 12ozs

     

  • Wyland International Angling Centre, near Battle, East Sussex.

    Maggotdrowning.com Knock Up.

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    w1.jpg Wylands, House Lake. picture by pnm123

    Well it was back to the scene of the MD's Southern Fur & Feather match today for yet another Knock up organised by Mark(Moleman)Hathaway and Trevor(MT Net)Little through the forum. As I loaded the car up for the drive down it appeared that the weather gods were smiling on us for once with the promise of some decent weather for a change, and hopefully a good few fish would find their way into everyones nets today . Pulling into the fishery car park around 8am a few of the lads were already there and the food hut was soon doing a brisk trade in breakfast rolls and cups of tea and coffee.

    By 9am it was time for the draw and it was literally a draw for pegs as Moleman had a bag of numbered cloths pegs . I came out with peg 15 on the day, which was the same peg as I had for the Fur & Feather match previously. Having struggled to get set up comfortably last time, I had my platform with me this time and set it up so that i could use it as a seat, I'd been told by Trevor, who knows the water like the back of his hand that the line to fish was towards a bush on the opposite bank, so that was my plan of attack, I had Bill for company to my right today and Roger(Up Yah)Harris to my left, on the other side of the bridge. The rigs I set up consisted of Malman 4x14 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 18 hook, one for the margin swim to my right by some weeds where I had a couple of feet of depth. The others were for out into open water at 7mtrs and 10mtrs where I had around 3ft. Bait was maggots and various pellets with some corn for a change bait and some groundbait as well.

    While we set up there was a bit of commotion on the opposite bank. Poor Keith(Disco)Driscoll had got his pole out of his holdall, only to watch the whole lot slide down the bank and into the lake !!!!!!!!! Of course he had to go in for it and thankfully he managed to get the whole lot back. Of course we were all full of sympathy for his plight (Thanks to Vince for capturing it on film )

    DiscoDuck.jpg picture by pnm123

    So 10·30am and the All-in and I fed some maggots and pellets into the margin swim and cupped 5 balls of groundbait in at 10mtrs. I followed out with the rig baited with double maggot. The float settled and just slid away and the culprit, a small skimmer of 2-3 ozs was soon in the net . Bill was in straight away too, but his skimmer was around 1lb !!!! I was soon into a run of skimmers, but they were all the same sort of stamp (2-3ozs) despite switching to 3 maggots on the hook as suggested by Bill, while he continued to bag up with decent 1lb+ examples, and the only reason appeared to be that Bill had a good 4½ft of depth at a comfortable 5mtrs.

    W5-3.jpg Bill(Zak Dingle)Gibbins picture by pnm123

    Anyway head down and keep going, at least I was catching regularly, even if Bill was battering me , Indeed after a couple of hours I reckoned that I had around 10-12lbs while Bill must have had 40lbs+ and was going to need a second net, Trev meanwhile on the peg to Bill's right was steadily putting a decent run of fish together alternating between the pole and waggler. Bill was having one of those days though, and soon had loads of Grey Hydro streaming out of his top kit, the culprit being a decent Carp, putting me even further behind.........

    w4-3.jpg Bill with his Carp picture by pnm123

    Having already mentally waved farewell to the £1 I'd had with Bill , I was relying on my customary £1 with Vince to offset it , but my view of Vince was obscured by the island so I just got on with it. The bites kept coming but despite trying various things I just couldn't up the size of fish I was getting . Very occasionally I would get a better skimmer, but they were always followed by more of their smaller brethren. I seemed to be keeping up with Roger to my left, but even his fish appeared to be of a slightly larger stamp .

    W7-3.jpg Roger(Up Yah)Harris picture by pnm123

    Around 2pm Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff put in an appearance, he couldn't fish today, but being local had popped down to see how things were going just as my bites started to tail off , but I don't think it was down to Terry as it didn't seem to matter where you looked as sport seemed to have slowed down for everyone, even Bill .

    W6-3.jpg Pegs 1 - 5 picture by pnm123

    Vince came round just after 2·30 pm to ask Terry to weigh his fish as he had to get away early as his son was in his first amateur drama production of "The Wind in the Willows", and of course like any proud parent he wanted to be there . His fish weighed 18lbs 13ozs and he left the £1 with Terry for safe keeping .

    With the All-out about to be called Keith's day unfortunately went from bad to worse . Getting off his box he slipped and the sound of splintering carbon was heard by all across the lake, resulting in a catalogue of carnage (no7 section broken in two, no4 section in 4 pieces and a top 2 pulla kit snapped )
    So with the match ending on that unhappy note it was time for the weigh-in. Moleman's 35lbs 10ozs set the early pace till he was edged out of the frame by Omega Mike's 37lbs 9ozs from the road bank. Trevor put a fine 50lbs 6ozs on the scales, but it was Bill who took a fine win on the day with 74lbs 2ozs .
    My weight of 32lbs 4ozs was only good enough for seventh place on the day, but at least meant that another £1 from Vince had come my way .
    All in all a good day in good company as always seems to be the case when the MD's get together. Here's to the next one .

    Position              Angler    Weight
     1st  Bill(Zak Dingle)Gibbins 74lbs 02ozs  
     2nd Trevor(MT Net)Little 50lbs 06ozs
     3rd Mike(Omega Mike)Jameson 37lbs 09ozs
     4th Mark(Moleman)Hathaway 35lbs 10ozs
     5th Roger(Up Yah)Harris 35lbs 04ozs
     6th Anthony(Pastehead)Ellis 34lbs 12ozs
     7th Peter(Mugger)Morton 32lbs 04ozs
     8th Tony(spamwham)Roberts 25lbs 14ozs
     9th Simon Elsey 25lbs 08ozs
     10th Keith(Disco)Driscoll 24lbs 05ozs
     11th Paul(Paulvis69)Slater 21lbs 05ozs
     12th Gary(oggie)Ogden 20lbs 06ozs
     13th Vince(Vince G)Gould  18lbs 13ozs
     14th Mick(Old Carper)  18lbs 12ozs
     15th Ade(Wingnut)Morgan   9lbs 07ozs
     16th Mick(The Chippy)Pearson   8lbs 14ozs

     

  • Buxted Oast Farm Fishery, Buxted, East Sussex.

    Maggotdrowning.com Knock Up.

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    BuxtedOast.jpg Buxted Oast Farm Fishery picture by pnm123

    It was a small Knock-up amongst a few members of the Maggotdrowning.com forum down at Buxted Oast today, but it didn't get off to the best of starts for me, as I went down to load the car and found that some scrote had tried to break into the car overnight . However I managed to fix the damage pretty quickly and was soon loaded up and on my way. Overcast but nice and mild, it promised to be a decent day and I even had time to stop off in East Grinstead for a spot of breakfast, arriving at the fishery car park around 8·45am .
    The MD's knock-ups are always fun and today promised to be no different, Bill had already pegged out, so it was monies paid and into the draw bag, with peg 4 being my home for the match.

    w1-2.jpg Peg 4. picture by pnm123

    Settling in I had Trevor for company on peg 3 with Pete to his right on peg 2, while peg 5 to my left wasn't drawn. Bill had recommended fishing a comfortable 8-10 mtrs straight out where there was about 2½-3 ft and not to ignore the margins so that was the basic approach. I just set up two top kits and both of these were rigged with Malman 4x12 Snake 1's on 0·14 to an 0·12 bottom with a size 18 Drennan Match Carp hook and I also set up the pellet waggler rod as I could see a few Carp already cruising around the top. Bait for the day was Corn, GOT 6mm expanders and 6mm hard pellet, No maggots though as these tend to pull the Roach.

    10am and Ryan called the All-in. I shipped out half a pot of mixed pellet and corn to 10mtrs and fed some pellet by hand into the margins and had a quick cast with the pellet waggler to see if I could "mug" and early fish , but with no interest shown that was quickly discarded in favour of the pole. Shipping out a 6mm expander to 10 mtrs the float had hardly settled when it disappeared down the hole and a nice Common of around 3lbs was soon safely in the net , next put in and another smaller fish around 1½lbs joined its friend, Happy days . Trevor had had a couple of quick Carp too, as had Pete .

    w4-2.jpg Pete and Trevor. picture by pnm123

    Dave tucked away in the corner on peg 6 had got off to the best start however, fishing tight into the corner under the willow, taking 5 Carp and a Frog !!!!!!!!!!!! You just know that Dave the Fish's nickname will become Dave Le Frog after that little episode .

    w2-2.jpg Dave on Peg 6 picture by pnm123

    After that initial burst however sport seemed to grind to a halt for most , leaving people scratching their heads as to why they couldn't get amongst the fish, and Trev being bored looking at a stationary float reverted to a top 2 and maggot to get some action with the roach, soon lining them up and regretting the fact that he hadn't packed a whip today . Around 12·30 I re-fed my main line and another to my left and went for a stroll round.
    Dave's sport has slowed but fish were moving round the tree, while Bill on peg 7 by the outfall just had a solitary Carp, but frustratingly, fish that he could see taking pellet in front of him .
    Colin tucked away in fancied peg 8 was another with just a solitary carp to show for his efforts, but was now being plagued by small Roach attacking whatever he put on his hook .

    w6-2.jpg Colin on Peg 8. picture by pnm123

    Vince meanwhile was fishing down his right hand margin on peg 9 and had taken a couple of Carp despite it being "Snag Central" and costing him a few hooks, and he managed to slide a third Carp into the net as I watched . Would he be taking a £1 coin from me today  ?

    w8-2.jpg Vince nets his 3rd Carp. picture by pnm123

    Back to my peg and out to 10mtrs and the float shot strait under as I laid it in !!!! A foul hooker that tore around a bit, but was soon safely in the net, with the hook in a pectoral fin and a good 5lbs added to my weight . Pete dropped by for a chat as I shipped out to my left hand line for the 1st time, and an instant bite resulted in Carp no 4 making it's way to join the others in the net.

    w10-2.jpg Peter on Peg 4. picture by pnm123

    Trev was getting into a decent rhythm and building a weight of silvers when the inevitable happened and he hooked a Carp, and he was connected to it just long enough for it to trash his swim before it shed the hook, leaving him to have to build it up again .

    Tony strolled round and informed me that both he and Paul had a couple of Carp each, while Mick on peg 1 breathed a sigh of relief as he finally managed to snare a Carp , having endured a frustrating time watching them cruise round in front of him, leaving just Ryan staring at a dry float tip as it steadfastly refused to go under .

    w7-2.jpg Ryan on Peg 10 picture by pnm123

    With a couple of hours to go Dave started to catch regularly, having fed a few floaters under the tree, and was looking uncatchable, leading Bill on the next peg to change rigs to just a couple of feet of line and a hook and fish long to try and tempt the fish that were still cruising in front of him, and it soon started to produce for him.
    With nothing showing on the top within pole range in my swim I stuck it out alternating between my 2 long lines, as nothing apart from Roach could be tempted from the margins, and I managed another 5 Carp before Ryan called the All-out at 4pm .

    The Weigh-in told the story, Dave Le Frog had won comfortably, taking 27 Carp in total for 52¼lbs and a very comfortable win . Bill had a good last hour weighing a level 27lbs to bump my 25lbs 6ozs down to third.
    Trevor put a very creditable 21lbs 3ozs on the scales for 5th and may well have taken second place if he'd remembered to pack his whip. Of course poor Vince had to hand over another £1 coin to yours truly, so it seems normal service has been resumed in 2009 .

    My next planned outing is in a couple of weeks time, to Wylands for a "Silvers" match on House Lake which should be fun providing we don't get a repeat of the weather we had on our last visit there, though if we do at least the Tea Hut will do a roaring trade .

    Position              Angler   Weight
     1st Dave(Le Frog )Collier   52lbs 04ozs  
     2nd Bill(Zak Dingle)Gibbins 27lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peter(Mugger)Morton 25lbs 06ozs
     4th Tony(spamwham)Roberts 23lbs 04ozs
     5th Trevor(MT Net)Little 21lbs 03ozs
     6th Pete(petemid)Midgley 13lbs 12ozs
     7th Vince(Vince G)Gould  4lbs 04ozs
     8th Mick(The Chippy)Pearson  2lbs 08ozs
     9th Colin(The Pike)Sharrard   1lbs 12ozs
     10th Paul(paulvis69)Slater     D.N.W
     11th Ryan(Zephyr)Wells                    D.N.W

     

  • Private Lake, East Sussex.

    untitled.jpg picture by pnm123

    "The Private Lake on Sunday, are ya coming? eight thirty if you are .  No keepnets just a days fishing."

    With an invite like that from Bill G it would be rude to refuse, especially with the weather forcast predicting a nice mild 9°C. As with all good things though Sunday Morning revealed that Saturdays glorious weather had come to an end , but a smooth drive down stopping off in Bromley for a spot of breakfast on the way, saw me arrive at the fishery at 8·30am to find Vince waiting beside a locked gate, Bill soon arrived though with the padlock combination so we were soon parked up and decided on a walk round while we waited for the rest of the cast to arrive .

    Usually when I've visited the Lake in the winter it's been brim full and today was no exception, with a fair bit of water running down the outflow pipe on the dam wall. As we strolled round Al was the next to arrive and was soon dropping his gear into the 1st peg by the gate, a peg he's been eager to have a go at for a while .
    By the time we got back to the car park Dave, Colin and Tony had arrived.

    Soon we had our gear together and set off for the session. Colin was traveling light only intending to have a crack on the river today and Tony also started with the bare minimum of gear hoping to sneak a Chub or two out of the river early on before settling down on the lake .

    The surprise of the day was that Bill wasn't going to fish !!!! deciding instead to spend the day wandering and chatting with the rest of us collecting titbit's for his Blog, so he'd just brought a comfy chair with him and settled down with Al. Meanwhile Dave set up just just along from Al before the outlet on the dam wall.

    w7-1.jpg Dave(The Fish) Collier at Shannons. picture by pnm123

    Vince and I strolled a little further round to the far bank with Vince dropping in where he would have an easy chuck with his feeder rod to the island as well as a nice comfortable line where he could try out his new pole. I dropped into the next swim along (Bill had won his last club match from the peg ), where I had about 13mtrs to the island which was ideal as today I planned to try out the Clever Claw and see how I got on using it.

    Al was soon into fish, and even before most of us had set up he'd had four quick fish.

    w8-1.jpg Al on peg 1. picture by pnm123

    Tony had winkled a Chub of around 2½lbs out of his swim on the river to satisfy his quest, but by the time Bill arrived on the 1st of his strolls neither Vince or I had got off the mark . This soon changed however as Vince's feeder tip whipped round and he was into a carp. Someone had remarked on the forum a couple of days previously that he'd never seen a photo of mine of Vince actually catching a fish, so I seized the opportunity to rectify that .....

    w1-1.jpg Vince lands a Carp. picture by pnm123

    ....and soon Vince had a nice plump Common to show as his reward .

    w2-1.jpg Nice Carp for Vince. picture by pnm123

    Bill was of the opinion that I wasn't fishing close enough to the island, so another section was added and after potting in some more feed and adjusting the rig, I of course didn't see the 1st bite as I chatted to Bill . I was briefly connected, but it shed the hook. However next put in I was more alert and connected with the bite properly this time, soon putting the net under a nice plump Mirror of around 5-6lbs . I have to say that the fish that the owner has stocked are some of the plumpest Carp I've come across, being deceptively heavy for their size and in lovely condition.

    Tony came strolling round just after with his pole gear to fish the back of the island as he wanted to try out fishing long with his new Maver 401. Vince meanwhile had rested the feeder rod looking to christen his new pole, a Maver 101. I had managed another Carp, a Mirror of around 10lbs before taking a stroll to retrieve a couple of KitKat's that I'd left in the car .

    Dave had had a couple of Carp and a few Roach, and Al was now getting Roach, though as we chatted he was into another Carp and I got the definite impression that his peg would only get stronger as the day went on .

    Vince meanwhile had been unable to resist the temptation of popping over the fence with his feeder rod and had succeeded in bagging a couple of Chub around the 2-2½lb mark from the river, before returning and resuming the task of trying to christen his pole.

    w9-1.jpg Vince with pole. picture by pnm123

    I settled back to fishing across and I have to say that the Clever Claw made it an easy task, allowing me to rest the pole across my leg while the Clever Claw took all the strain.................

    w5-1.jpg Peter at Shannons. picture by pnm123

    Indeed I soon managed to extract another couple of Carp with Vince doing the honours with the camera for me on the second one...........

    W14.jpg Peter plays a Carp picture by pnm123

    ......... another nice one that may have nudged 10lbs given how plump it was.

    w11-1.jpg A Carp for Peter. picture by pnm123

    Strolling round I found Tony, well settled in and trying to build his swim, but getting pestered by what he felt must be Roach trying to rob his bait .

    w10-1.jpg Tony gets to grips with his 401. picture by pnm123

    Returning back to my swim a bit of a breeze had got up making presentation difficult and it was to cost me a couple of rigs in the island bushes before I decided to back off a bit and re feed a couple of feet short of the island. All along I'd been feeding to a tree in my left hand margin, but despite regular looks there hadn't had a bite from it. Tony had finally managed a carp around the 7lb mark and had come round to show me as he was surprised just how heavy it was when he weighed it, proving once more just how solid the fish are .

    Vince finally managed to christen his pole with a couple of 5lb'ers while I added another to my tally from my new line.

    Vince started to pack away around 2·30pm but managed one final Carp on his feeder rod before he said his farewells and departed . I had one final Carp just before 3pm, but with the breeze ever present I felt the temperature was dropping and I decided to call it a day as well. As I packed away my kit Colin reappeared having spent the day roving the river and reported having a thoroughly enjoyable day despite only having three chub .

    As I wandered back Dave reported having had a few more Carp, while Al had firmly taken the honours on the day with a succession of Carp from his peg.
    All in all a pleasant session with a few fish to keep things interesting, next Saturday it's a knock up at The Oast at Buxted, so until then............ That's All Folks .