Well with Maria back at work today after the Christmas break, I'd accepted an Invitation from Bill G on the Maggotdrowning forum to join him and a few of the lads for an impromptu Knock-up at Buxted Oast, especially as it was a venue that I'd not fished previously . Having dropped Maria of at work around 6am I popped back home to load the car up, but with the outside temp readout showing -2°C I must admit to questioning my sanity as I pulled away from the flats .

An easy trip down saw me have enough time to stop for some breakfast in East Grinstead and still arrive by 8·30am, though by the time I pulled up the temp was down to -3°C. My 1st site of the Lake revealed over half of it was iced over , It was fed by a stream at one end with a 'monk' type outlet at the other, and it had space for around 17 pegs maximum, but with only eight of us fishing today we wouldn't be to cramped. While Bill pegged out the chat revolved around who would have to break the ice .

Draw time and Kev was 1st in for peg 2 and I followed with Peg 3, these are the pegs where the stream comes in and share a reed bed that Bill reckoned had Carp moving in them when he pegged out, but by the time I got my gear down there, they were nowhere to be seen (Must have seen Bill's face and buggered off ) However it was relatively ice free, with just a bit of cat ice and with the sun shining that would soon go .

A couple of pegs to my left was Mick with John, one of Bill's club mates next up. On the road bank were Ryan, Vince on the outlet and Mick's brother Geoff in the corner peg, which Bill reckoned was the 'Flyer', leaving Bill in the shade and ice bound on the final peg .

Bill, Geoff and Vince had some serious ice breaking to do 1st, while the rest of us had the luxury of setting up straight away . I was going with the pole and just set up a couple of identical top kits. Both of these were rigged with Malman 4x12 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 20 Drennan Match Carp hook, Feed was just micro and 4mm hard pellet, which would be fed through a kinder pot, while bait was simply 4mm expanders and corn.

10am and the All-in, and with an initial feed of a pinch of micro's and a couple of grains of corn potted in against the rushes I dropped the rig baited with a piece of corn full of anticipation .Kevin had a bit more trouble with the ice in his peg so started off targeting the other end of the reeds,

Mick was soon into small Roach fishing maggot with his trusty Tri-Cast and Mitchell 300 , but no amount of lifting, dropping and dragging the rig could induce a bite for me . with an hour gone Ryan had a small Carp, but most of us were struggling and Bill was already starting to freeze on his shaded peg, though he appeared to be getting the odd Carp.

A change to pellet on the hook made no difference apart from a few knocks that I was convinced were small roach shredding the pellet . However the bird life was a pleasant distraction, with a Kingfisher flitting back and forth across the pool between perching in the trees........

While a tiny Wren flitted around my peg on the lookout for a tasty morsel to come his way ..........

2 hours in and I went for a stroll. Mick was happily bashing the bits. John had had a few small Carp and silvers, while Ryan was now targeting the Roach in the absence of another Carp. Vince and Geoff were both struggling with just a few small Roach between them.

Bill however was getting a few Carp and landed a small one of around 6ozs while we chatted, however with no sun on it his peg was so cold that I soon left him to it.

Returning to my peg Kev was admitting to a solitary small Roach but my peg was still dead apart from a few more knocks on pellet. This was getting desperate and I was starting to think that I was going to end 2008 not just with a blank, but worse still losing a £1 to Vince .

Desperate measures were called for so I popped along to Mick and scrounged some maggots off him. Double maggot on the hook and straight away a small roach obliged saving me from the dreaded blank . Now it was just a case of getting my head down and catching as many as possible in the last couple of hours. If Vince managed to nick a Carp he would be firmly in the Pound seats, if not I was in with a chance .

A visit from Bill, who was trying to restore some circulation revealed Vince was targeting the Roach as well, but I was at least catching regularly, and that's the way it stayed until the all out was called at 3pm. Kevin's solitary roach had saved him the dreaded DNW, while 4lbs was the result of my bit bashing . Mick had around 7lbs for his efforts. John's 18½lbs was a very creditable effort on the day,, while Ryan's bonus Carp added to his Roach saw him weigh 4¼lbs, Vince had had a mare however with to many missed bites meaning that just 1lb 10ozs registered on the scales, so the final £1 of 2008 was mine . Geoff added 2lbs 10ozs of waggler caught Roach, but the star on the day was Bill with a very fine 37½lbs to take the honours on the day .

So that's it for 2008, I was hoping to get out one final time before New Year, but with the way the frosts are coming down at night, I think I'll wait till the New Year before venturing out again . What will 2009 bring? Well hopefully more £1 coins from Vince . I'm already booked in for another Jinx Series and more Marsh AC club matches, but above all I'm looking forward to more fun and enjoyment with all those I fish with in 2009.
Till then may I wish all that read this a Happy, Prosperous and Fish Filled New Year .

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Fur & Feather.

Well it was off down to Wylands, just outside Battle today for the Southern Fur & Feather match  on the fishery's House Lake, that's been organised for the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum by Trevor(MT Net)Little. Loading up the car it was cold, windy and pouring down with rain (the sort of morning that makes you question your sanity ) and it didn't get any better during the trip down . Pulling into the fishery and as I got out of the car I realised it was even windier than I thought. A quick bacon sarnie and a coffee while I caught up with the other 14 lunatics assembled proceeded the draw and it has to be said that nobody looked too enthusiastic to get started . In fact the conversation revolved around which were the closest pegs to the snack bar .

Anyway peg 14 by the footbridge stuck to my palm. A stroll down with the tackle revealed a pretty steep bank that would test the seat box legs out, all in all a little precarious. Mick to my right on 13 was in pretty much the same predicament while across the footbridge I had Jeff D and Al on 15 & 16 . Once I'd managed to level the box up I stuck the brolly up. With the wind swirling and the angle I was fishing at, it meant that I couldn't get right out of the rain but at least it offered a bit of shelter .

I just set up 2 pole rigs, both consisted of Malman 4x14 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 20 red Drennan carp maggot hook, one for under the bridge, but with only just a couple of feet of depth I wasn't expecting much from there. The other was for out into open water at 7mtrs where I had around 3½ft. Fishing any longer was out of the question really with the wind and driving rain , Bait was just red maggots with some corn for a change bait and some micro's for feed.

10am and Trevor called the All-in. A pinch of micro's and maggots followed by a maggot baited hook soon produced a small roach from the open water swim and set the pattern for the day. Looking round after about an hour though , very few were looking comfortable, though everyone appeared to be catching the odd fish. Now I've had my Preston Dri-Fish suit since they 1st came out and it's served me well, but despite regular NikWaxing after 4 seasons of abuse it's due for changing, and today the conditions found it out . I could feel the water starting to leak through, so decided to retreat to the snack bar for a warming coffee. I wasn't the only one either. Mick produced a bottle of Brandy and a shot was added to the coffee (strictly for medicinal purposes of course ) Sitting there certainly seemed a better idea than battling it out with the elements and offered a good view of the lake.

Nick Gilbert right in front of us seemed to be doing OK, alternating between waggler to the island and the pole line, as did Mark(MoleMan)Hathaway a couple of pegs along to the left of Nick. Tony(spamwham) pegged between them was having a bit of trouble however with his umbrella with the wind doing its best to wrap Tony up in it  .............

I returned to my peg for another go, but I have to say that my heart wasn't in it , despite the Roach still being there. I stuck it out till about 1pm, but I was cold damp and miserable, so gave it best, tipping back about 6lbs of Roach and hastily getting my gear back to the car. A session with the hand drier in the loo got some feeling back in my hands and I returned to the snack bar to watch the rest of the match, and by the time that Trevor called the All-out at 3pm there were half a dozen of us there .

The weigh-in didn't take long, Mark(Moleman) taking the honours on the day with 32lbs 15ozs from Nick's 30lbs 03ozs, though the real shock was Omega Mike sticking it out for the whole 5 hours for 19lbs 10ozs and 3rd place !

So a quick presentation saw Mark with a nice shiny trophy, while the rest of us all took home a little something from the prize table for Christmas. Thanks to Trevor for organising the day, we all agreed that it was a cracking venue and that we'd like another go at it in better weather. On a final note all the lads chipped in the pools money and Keith at Wylands chipped in £2 from each of our peg fees, meaning £75 was donated to the  Maggotdrowning Christmas Appeal  Nice one lads .

The DNW's aren't a reflection on the fishery as the 6 anglers all caught,
 but packed up early and tipped their fish back.

Mick the Chippy's Knock Up.

Out with the lads from Maggotdrowning.com today for a Knock up arranged by Mick the Chippy with the aid of his brother Geoff. Loading up the car it was obvious that it was going to be a cold one, so the thermals were getting their 1st outing of the year. A smooth drive down saw me arriving at the lake around 8·30am, however a displayed temperature of just 3°C had left a small seed of doubt in my mind as to whether the fishing would be up to much.

The good news though was that Mick had persuaded a local snack wagon to put in an appearance so that we could get some hot food and a cuppa prior to the start. While the others arrived I strolled down for a 1st look at the lake................

So with 13 lunatics of us assembled and everyone fed and watered we dived into the draw then made our way to our pegs . Having drawn 11 I opted for the far side that offered a bit of shelter from the wind and found myself settling into peg 20 with Dave and Vince on my left on 19 & 18 respectively, with one of the Allen brothers to my right and Colin next to him.

The set up was going to be pretty simple, and a quick plumb up revealed around 3ft on a top 2 line but with lots of twigs etc making for a bit of a snagpit, while adding a section gave me a decent 4½ft straight out in front that was relatively free of clutter. The feeder rod was also set up with a tiny cage feeder,while bait was simply red maggots with a bit of corn by way of a change bait .

10·30am saw Mick call the All-in, and it was soon pretty apparent that we might be looking at a bit of a grueller. I heard a muttering from my left and heard Mike questioning Vince, it turned out that Vince had had a wrap round almost straight away on the feeder but hadn't connected. For most of us however it was just a case of nicking some small roach (though Mick was positive they were Rudd )

Mike on the opposite side was fishing long into the teeth of the wind and after about an hour was rewarded with yards of elastic streaming from his pole. He'd obviously connected with a Carp, but with only No4 elastic in his top kit was having a few problems. Mick stepped in to provide a ghillie service however meaning that Mike romped into the lead when Mick netted a small Carp of around 2½lbs for him .

45 minutes later and Mick was rewarded with a small Carp of his own, which he gingerly played on a pound bottom, and I'm sure his heart was gladdened by all the calls of support that accompanied it's capture .

No such luck for the rest of us, though Colin was rumoured to have had a half decent Skimmer to boost his Roach, Bill had strolled down and reported that he was getting small Roach regularly from his peg up he top end where he had 9-10 ft of water close in.

With not much happening for me I took a quick stroll to see what was happening elsewhere . Bill was indeed catching pretty regularly by keeping the feed going in..............

.......... but everyone else seemed to be plodding along just nicking the odd small Roach here and there..........

Indeed unlike bill I was finding that feeding was the kiss of death, and it was only by stopping feeding that I could attract any bites. Dave was finding the same despite alternating between a maggot and likkie line.........

I'd had a couple of looks on the feeder, but it hadn't produced as much as a tremble on the tip. Meanwhile Colin had netted a cracking Roach of 1½lbs and Mike had landed another small Carp to put himself firmly into the pound seats . With around an hour to go the Allen brothers decided they'd had enough and packed up (Youngsters these days, No staying power  or perhaps more common sense than the rest of us )

As we moved into the last half hour Mick's brother Richard got himself a small Carp, while Vince was having one last look on the feeder in an attempt to get a £1 coin from me for a change .............

Thankfully Mick called the All-out at 3pm. A quick weigh-in ensued, and sure enough Mike had taken the honours on the day with 6lbs 14ozs  while Bill and Colin shared second place with 3lbs 8oz each . Vince put 2lbs 4ozs on the scales, and initially my fish were called at the same weight, however the scalesman finally called it at 2lbs 5ozs to give me another shiny £1 coin .

Back at the car park and Mick presented Mike with a trophy for the winner...........

and we were all very pleasantly surprised to find that Mick had got us all engraved medals as a momento of the day, a really nice gesture on Mick's behalf .

Marsh AC club match.

Saturday was the last match of the year for Marsh AC, and the chosen venue was The Match Lake at Hawkhurst in Kent, to hopefully finish off the match calendar in fine style . With the car loaded I set off around 7am with the forecaster on the radio promising a fine sunny day ahead . By the time I reached Badgers Mount there was thick fog and I'd also had a phonecall from Keith (Gandhi) who was traveling down from Milton Keynes to guest on todays match. The fog hung around all the way down to Hawkhurst and I pulled into the car park just after 8am.
There was a reasonable turn out assembled as we had a total of 5 guests joining us today and as the on site café wouldn't open till 9am we decided to draw and set up beforehand and then have breakfast before starting the match around 10am .

Into the draw and I came away with peg 15, just about half way up the left hand bank as you look from the car park.......

...and there was quite an erie silence as everyone settled into their pegs shrouded in fog...........

I was going to keep the set up simple. 1 line at around 7mtrs and another in the margin against the boards. Rig wise i set up 3 rigs consisting of Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·18 to size 16 Drennan Carp Match hooks . 1 to fish at depth at 7mtrs (around 4 ft) another shallow and the 3rd for the margin where I had around 2ft on the shelf. I also set up the pellet waggler, but wasn't expecting to use it unless I struggled on the pole. Bait wise I went with 8mm fishery pellet with 6mm expanders and corn for change baits while feed was taken care of by 4 and 6mm fishery pellets .

With the fog still hanging around I could just see Clive trying for some atmospheric shots with his camera.........

August Bank Holiday Monday and with Maria having to work I'd accepted an invitation from Bill to join him and a few of the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum down at Falkenville Mushroom Farm for a session on the new lake there. It was over 5 years ago that I last fished at Falkenville on the same lake as today when it 1st opened when it looked as it appears in the photo above. However in the intervening time it has been changed with 1 arm cut off and the rest widened, and now looks something like the image I've created below .

Pulling into the car park i was greeted by Pete, Ryan and Mick and after a brief chat Bill pulled into the car park to join us, that just left Al who was obviously running late . Rather than wait Bill got the gate key and we drove over to the lake. No draw today, just a fun day out so we just unloaded the gear and plonked ourselves in the nearest pegs.

Now on Saturday there had been some discussion about Bill being a JINX , and maybe there's something in it. When I had left home the sun was shining but as I got closer to the fishery the sun vanished to be replaced by grey clouds and by the time we had set up the wind had risen and there was the threat of rain .

Plumbing up I couldn't find much more than 3ft of water in front of me, so set up a paste rig comprising of a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match and a Malman 4x12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match to fish pellet on the deck. Starting off at around 6mtrs I soon had a bite that rewarded me with a nice plump Common of around 3lbs while most of the other lads were still setting up . A ringing on Bill's phone revealed a slightly lost Al needing to be talked in by Bill, and most of us were off the mark by the time that Al finally arrived to join us .

Well the wind increased and some rain arrived and soon it resembled early winter rather than late summer . By about 1pm I'd managed half a dozen Carp, Ryan had just the one but was determined to get a few more.............

Pete was getting a few by chucking the feeder across ...................

Bill was doing best of all and had been catching regularly fishing paste at around 5mtrs, but even his action had slowed...............

while Mick was struggling despite trying the pole and feeder..............

and Al had a few fishing out in front of him but just couldn't interest the fish that were obviously feeding in his margins  .............

By 1·30 I'd had enough of the struggle , I tipped back my fish and moved over to a swim at the end of the arm that had been cut off. Reed lined on both sides it offered a little bit of shelter from the conditions and just looked as if it was good for a few fish .

A few pellets down both sides and a lump of paste on the hook and I was into fish straight away  and from then on a regular succession of Carp provided great entertainment right up to the point when the lads came round with the scales at the end of the session, indeed I hooked a final fish as they arrived, but with a crack the rig vanished. It turned out the Black Hydro had snapped!!!  I can't really complain though, as it was 4 years old, so I've had my monies-worth out of it . 43½lbs of pristine Carp showed what an enjoyable afternoon I'd had, so with those I'd tipped back earlier I'd had a good 50lbs+ on a challenging day. Bill had 67½lbs for the bragging rights on the day and Pete managed 40lbs+ as well, indeed we'd all had a few .

All in all not a bad day given the conditions, Thanks to Bill for organising the day and to the lads for their company, it won't be 5 years before I visit again .

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Pairs Match 2008.

Twenty of us assembled at Hawkhurst today on the Match Lake for the 1st ever Maggotdrowning Southern Pairs organised by Vince .
Pulling into the car park most of the usual suspects were already assembled along with a few "virgins" in the form of Keith 'Disco' Driscoll, Gary 'alltackledup' Page and Steve Allen and his 2 lads, Pete & Nick and the banter was soon flowing .
Breakfast was soon consumed in the Café and the draw made so that we could get to our pegs and with the sun beaming down it looked like we could be in for a decent day with a lot of fish on the cards .

Now Hawkhurst has a reputation for producing big weights and as I settled into peg 3 it was obvious that Matt, my Pairs partner for the day was expecting a real bagging session as he already had 4 keepnets in place !!!!!!!!

I just set up 3 rigs,all on top 3's as I was planning to fish at no more than 3mtrs. 1 with a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match for paste and 2 for pellet, a Malman 0·3g MTD1 dibber on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match for shallow and a Malman 4x12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match for on the deck. Bait wise I was going to keep things simple, with just 6mm hard pellet for both feed and hookbait and 8mm hard pellet and a few 6mm expanders along with some GOT Atomic paste as alternative hookbaits. 10 minutes prior to the off the aerators were switched off and plenty of fish could be seen moving around as anglers sat and considered the 5 hours ahead.

10·30am and Vince blew the whistle for the All-in and I fed a handful of pellet into the margin and another straight out at 3mtrs and followed it with a banded 6mm pellet on my deck rig. Bill over on peg 17 was into a Carp straight away as was Paul to my right on peg 4, but overall it wasn't the hectic start that most of us had expected. Vince even had time to try out his new camera, I'm sure he must have been asking me how many fish I'd caught when he took this one ..........

Indeed within half an hour of the start things appeared to slow down all round the lake . Matt however did have his fan club turn up and caused a bit of excitement as they watched him take the nice fishy for a swim, though when Bill started singing a Gary Glitter song I thought Paul and I were going to split our sides  ...........

I was really struggling to find as much as a bite, though Terry didn't seem to be having to much trouble, it was just getting them to stay on the hook that was proving troublesome .............

Paul had put as good a run of fish together as anyone, but then went through a stage of getting a load of foul hookers, none of which found their way to the net before he to suffered a lull in sport..........

Fed up with struggling I went for a stroll to see if anyone had found the secret to putting a decent bag together on the day.
I found Dave Collier up on peg 6 admitting to 7 fish and preparing to have a go under the bush in his left hand margin ..........

Clive was concentrating on his right hand margin over on peg 11, not that it appeared to be reaping any huge rewards ........

Kevin seemed to be searching for some inspiration anywhere he could find it and was having an absolute mare with hardly anything to show for his efforts ..............

Trevor was also fishing the margin to his right , but was handicapped by having to face Bill who was next door on peg 17 ........

Back to my peg and it was just a question of sticking at it, cutting back on the feed and fishing for bites and this finally started to produce a couple of fish for me though I did suffer with a few foul hookers.

With sport being so slow the banter was flying however. Keith"Disco" Driscoll on my left having been rechristened "Nightclub" by Bill and Nick on peg 1 and Vince on peg 20 being accused of having a separate competition to see who could make the best (Worst?) job of blowing a noted Flyer. Indeed at one point Nick obviously worried that Vince might win that one spent a good 10 minutes trying to lose a Carp, even wrapping it round his platform legs in an attempt to avoid netting it  ..........

Thankfully Vince blew the whistle for the All-out at 3·30pm to put us all out of our misery . With so little caught however at least the weigh-in didn't take to long and it was going to make for a close result to the pairs competition.

Back at the Café for the results it was revealed that Dave Collier and Clive Pritchard were the Maggotdrowning Southern Pairs winners for 2008, tying on points with Paul East and Terry Goff but taking the result on weight with myself and Matt Love in Third just 1 point behind .

I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to Vince who did his usual excellent job of organising the day's proceedings, even managing to lay on the best weather for quite some while, Oh and he had to give me yet another £1 coin . Just a shame that the fishing wasn't up to expectations, though everyone appeared to enjoy themselves. Here's to the next one .

Pairs Result

NB: Where points were tied, position was decided on weight.

The Southern Intersite Match.

A nice smooth run saw me pulling into the car park at Monk Lakes at around 8am. I'm fishing for the Maggotdrowning.com team today in The Southern Intersite Match. The Intersite matches were originally conceived as friendly get-togethers where members of the various angling forums could meet and put faces to names from the various forums and enjoy a light hearted day out at the same time. However there's quite a competitive element to these matches nowadays though the Maggotdrowning ethos is still to enjoy ourselves and enjoy the day without winning .

By 9am all the teams were assembled for the draw, with only the Total Fishing team being an angler short . Our team for the day was Nick Gilbert(captain). Matt Nutt, Gary Thorpe, Matt Love, Vince Gould, Paul East, Bill Gibbins, Clive Pritchard, Trevor Little and Peter Morton(myself). We were fishing Match Lakes 1 & 3 today and my draw gave me peg 112 at the end of the causeway by the aerators on Lake 3. Settling in to my peg i fancied it for a decent days fishing as I had a vacant peg to my left and the wind off my back. I had Ant Sparrow(antmusic) of Total Fishing for company behind me on 113, the other aerator peg and looking across I could see Fred Parker(milo) from TalkAngling and Vince to his right.

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship 2008.

Sunshine and a bit of a breeze greeted me today as I loaded up the car for the trip down To Hartleylands Farm for the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Individual Championship match.
First port of call was the Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast with a few of the lads that were fishing the match. The best part of the Maggotdrowning matches are that they're not taken to seriously and there's always some decent banter amongst the lads irrespective of whether the fishing proves to be good or not. So having fueled the inner man we made out way down to the fishery for the match .

Into the car park where 19 anglers assembled for the draw. The match this year had been organised by Nick Gilbert, and as usual with Nick's matches Matt Love gave him a hand conducting the draw. So money paid and into the bag and I find I've drawn peg 1, a decent peg normally and one that I had won the corresponding match from back in 2004 . However today I'd fancied a draw in the early teens as with the wind blowing into them I thought that's where the fish would be. Never mind though, at least it was a short walk from the car so no barrow needed.

Settling into the peg I noticed that the fishery staff had pruned the willow quite heavily making it easier to feed and fish under it, but would it produce without the wind blowing into it? I set up the pellet wag and feeder + 3 top kits for the pole. 1 for the margins. 1 for 5mtrs where I had 5ft of water and another for 7mtrs where I had 8ft of water, Bait for the day was pellet, both hard and expander, paste and sweetcorn and the feed was 4 & 6mm pellet and hemp.

11am and the all-in and I fed pellet and hemp into both margins and pellet onto the 5mtr line and followed it with the rig baited with pellet. Matt Love on peg 10 was into a Carp straight away on the waggler swiftly followed by another, as was Dean Lockwood to my left on peg 2 as he had an early look on his margin swim.........

Nick Gilbert had been into fish almost straight away, but had trouble landing them losing the first 4 Carp that he hooked. Me? I couldn't even buy a bite. 2½hrs in and I still didn't have a fish in the net, just a large scale on my sidetray where I'd lost a foul-hooker .

Trevor on peg 7 having heard of the Reservoir's large head of silvers had decided to target them as it's the sort of fishing he enjoys , however they didn't seem to want to play today............

Terry up on peg 13 however had had a fowl (alright a duck actually ) but had safely managed to catch and release it.

Finally I managed a fish, only a small Skimmer from my 7mtr line, but at least I would avoid a dreaded DNW , and more importantly kept me in with a chance of not having to part with £1 to Vince, who seemed to be struggling almost as badly as me though he had owned up to a couple of Skimmers earlier.

Looking straight across I could see Bill on peg 15..........

.......... he was having one of those days we all dream of , with the fish lined up at 4 mtrs and apparently ravenous for his paste bait, resulting in a bite every put in, and he was obviously going to take all the stopping.

Indeed poor Tony Roberts next to him on peg 16 was finding it hard to concentrate on his own fishing and seemed to have resigned himself to a next peg battering of epic proportions.........

......... steadily putting fish in the net, a good performance considering that he'd come straight from work the previous night.

For the rest of the match I struggled on, managing 6 Carp and a few more Skimmers, all from my 7mtr line which was the only place I could get a bite, and to be honest I was glad to hear the whistle blow at 4pm signal the all-out and put an end to my struggles .

So to the weigh-in and Paul soon took the lead putting 91lbs 7ozs onto the scales, but this was soon eclipsed when Bill put a match winning 156lbs on the scales which was also a new PB match weight. Well Done Bill .
Round to peg 10 and Matt Love put 105lbs 11ozs on the scales to seal 2nd place on the day .
My meager total scaled 23lbs, but was enough to take Vince's £1 coin , though Vince had been close till he lost an estimated 15lb'er near the end, unlucky Vince .

So that was it for the day. Congratulations to Bill G, The Maggotdrowning Southern Individual Champion 2008 .
Thanks to Nick for organising the day, and to all the anglers that attended. We'll have to do it all again next year .

"Who would be up for a bash at hawkhurst fish farm on the match lake, if you are interested let me know and i will sort a list out". That was the post that Bill G put up on the Maggotdrowning Forum in the middle of March that led to us arriving for a 20 peg knock-up.

Pulling into the fishery car park at around 7·45am a host of the usual suspects were in attendance along with a couple of 1st timers for what we hoped would be a good day with plenty of fish for everyone. The weather however obviously had other ideas with a dull grey sky and a cold easterly wind promising the threat of rain during the day.

Hawkhurst is primarily a Carp fishery, a fact that's rather given away by the carving of an old tree stump outside the bailiff's office overlooking the fishery................

I can't say that Hawkhurst is my favorite venue in all honesty. The Match Lake is a strip lake with 10 pegs on either side with very few features for most to fish to except the boards down the edge for most, however it does have fish in abundance and is well capable of throwing up lots of 'Ton+' weights of Carp in matches, so it's normally a great confidence booster .

A decent Full English in the on site café and a couple of side bets (£2 with Vince & £1 with Bill) was followed by the draw, which saw me drawing peg 11 at the far end...................

but at least I would have the wind off my back. Vince had drawn the flyer, peg 1 that was black with fish when we arrived while Dave Collier had the other flyer (peg20) opposite him. I had Colin opposite on 10 with Bill G to his left on 9, with Jeff D (on his 1st match with us) to my right on 12.

I set up a couple of top 2's, the 1st around 18" deep to fish tight to the boards on either side and another around 3ft deep to fish at 2mtrs out. These were both 0·14 Antares Silk Shock with size 18 Fox Series 2 hooks with 4X12 KC Carpa Shelf's and I set up another kit using the same line and hook but with a 4X14 Carpa Tricky to fish the 5ft deep 6 mtr line.
Bait was 4mm fishery pellet for feed with 4 & 6mm GOT expanders for the hook, with sweetcorn and GOT paste as alternatives.

10am and the All-in and Jeff on the next peg was straight in having dropped his unbaited rig in to double check it's shotting has a Carp take his bare hook !!!!! I dropped my expander baited 2mtr rig in and the float buried straight away and a nice little Common was soon in the net, Game On .

Or not as it proved . The 1st hour saw me put just 5 fish in the net and from what I could see nobody was exactly taking their peg apart, with Bill suffering a few liners and just a solitary fish in the net ........

Jeff and Jay to my right having a few, but from what I could see smaller fish than mine.
Fishing tight to the boards is normally a banker for a few fish at Hawkhurst but despite keeping a few pellets trickling into both margins I couldn't find a bite there and moved back out to the deeper water at 6mtrs where at least I was picking up the odd fish. Bill had gone walkabout after about an hour and had completed a circuit of the lake by the time he got to me. His report was grim with most struggling , though Dave Collier seemed to be getting a few from peg 20 and to top it all off it started to rain. Kevin's partner Jean however appeared with a very welcome cuppa from the café and with bites few and far between I re-fed all my lines and went for a walk of my own.

Clive down on peg 14 was putting a few together but felt that Paul over on peg 7 was doing a shade better...................

Ryan next door on peg 15 was struggling and pinning his faith on finding a few from the margins.......................

while Matt on 18 had managed a run of fish up in the water but hadn't had a bite for 40 minutes ................

Dave Collier on 20 was indeed putting a few together, he was fishing at 9mtrs to the stump of a cut down tree that had made the peg a real flyer in earlier days ...........

Over on fancied peg 1 Vince was having one of those matches we all dread with just a couple of fish to show for his efforts, while having to watch Dave opposite steadily pull away in terms of fish caught , and Trevor on peg 2 wasn't fairing much better .............

Nick on peg 3 had forgotten about the pole and was fishing the waggler............

with Terry next to him struggling as well. Pete was soldiering on and managing the odd fish from peg 5...........

While Mike Jameson was racking his brains trying to put a few in the net and amazing us all that he hadn't packed up and gone home as he's well known for doing if he isn't enjoying himself ..........

Paul East appeared to be going reasonably well though on peg 7 and a chat with Al next to Bill revealed he was getting bites on banded pellet but having trouble hitting them.
Bill had finally managed to find a couple by fishing corn long at 12 mtrs.

Back at my peg, out came the bait bands and a banded 4mm at 6mtrs soon produced a bite and a 4lb'er in the net. Bill's bites on the corn however appeared to have dried up on him again, though Al was nicking the odd one. Jeff D was catching by swapping lines, though his fish seemed smaller than mine which prompted me to stick to the 6mtr line as my fish still seemed to be of a bigger stamp...........

Jay next to Jeff however seemed to be the only one catching down the margin next to the boards and was also taking some better fish long when he rested the margin line.

Thankfully 4pm saw the all out, and the speed that the scales came round signaled that the lake hadn't produced the expected weights, with Paul East leading the way with a very creditable 69lbs 08ozs from peg 7. My fish came to 43lbs 08ozs which was good enough for 6th on the day and took my 4 peg section . Down to the last peg and it was a question of whether Dave Collier had done enough to edge Paul out of 1st place, but a combination of the cold and Dave's arthritis saw Paul hang on as Dave's fish only came to 62lbs 08ozs, still a very good effort on the day .

So that was it for another day, not the expected weights, but a £2 coin from Vince (we didn't give him much stick for blowing the flyer honest ) a £1 coin from Bill, some good laughs and plenty of banter helped out.
Thanks to Bill G for sorting out the day, just remember to have a word with the weather Gods next time Bill.

Marsh AC club match.

Well an early wake up call so that I could drop Maria off at work saw me with plenty of time to get back home and cook myself a bit of breakfast before donning the thermals and waterproofs and loading the car up in the pouring rain and setting off to Monk Lakes to meet up with the members of Marsh AC for our 1st match of the year on Match Lake 2. Now the main thing about Marsh AC is that it is a small friendly club with membership by invitation only, in essence it's a Social Club that organises a days fishing for it's members. The format of these days fishing loosely resembles a match in that there's a draw for pegs, but there is no Club Championship or Cups to be won, in fact the only cash that gets paid out is section money, no 1st, 2nd or 3rd place prizes. It suits the members and keeps the pot hunters away.

Pulling into the car park at around 8am it was good to see that the vast majority of the usual suspects were in attendance, along with a couple of guests (Bill G and Alan from the Maggotdrowning Forum), Paul East was missing however, it turned out that he'd forgotten to buy a new license and for some reason had forgotten that you can buy one on-line or over the phone . At least it had stopped raining, though the grey skies and brisk wind promised to make it a challenge.

Anyway to the draw, and anyone of 3 corner pegs would have been nice, 45 because it's an out and out flyer with a resident shoal of Barbel, or 56 and 66 at opposite ends of the causeway as these have aerators at their sides and unlike the other match lakes they aren't roped off allowing you to fish tight to them. No such luck though, 53 sticking to my fingers providing my home for the day.

One thing about the match lakes at Monk's is that there are plenty of fish, so that whatever the draw you're guaranteed to have a few fish in front of you to provide a decent days fishing. A stranger feature to this particular lake however is the fact that the depth shelves from around 5 feet in front of peg 55 to around 10 feet in front of 45, and when the wind blows straight down the lake as it was today it sets up a terrific tow!!

I set up 2 pole rigs to fish a couple of lines, the 1st at around 10mtrs where I had just over 6ft of water was a 4X18 KC Carpa2 on 0·16 straight through to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook and the 2nd for the margins where I had a couple of feet of water against the reeds was a 4X12 Carpa shelf with similar line and hook that I could also use up in the water on the main line if need be.
I also set up a pellet waggler, though I suspected that it wouldn't be a realistic option due to the wind and tow.
Bait for the day was red maggot, corn and pellet, and I also made up some groundbait to get some feed down through the tow. This was Special G with some corn and a good helping of micro pellet added.

10am and the All-in, and straight away i fed 5 good balls of groundbait on the 10mtr line, with a good helping of pellet, corn and maggot down the right hand margin which I would continue to top up through the match as there was a vacant peg between me and the next angler.

Out to 10 mtrs with a single grain of corn, I just let the rig edge through the groundbaited area with the tow and was rewarded with a confident bite that produced the 1st fish of the day, a nice chunky FI of around 1½lbs . The wind and waves on the water meant that presentation wasn't ideal but by sticking at it i managed to put another 8 in the net along with around a dozen small Tench in the next 2 hours. Alan to my right was having a grim time and was struggling to buy a bite with only a couple of fish in the net  and Tony next to him was having trouble coming to terms with the tow that the lake was generating, but putting a few together holding a heavy rig back against the tow.
It seemed that every time I looked up towards Colin on peg 45 he was either playing or netting a fish and it was obvious he would take all the catching.

Looking across to the lads opposite fishing on the causeway, I could see Dave had turned his back on the wind and was fishing short to the channel where the aerator is and appeared to be putting a steady run of fish together, while terry next door to him was also catching close in to the margin, while Bill was fishing a longer line and sorting a few out .

With a lull in my fish, I fed 4 more balls of groundbait in a bid to kickstart things and had a quick stroll with the camera. Colin as I suspected was catching well despite trying to deny it and it was a pleasure to see that Judy on peg 46 next to him was putting a couple of tips I'd given her to good use and was enjoying some good sport too .

Back at the peg and a quick look at the margins revealed just a solitary small Chub so back out and I was soon into a run of small Tench and Skimmers with a couple of decent Ide for good measure .

Kevin to my left had resorted to a Polaris set up with a groundbait feeder to beat the tow and was starting to find a few fish, while Martin was really struggling to get a bite .

With a couple of hours to go Alan finally managed to find some Barbel down his margin line, while Tony having changed to a feeder to combat the tow was steadily starting to put fish in the net, Despite several looks, my margin just never came to life, forcing me to stick it out at 10mtrs, and while i caught steadily to the end it was mainly small Chub and Tench with just a couple of bonus Barbel around the 2lb mark.

With 15 minutes to go the skies grew darker and the temperature dropped noticeably and just to top it off it started to rain . 4pm and the All-out saw everyone hurriedly packing away followed by the weigh-in.

3rd to weigh, my 51¼lbs put me briefly into 1st place which I knew wouldn't last. Alan's 34½lbs was a decent return given that he had nearly the whole of that in the last 2 hours, while Tony's 48½lbs meant that I had at least won my section .

Judy put a very creditable 54¾lbs on the scales (Her best ever match weight) to briefly lead till Colin weighed his level 87lbs for the match win. Jim round on 56 managed  55¾lbs that would prove to be good enough for 3rd while Dave put a very decent 62½lbs on the scales for 2nd and might have run Colin even closer if it hadn't been for a few lost fish during the course of the day.

Still despite the weather trying it's hardest, overall it proved to be a decent day with no dry nets and an average of around 39lb per angler between the 17 of us. A decent days fishing by any standards. Roll on the next one .

"Anyone coming out to play Easter Monday?" That was the perfectly innocent post put up by Pete Midgley on the Maggotdrowning Forum that resulted in this little episode.

Loading up the car, a sunny day appeared to be in the offing and with just a light frost I felt we could be in for a decent day.
A smooth traffic free drive of 40 miles down to Uckfield in East Sussex even allowed me to stop off at  for a bit of breakfast, where I found Pete Thatcher, Martyn Dwayne and Mark Hathaway too, meaning I pulled into the fishery at around 8·20am.
Worryingly the car thermometer still only said 1°C though.

Today was the 1st time that I'd been down to Framfield since March 2005, so I really didn't have a clue what to expect. Anyway into the draw bag and peg 64 stuck to my hand. They say that a good indication of how well you've drawn is how many keepnets they hand you. I was given just the one while Kevin, who had drawn 63 and a few others were given two, so I figured I may have drawn out of the favoured areas.

As i settled into 64 I was faced with probably 17½mtrs to the island which had seen some vigorous pruning since the last time I'd seen it.
Having hurt my ribs at work the previous week long pole was out of the question, so I set up for around a comfortable 8mtrs and found a reasonably level 3ft all over, and with it being just a couple of inches shallower in the margins 1 rig covered all. I also set up a waggler to fish across if need be. Bait was simply sweetcorn to be fished over the fisheries own pellets with a few expanders as a change bait.

To my left I had Bill G for company on peg 65, so a decent bit of banter was guaranteed if nothing else..........

10am and after a warming cup of coffee fortified with a drop of Bushmills generously provided by Kevin, I potted in some pellet and sweetcorn at 8mtrs and fed some pellet by the dead rushes in both margins for later. Straight out to 8mtrs and after 20 mins the 1st bite of the day resulted in a nice Common Carp of around 3lbs gracing the net. I just kept topping up the feed with a T-pot containing a dozen pellets and 3-4 bits of corn at regular intervals, with the same being fed by hand into the margin swims. After a couple of hours I'd managed 6 Carp which had been matched by Bill, though I felt my fish had been a little bigger. Weather wise the day had deteriorated with a mix of rain sleet and snow coupled with the wind making things very cold and unpleasant.

Of course as with all things Maggotdrowning there had to be some Pee taking somewhere along the line and todays target was Pete Midgley, who in the run up to the day had posted........
"I think I would still beat Ryan if I had a bit of bamboo, a length of rope and a lump of cheese."

So of course Bill G hadn't been able to resist producing the relevant bit of Preston Imitations kit ..........

Pete however took it all in the spirit that was meant and even had the good grace to pose for the obligatory photo

Meanwhile word was circulating Mark Hathaway and Martyn Dwayne were doing relatively well with Stephen Tanner putting a few together from the supposed flyer.

Kevin had changed over to a set up incorporating a maggot feeder and polaris float and was soon into a run of Carp as he cast into the gap between the islands. Unfortunately he hooked up on the island after a while losing his float in the process. Not having another he reverted to a straight maggot feeder, but for some reason this didn't seem to be so productive and he reverted to the pole.......

Quite a few were struggling for even a bite however and people were ringing the changes in an attempt to buy a bite. Colin may have taken things a shade to far however, disguising hinself as a bush in attempt to draw fish into his margin swim  ........

Bill meantime had gone for a stroll to stop himself from seizing up and by the time he returned it had allowed me to sneak a couple of fish ahead of him.
With about an hour to go things had started to pick up with Tony Roberts finally getting amongst a few on the maggot feeder hard across to the island, Colin getting a couple of decent Perch as reward for his efforts and even Trevor Little getting a couple although he was to tip back without weighing in.

I managed to tempt 5 more Carp from down the edge in the last hour, though a lump snagging me in the reeds in the last 10 minutes was to cost me at the death.

At last 3·30pm rolled round and the all out, quickly followed by the weigh-in. Mark Hathaway leading with a very decent weight on the day of 55lbs 2ozs followed by Stephen Tanner on 48lbs 12ozs, a very creditable effort as it was his first match.

As the scales reached me I thought I might scrape 40lbs, so it was a pleasant surprise when they recorded 54lbs 8ozs putting me into 2nd place, though it left me ruing that lost fish.

So that was it, just leaving the 14 anglers to pack up and get home to thaw out. Despite the conditions we had caught some fish and had a few laughs as always. We must do it again, but please, can we have some better weather next time?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last outing of 2007.

Well after planning on going to Hartleylands but not being able to confirm that the fishery would be open, 4 of us (Dave, Tony, Bill and I) from the Maggotdrowning Forum  arrived at Monk Lakes today at around 9·30am to have a light hearted knock-up on match lake 4. We were expecting Vince to join us but a text message at 8am telling me that he'd spent the night chatting to God on the big white phone ruled him out .

The weather was dull and overcast, but at least it wasn't raining, and though the temp said 10°C the howling wind made it seem a fair bit cooler. With Bill, Dave & Tony looking to fish the pole I let them take the 3 vacant pegs with the wind on their backs.......

........ while I went round to the left hand side and settled into a swim that would allow me to cast to the lee of a small island...............

................ as I was going to try out my new Christmas Present from Maria, a Shakespeare Mach 3 11ft feeder rod and 1oz tip which I'd teamed up with a Stradic 3000. the rig was just a small free-running Drennan Carp Feeder with an 8" hooklink to a Fox Series2 18 hook with double red maggot as bait. I'd also set up my Mach 3 Micro with a Malman Floats 3SSG styro pellet wag set at 18" deep with a Fox Series2 18 hook again just in case anything was up in the water.

1st cast out and a gentle tap on the tip followed by a 2" pull produced what was to be the 1st of many Chublets around the 4oz mark.
Likewise Bill was straight into action with a run of small Carp.
Dave and Tony were having to work a bit harder for their fish to start with but soon started to put a few together, indeed Tony managed the best fish of the session when he he landed this Tench that tipped the scales at 4½lbs as well as a cracking Roach of 1lbs 10ozs .........

The whole session was really just a social, with breaks taken for chats and the sampling of a rather fine 12 year old Rum that Dave had brought back from his recent cruise adding a warming glow to proceedings.

Later on I tried the waggler and despite not being able to feed the line owing to the wind almost every cast produced either another Chublet, small F1 or Mirror.

Around 3pm we called a halt and a quick weigh-in revealed 28lbs for me, Bill had 30lbs, Tony 20 lbs and Dave 13lbs. Quite satisfying given the conditions. If we had concentrated I'm sure we would all have doubled our weights but that wasn't really the name of the game today. It was just good to be out on the bank with a few friends enjoying ourselves, and a nice way to end my fishing in 2007.

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Fur & Feather.

Well where to start?
Back in early October, I remarked to Vince that it might be an idea to run a Fur & Feather before Christmas if anyone fancied it. The main criteria for a venue was that everyone should get a few bites and fish at a time of year when a lot of venues struggle if the weather takes a turn for the worst. A chat with Ron at Monks secured some pegs on Match Lake1 and a post put up on the Maggotdrowning Forum to see if there was any interest.

Soon the banter was flowing, generating a healthy response to the match, even in the days leading up to the match when the weather forecast predicted that the conditions might lead to an outbreak of Brass Monkeys searching for their Balls.

Come the day and it was heartening to see a turn out of 25 anglers with only 3 wimps no shows that couldn't be bothered to let us know either by PM or E-mail assembled for what in reality was no more than a knock-up. Just a £5 optional pool and a commitment to bring a prize ensuring that nobody would go away rich but nobody would depart empty handed.

Draw over we made our way up to the lake where the aerators had been left on overnight to try and stop ice forming, though in reality the lake is so exposed to the wind it was highly unlikely to happen.

I had drawn peg 6, with Paul (nomorelongwalks) and Sven for company on 2 & 4 and Matt (yalding bloke) on 8 and the prospect of watching Bill G opposite me on peg 18 for a full 5 hours.

Now in the past some have referred to me as a Tackle Tart, however it would seem that Matt has elevated the concept to another level. Sitting there in his bright red Santa Claus Milo fleece out came the £100 stainless steel/red foam Milo pole roller, followed by the red foam Milo rig roosts, kept in plastic cases to keep them clean (his excuse was that they were new, yeah right ) I think we may have to start calling him RED MAN. However disaster was about to strike as his pole dropped off the roller resulting in a snapped no5 section. I'm not sure I would have been able to raise a smile if I'd just done £200+ worth of section..................

Feeling lazy I had just set up the pole to fish about 10mtrs, bait was red maggot with a few pellets to feed. I really should have set up a feeder and waggler as alternatives and with hindsight it was a mistake, as when I did set up a feeder later on it was to little to late.
10 am and the All-in and I could see Vince over on peg 20 was straight into a fish............

.......... rapidly followed by Nick on 19...........

.......... and Matt was soon off the mark with an F1 on the waggler, while Bill and I were still gazing at an inactive pole line, though Bill did get the chance to christen his new pole sock when he used it as a landing net on a small fish to get off the mark . It was obvious that the lads opposite were in for a more comfy match with the wind off their backs (Nick's favorite ) while we had to endure the wind into us for the whole match.

Soon i was off the mark with an F1 followed by a Skimmer and a small Tench, but  I would struggle to put a run of bites together throughout the whole match. Dave the Fish put in an appearance around 11am deciding against fishing, as the sub zero conditions were playing havoc with his arthritis but kindly provided me with a very welcome hot cup of tea. Bill switched over to the waggler in an attempt to keep up with Nick and Vince..............

......... while word filtered round that Mike and Trevor on pegs 36 & 35 were doing OK on the waggler.

Try as I might Matt was catching 2 fish to every one of mine, and with Sven starting to catch well on the feeder as well as Kevin opposite on peg 17.............

......... I swapped over to the feeder for the final part of the match. Just 4 more Carp proved that it wasn't a good move and that I should have stuck with the pole, but I was quite happy to hear the whistle for the All-out at 3pm.
Dave helped me to weigh half the lake while Vince and a helper weighed the other half, and it was pleasing to see that everyone had something to weigh. In total there was a total of 520lbs of fish weighed in, an average of just over 20lbs per angler, excellent given that the temperature never felt as if it had risen above freezing all day and just goes to show what a decent venue Monk Lakes is.

Back to the tearoom for the results, with Mike coming out on top with 54lbs 12ozs to Trevor's (MT Net) 44lbs 04 ozs with Matt taking 3rd with 37lbs 00ozs. Then the presentation of the prizes and a good table-full ensured that everyone went home with something from the day, a few more faces had been put to names from the forum, and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it in a perverse sort of way. I'd just like to add a word of thanks to Vince for his help and a special mention to Dave the Fish, who despite not feeling up to fishing still turned up and stayed to help out with the weigh-in, Many Thanks Mate.  The long distance award as always went to Dai Thomas for making the trip up from the Welsh Valleys for a days fishing with his fellow Maggotdrowners, you're a star.

We'll have to do it again, though preferably when it's a little warmer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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