So there I was driving down the A21 this morning at about 7·30am with snowflakes mingling with the rain and the car's thermometer showing just 4°C , I really was starting to question my sanity.  I may not have been fishing since before Christmas, but surely it would have made more sense to turn round and return to a nice warm bed.

At 8·30am in the car park outside the lodge at Elphicks, I met up with 2 familiar faces, Dave the Fish and Colin. So day tickets paid for we drove up to Sandwich Lake where a brief look confirmed that it was going to be uncomfortable to say the least with a raw wind blowing from left to right lowering the temperature even more.

A stroll along to Kettles Lake next door revealed a slightly more sheltered area, with some trees offering a modicum of shelter from the wind, so despite none of us having fished it before we decided that Kettles would be todays venue.

As we set up Dave made a beeline for the snack wagon, returning with 3 welcome piping hot cups of tea. Colin to my right elected to fish a maggot feeder to the point of the island at around 25mtrs, While I went for a pole approach at about 11mtrs which offered a depth of around 4feet, and Dave to my left went for the pole at around 9mtrs offering a similar depth to me.

Given that the water still had a good bit of colour and that I knew the stocking levels are high on all the lakes, I kicked off with a large pot of 3mm green swimstim pellets and another of maggots, aiming to fish either 6mm swimstim hookers or double red maggot over it at dead depth, while Dave went for a little and often approach trickling feed in with a kinder pot.

Sport for the 1st hour was non existant for both Dave and I, while Colin managed a couple of small Roach on the feeder. I was convinced that things would pick up and was catapulting alternate pouches of pellet and maggot in an effort to make something happen.

Dave was using his new Platt-Forms box and was at least happy that it wouldn't be getting muddy as the swims at Elphick's are all covered in Astroturf.(there was an awfull lot of blue in evidence on the day though, including his car, leading me to wonder whether he's trying to take Matt Nutt's title of "Little Boy Blue" )

Colin strolled down for a chat and right on cue my float dipped and the 1st fish of 2006 for me in the shape of a net Roach had me off and running, quickly followed by a nice F1, Things were starting to look up.

Dave was having one of those days, bumping a couple of foul-hookers while trying to fine tune his presentation as a constantly changing wind made things awkward.
Colin plugged away on the feeder finally getting among a few small Carp amongst the Roach and Rudd that were coming at regular intervals.

Dave popped along for a chat and on cue my float dipped resulting in a far from seasonal Tench pulling the elastic from my pole and soon gracing my landing net, much to Dave's delight.

Things seemed to get better and better for me as I kept banging in the feed. 5 Bream around the 2 - 2½lb mark along with a male Tench and another chunky F1.........

........mixed in with the Roach and Rudd, there was even a Bleak!!!

All of which kept me busy and warm right up to 3pm when I decided to call it a day as a few flakes of snow started to fall again.

Dave managed to get amongst a few Roach and at least 1 Bream that I saw, and with Colin still sneaking a few out on the feeder decided to stay on for a little while longer.

All in all a rewarding day, with good company in hard conditions, and a nice if somewhat belated start to my fishing year.

Well Saturday at 7·20am found me waiting in the Little Chef car park at South Godstone waiting for Dave the Fish, Colin, Jess (jackcatcher) & Szabi (Tinkerbelle) to arrive for a days fishing at Tanyards Lakes.
Everyone soon arrived and we set off for Tanyards getting there around 8am. As we drove in I noticed that all the lakes had their airators running, something I hadn't seen on previous visits. Kit assembled, we all set off for lake4, the Tench Lake.

I settled into the 1st swim by a dying reed bed with Szabi & Jess further round and Dave next to them. Colin had a look round lake2 but finally settled in a swim with another dying reed bed at the top opposite Dave.

Plumbing up revealed n even 3ft of depth alround my swim even hard up against the reeds but 1st put in revealed a very noticable flow caused by the airator. I fed 2 swims, 1 at 11mtrs straight out and another at 11mtrs hard against the reeds with a pot of 4mm hard pellet and a few red maggots fed into each, Hookbait was 6mm expanders.

Szabi soon let out a squeel of delight as she landed a small Pumpkinseed and Jess was soon pressed into service as her photographer with increasing regularity as more species came her way including a nice Perch, while Dave was heard to remark that a stick float would be more appropriate in his swim due to the proximity of the airator.

I managed a couple of Bream around the 2½lb mark and a male Tench from my open water swim but the flow seemed to be making the fish finicky, so trying the swim against the reeds semed to be a better option. However around 10am a halt was called as we adjourned to the fishery lodge for a spot of brekkie.

Suitably fortified we returned and Dave set about instructing Jess in the delights of THE DARKSIDE!!!!!

Jess had spoken to Dave of his interest in trying a spot of pole fishing and Dave had brought an old pole that had been gathering dust for Jess to have a go with.
Soon Obiwan Dave was instructing his paduan Jess in the dark arts.........

Soon we were treated to the site of Jess hanging on as his 1st pole caught fish turned out to be a Skimmer of the acrobatic variety trying to do an impression of a Trout.

Colin was having a bit of a hard time of it but was plugging away at it and finally managing to find a few fish through the sheer persistance of his approach.........

Meanwhile I was managing to sneak out a few more Bream from my swim hard against the reeds, but my efforts were being hampered by the angler fishing the other side of the reedbed. Everytime that I hooked a fish, his response was to ball more groundbait into his swim and despite his getting no response in the way of bites. Unfortunately the only effect was to kill my swim.

By 12 o'clock I had had enough and decided to move, and Colin came round and decided to join me. We moved up to lake2 but were shocked to find that the depth appeared to be no more than 18 inches in any swim. I set up in a swim with a small island and decided to go for it anyway, while Colin found a bit more depth in a corner peg on the far side.
Ist put in and a confident bite resulted in a good scrap with a nice Common and things were suddenly looking up..........

Next put in and a decent Bream of around 3lbs was soon followed by a couple of identical examples. Dave soon wandered over to see how i was doing, just intime to see another Bream saving me having to unhook it as it shed the hook just as I got it into the net, and wandered off muttering and shaking his head, I'm sure it was something about about how skillfull I was, teaching fish to unhook themselves.

Jess & Szabi arrived bearing a welcome cup of tea payed for by Dave just as I had pulled out of a lump and soon returned to their swims after commiserating. Sport continued steadily for me all afternoon including a nice Tench that had a slight kink in its tail.........

A change to maggot on the hook, produced plenty of Roach, Rudd and Gudgeon..............

 while the pellet seemed to sort out better Carp and Bream............

Colin was also getting into some fish in the corner including some decent Perch.

All too soon the sun had dropped out of the sky and the cold decended as the light faded and it was time to pack up. Back in the carpark farewells were exchanged and plans made to do it all again.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Individual Championships 2005.

Well standing in the car park at Lemington Lakes at 8am the sky looked to be promising a decent day despite the forecasts, but The Jinx had yet to arrive.
Brekkie served up by Andy and Debbie Machin who own the fishery, was a good plateful that set everyone up for the day ahead. People were arriving from all round the country promising a good turn out, new faces meeting old and friendships renewed once more.

Nick(Neo1) had been victim of an alarm malfunction, which resulted in Malc and Gemma arriving in the Jinxmobile just as the sun was replaced by grey clouds and the wind started to blow.

Back to the function room and 34 anglers assembled for the draw, conducted with Vince's usual precision, curses were uttered and info sought as it became clear who would be fishing where.

Down at the lake it soon became clear that The Jinx was indeed in attendance as the wind started to rise and the sky took on a more ominous shade of grey.

I had drawn peg 25 with Steve12 to my right,

and Simon(me) and MarkC to my left.

Plumbing up all I could find was 2½ft until I got to 13mtrs, where a small drop off gave me an extra foot, and this was where I decided to fish despite the wind making presentation a struggle. Having had a couple of hours practice the previous day I had decided to fish GOT BAITS 6mm expanders over GOT BAITS 4mm hard pellets to keep things simple, and just concentrate on the 1 line.

At the ALL-IN MarkC was soon off the mark with a decent Carp to meat on the straight lead that weighed 12lbs 7ozs. Ady (bigladwigan) had had a Carp of around 5lb 1st put in on corn and Steve12 had a quick couple of Skimmers on the feeder but was struggling for consistency as conditions worsened.

After about 30 minutes I had my 1st Carp of about 1½lbs but it was a real struggle presenting a bait with the wind, but slowly a few more fish found their way to the net.
I was struggling with the occasional foul hooker, but was gradually putting a weight together as I had the 13mtr line to myself as others chopped and changed tactics trying to find elusive fish on what was proving to be a very hard day owing to the conditions.

With a couple of hours to go The Jinx could be heard wandering the banks dishing out his own unique brand of Encouragement. Steve12 decided the England football match on TV was more inviting than sitting it out as the rain started, leaving me effectively with an end peg.

Then The Jinx arrived at my peg along with the heavier rain that appeared to be following him and proceeded to give the entire lake a running commentary on my struggles. His hilarity when I pulled out of a lump finally leading me to ask him to FOXTROT OSCAR.

I have to say it was nice to see Vince looking so happy at handing me the Trophy.

On to the raffle and it was good to see the prizes shared around amongst those present, I even managed a bottle of Islay single malt to round the day off.
It had been agreed that the proceeds of the raffle would be donated to the winners charity of choice, so it was my pleasure to donate the £104.00 that was raised to The Kirsty Appeal (Francis House Hospice).

I would just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Vince who put a lot of effort into organising the match, Malc, Gemma & Dirk for their help on the day, Andy and Debbie Machin and their staff for looking after us at their cracking venue, that we didn't see at its best due to the conditions on the day.

Finally to all The Maggotdrowners that attended, Thanks for coming, hopefully we can do it again next year in better weather.

RESULTS.

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Lake Match.

Another cracking day in good company saw 19 of us assembled in the car park at Rolf's to take part in Matt Nutt's 1st attempt at organising a match.
A lot of us were survivors from The Jinx Series with a couple of new faces from the site attending their 1st MD's event. Even Webbo had come down from Yorkshire to try some proper fishing .

I drew peg 26 and was joined on the car park bank by Paul, Nick (Slimcatcher) and Webbo to my right and Young Dave & Gemma, Royst and Malc to my left.

Paul, Nick(Slimcatcher) with Webbo behind a bush.

Royst(playing a fish) Malc & Jason(JKG)

Sport was never fast and furious (An understatement in Paul's case ) but we all watched a lesson in how it should be done as most of us watched Gary opposite on Peg14 show us how it should be done with a superb display of up in the water fishing,  and I think we realised that we needed snookers when he got a 3rd keepnet out   !!!

Perhaps it was just having Rolf sitting behind "coaching" him that gave him the edge though .

Spare a thought for Mark C as he was pegged between Gary & Pete Thompson who finished 1st & 2nd. Mark stuck at it though and did manage a few .

During the match I managed to smash a top kit trying to get a lump's head up before it buried itself in the bush to my right much to various peoples amusement , I did manage a few though, one of which Gemma captured on camera .

However a thought should be spared for Paul on the next peg to me, who despite trying everything in his bait bag could only manage a 5½lb Orfe as the carp in his peg went on strike, Having escaped being pegged next to his nemesis Dirk, thought he was safe, He should have known better , naturally we were full of sympathy for his plight  .

At the end of the match it was those with the experience of fishing the venue that took the spoils, proving that it's not the easy venue that some seem to think, but I think it's safe to say that everyone has plans to return at a later date to try to get to grips with the challenge that the venue presents .

Here's the results of the day............

NB: On Sunday 25th September, Gary Thorpe smashed the World 5hr match record with a weight of 490lb 8oz from peg 19.

Popped down to Harleylands today for a session with Dave the Fish & Wily Coyote.

I arrived about 8am and was just going to have a walk round when Dave arrived. We could see Wily already set up in peg 8 so strolled over to find he'd already had 4 carp on his feeder set up. So out with the gear with peg 5 for me and 6 for Dave.

1st off for me was the Bagging Waggler, a method I hadn't used till I fished at Drayton and Clattercote in The Jinx series, and I wanted to see if it would work on the Reservoir as I had never seen it used there.

Dave set up a top 4 to fish tares over hemp to try for some of the roach before the carp moved in, while Wily managed another couple of carp on the feeder.

Out with the Bagging Wag and busy, busy , busy with a fresh cast every minute to get some groundbait in, 20 minutes in and the line tightened as the 1st carp of my day found the bait, a nice fit mirror .

Throughout the morning I managed 10 on the bagging wag in total, the best of them being a couple at around 10lbs each.

With the sun beating down it was hard work though and about noon a break was called with Dave returning from the farm shop with pasties and drinks. We were all agreed that since last season the carp here have beefed up, packing on plenty of muscle and giving a really good account of themselves.

For the afternoon session I changed over to my margin pole fishing paste, while Wily had gone to a dibber in the margins to try for some of the lumps that were showing in his swim. Dave stuck to his guns but did try paste as well.
Plenty of pellets soon had the swim full of silt clouds as the carp got their heads down, resulting in plenty of bites and regular fish throughout the afternoon.
Wily did the honours weighing my 2 best fish, a nice 13lb mirror......

and a fully scaled mirror that Wily gave me 14lbs for..........

Dave was having a bit of trouble getting to grips with paste, but stuck to it and got a few before swapping to pellet for some more later in the session.

Wily was having some trouble getting seen off by a few larger lumps, but with a bit of encouragement from Me & Dave connected with a goody.............

Dave got into position to act as ghillie as Wily guided it to the net...........

A nice mirror that took the scales round to 12lbs being his reward.

5pm and time for Me & Dave to go. I managed 25 carp on the paste, making 35 fish for the day, while Dave had a few less. I left Wily the last of my paste as he was fishing on until about seven by which time he caught over thirty fish including a 14lb, a 13lb and four others around 12lb.

So in conclusion, a very pleasant days fishing in good company with a few laughs shared.
Couldn't ask for much more really.

The JINX Series 2005

Match 3.

Well I arrived at Stockton with plenty of time to spare having left early to try and miss any traffic that was heading to the Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The weather was glorious, a nice contrast to the dull grey of the previous 7 days in London, and as I strolled round the reservoir, I couldn't help thinking that the stories I'd heard of the place being a heartbreaker in matches had to be exagerated.

Looking across at the boards I was shocked to see a fisherman on the pegs reserved for the match..............

However although he was more successfull than Scott, he wasn't doing a lot of harm .

Back at the carpark Nick(monkey) had arrived, and with plenty of time we decided a pre-match pint was in order, so off to The Blue Lias for a drink in the garden, where we were joined by Keith and his lad David .

After a couple of pints it was back for the draw, where amid groans and laughs I found myself fishing peg17. A quick chat with Malc recommended 7mtrs for proper fish or 4 mtrs for silvers, so off i set to see what Stockton had to offer.

I found myself between Nick(polepot) on 18 who was quick to inform me of his love of Stockton............NOT .

and Dai on 16 so a few laughs would be had at least .

The all-in was delayed by 15mins so at 2·15PM we were off.
Out went a method feeder to see if I could find a quick mug fish, but after 10 mins without so much as a knock that was filed away and it was pole time having seen Keith and young Dan nick an early fish each on their poles.

Now paste fishing is not something I do a lot of, but having read plenty of Malc's reports of his exploits with paste at Stockton, I'd come prepared with 3 balls of it already made up (nothing special, just green swimstim with some tuna Felix added) which I was going to fish over loose fed swimstim micro's.

Plenty of knocks followed as rudd attacked the paste, but after 30 mins the float just vanished down the plughole. Loads of what Malc refers to as 'Knicker-elastic' poured out of the end, and there was me thinking that I'd set it to tight! I finally got it down to my top 3 and then the fun began, these carp don't like coming off the bottom, but finally after about 5mins there was a nice mirror in the net of about 6lbs .

Sport for me was never fast and furious, but at regular intervals the float would vanish and another lunatic Carp would put in an appearance. 9 in all while another couple decided they wanted to reach the other side of the Reservoir resulting in hook pulls before I went water sking .

Towards the end we were treated to Malc giving a chub a flying lesson from under the boards, while Matt was seen standing on his Rive trying to get a carp in the net..........................

good job he had those new trays fitted. He's now searching the Rive catalogue for the accessory step ladder  .

Finally Nick (neo-1) having gone out on a light rig to snatch a few rudd to avoid the horrow of a DNW latched onto the carp that had avoided him all match and as the all-out sounded we were treated to the sight of him playing it on what appeared to be a top 8, and having manfully battled it close to his platform (with plenty of sympathetic support from his fellow anglers) it proceeded to smash his top kit and shed the hook! Never mind Nick, it's what they call character building .

Come the weigh-in and the scales worked their way down from peg 24 where Eric's dad Derek had managed a creditable 12lbs 8 ozs (The same peg that Scott had managed 6ozs from on the previous weeks Intersite.) with Eric (ejayar) putting an excellent 30lbs+ of rudd on the scales for a total of 37lbs 2ozs.

I managed 9 carp for 58lbs 10ozs to put me on pole as Geoff could only manage 54lbs 13ozs and Matt on peg 3 53lbs 6ozs. So finally to Dirk on peg 2 who put 9carp and a tench onto the scales for a winning 59lbs 2ozs and the win. I'm sure that Tench had been force fed ½lb of Lard though .

Back to the carpark for the raffle and a bit more banter and that was it untill a fortnights time at Makins. Can't wait . 

Individual Results.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fish-In.

Well I arrived around lunchtime and Les directed me to Maggotville and provided a welcoming cuppa. I decided to get my bivvie up post haste as the heavens were threatening to open, Dave the Fish providing a handy mallet to help with the pegs .

After a stroll round to meet and greet faces old and new I decided that I had enough time for an afternoon dabble, so getting my gear I eased into a swim on pond B, next to Dai, his good lady Anne and son Daniel .

A hand full of pellets to the pads on my left and an expander on the hook was soon producing a mix of bream, barbel and roach with a few carp thrown in for good measure and much to Dai's delight a GOLDEN TENCH. At least having had a good look at one, Dai shouldn't have any trouble identifying one if and when he eventually catches one of his own . Perhaps Dai and The Hat should have a session at Monk lakes down near me? one of them's bound to catch one there.

Just as I was packing up Anne managed to catch her 1st ever Tench  .......

A quick wash and brush up and off to the pub for a meal and a couple of pints was merely a prelude to the cabaret round at Dai's bivvy as Ady kept us all entertained as only he can .

Saturday morning arrived sometime around 9am and again I found myself on pond B, but this time between Ady and Teepee. Pole across to the island found all of 9" of water and a succession of chub and barbel, all in super condition and thriving in their natural environment............................WATER .

Ady to my left decided to try and choke a few carp with a selection of improbably large hookbaits and appeared to be having some success, despite the attentions of Ghillie Geoff and 'evil' Amy........

Here's one of them that survived the ordeal  ............

While Red Leader was adding to Coshida's profits opposite me to tempt an eventual 10 carp. Dave the Fish and Colin were fishing either side of the bridge dividing pond B from A with them both putting fish regularly in the net.

Big Brian arrived and introduced himself, and it was obvious where he got the name from, but he was showing some class by being attired in a BURGUNDY MD's sweatshirt

I meanwhile elected to fish paste in the margin, to see if I could get a carp. I soon hooked a good common, but after a fair old fight it slipped the hook.At this point I'd like to say that all those that witnessed this commiserated with me over my misfortune,
I'D LIKE TO, but true to form the p**s taking was mercy-less, B******S!!!! 

Stu was fishing my peg from the previous day with a pole that he makes look like a whip and was happily getting amongst a few.....

While Dave assumed the Ghillies duties as Teresa managed to catch her 1st carp ..............

Simon R was managing to catch a few carp from under a bush on pond A when he wasn't foulhooking errant free swimming topkits  .......

Reading this you could be forgiven for thinking that the place was fishing it's head off, but some were struggling and I'm sure I heard snoring coming from Teepee's direction on more than one occasion .
Michelle seemed to be taking great delight, strolling around and announcing that Nick was being battered by her in no uncertain terms .


Superb skill and ability  finally yielded a reward for me though in the shape of a nice 11½lb Mirror, despite certain allegations of 'Mugging' from some quarters that should know better  .....

Just prior to packing up for the day, I decided to feed a margin swim on the other bank that I fancied fishing Sunday AM. Unfortunately Red Leader decided this was a cue for a catapult war, and was only persuaded to desist as a result of a direct hit with a 14mm halibut pellet, though how I managed to hit so small a target at that range is a bit of a mystery .

Back to the pub for a meal and liquid sustenance led to another cabaret session round Dai's bivvy, though Ady did seem a little subdued as he was issued with a charity challenge . Should he choose to accept, both Dave and I have pledged £50 to a charity of Ady's choice, should he furnish proof of completing the challenge.
Will he succeed? Frankly I think that our money is as safe as houses .

Sunday morning and for some strange reason I was up at 6am to be greeted by blue sky and sunshine, the 1st since arrival, so decided to grab a couple of ours before packing up for the journey home.
Popping down to the ponds I found only Colin and Haydn had beaten me to it, with only Haydn putting a couple of carp in the net during the quiet of the early morning .

9am saw Stu and I invited to partake of a cup coffee on the veranda of Red Leader's IKEA bivvy prior to breakfast and after that it was time for me to pack away ready for the 200+ miles down the motorway to home.

All packed away it was time for a last stroll round to say my farewells. Despite the warmth of the day, the fishing remained slow.
Nick was still getting battered by Michelle, this time with his own pole  .........

Ady however was grinning as an 8½lb mirror grabbed a bit of flake to reward his efforts and happily posed for a photo despite doing his best to juggle it back into the water 1st .

Scouse was found hiding in the bushes with only 1 bream having fallen for his paste, and bemoaning a distinct lack of hubcaps, now that most cars have alloys and locknut's .

While the final site was of Red Leader standing back in admiration of the ease with which Teresa handled 11mtrs of his pole  ....................

So that was my Blyton Fish-In, Good laughs, Great company and a few fish as well, not a bad way of spending a weekend . 

The JINX Series 2005

Match 2.

Drayton! Well what can I say? It was hot, Boy was it HOT The fish were still spawning, and did I mention it was HOT? At the start we were told you would need a peg in the 30's to catch and the further away you were, the more you would struggle. They weren't wrong.  My 1 fish, a 10lb mirror came with 15mins to go. The winner was Malc THE JINX Doyle (peg36) with a great bag weighing 118lbs ...... The runner up was young Daniel Thomas (peg35) with a bag weighing 95½lbs, just 1 fish short of his 1st 'TON' and including a new PB Mirror of 15½lbs ...... Dan's new PB.......   Individual Results.   1st    Malc Doyle          118lb 00oz   2nd  Dan Thomas     95lb 08oz  3rd  Paul Roberts     89lb 00oz  4th  Matt Nutt     45lb 00oz  5th  Mark Causer     19lb 00oz  6th  Steve Wilson     11lb 08oz  7th  Derek Robothan     11lb 00oz  8th  Peter Morton     10lb 00oz  9th  Tim Westmoreland               8lb 08oz  10th  Dai Thomas       6lb 00oz    Nick Jones       DNW      Nick Watkins-Price                      DNW    Keith Ashby       DNW    Roy Ravenhill       DNW    Eric Robothan       DNW    Dave Moore       DNW    Nick Williams       DNW    Geoff Eggison       DNW    Dirk Williams       DNW

The JINX Series 2005

Match 1.

Since finishing with my club, I've entered a small match series run by a certain Malc Doyle. This series is known as THE JINX Bag-up Series, though in other seasons it's been anything but, but then Malc isn't known as THE JINX for nothing. 

This is my account of the 1st match in the series................................

Well I arrived at the services at junction 8 on the M40 in plenty of time to meet up with the rest for the short jaunt to Rolfs.

Malc was early, didn't appear to have forgotten anything and the sun was shining!!!

A quick 10 minute trip from the services following Matt Nutt and there we were, pulling into the car park at Rolf's, Already present were a mix of old and new faces and soon the banter was flowing .

Now I'd read and heard a few reports about Rolf's, but the reality is something else and something that I wasn't prepared for. It's only small, but quite picturesque with just 40 pegs that are all solidly constructed and nice and low to the water.

 The real shock though was the sheer number of Carp cruising the surface basking in the sunshine, all apparently commons, and seemingly unconcerned, well at least till the start of the match.

Back to the car park for the draw and I drew peg 23 with young Dan drawing peg 24 to my left, Matt having voiced a preference for peg 7 promptly drew it and the general concensus was that we were all fishing for 2nd as Matt wandered off with a happy grin on his face .

Setting up didn't take me long as my main pole was in need of a refurb, and probably not up to the stress and strain, so it was margin pole or nothing with 3 rigs, 1 shallow, 1 at depth for the 7mtr line and 1 for paste in the margin as I had a nice bush to my right. All the while the carp were still cruising and I swear a couple even winked as they passed .

Rolf insists on a minimum of 2 nets, 1 for small carp up to 4lbs and 1 for carp weighing between 4 & 8lbs. Anything larger has to be weighed and returned immediately. This is acheived by having tanks containing a salt water solution (to kill any parasites) with a weigh sling in it behind every 4th or 5th peg along with a set of supported scales and a clipboard and pen to record the weights which you get a neighbouring angler to witness. It sounds complicated but works very well .

11am and the all in and having started at 7mtrs, the float buried and I was attached to my 1st Rolfs carp! To say that these fish are fit doesn't do them justice , especially as Rolf insists on anglers using top kits that allow a bit of elastic to be pulled out. Into the net and at probably 7lbs a nice start .

It wasn't fast and furious and I was having problems avoiding the roach and skimmers that don't really count, though I did spot Nick (polepot) weighing a couple to record them, but he was struggling, and had experienced the full power of THE JINX in previous seasons and was taking no chances.

Opposite me TA's Neil McCurran & Eric(ejayar)Robothan were having their own match within a match , I think Neil McCurran won, well he certainly won the stretchiest elastic competion .

Young Dan to my left was having a bit of a grueller, finding bites hard to come by but had managed to get off the mark with one early on, it was just adding a second that was proving elusive.

Halfway through I'd managed 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones, so had a look at paste down the margin. Plenty of bites but only 1 carp as it seemed to be solid with small skimmers that ripped the paste to bits as soon as it hit the water . With hindsite I spent far to long trying to make it work, and with an hour to go went back to alternating shallow and deep for another 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones.

At the end I'd had just under 60lbs of weighers with those in the net taking the total to just over 88lbs, which as it turned out was enough for the section money .
The weigh in is well practiced here with lots of weigh slings and with all the fish getting getting a dip in the salt solution before being returned.

 Now for the comedy section, during the match Nick(Neo1)Williams had lost a pole section, so Malc needing no encouragement stripped off to his swimming trunks to retrieve it. He soon found it, but it turned out to be a section lost by another angler earlier in the week, however another paddle soon found Nick's section.  

Back to the car park for the raffle and results, and with 5 tons including Matt's winning double ton, as well as a good number of weights in the 60 - 80lbs range nobody could really believe that it had been a JINX match, mind you I'm sure that we'll all come down to earth with a bang at Drayton next saturday. 

Individual Results.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Southern Fish-in.

Well I arrived at Sumners Ponds at around 10·30am on Friday to find a few of the participants already ensconced for the weekend ahead .

Already in situ were Geoff and his grandaughter Amy, Dai and Daniel, Ady (BigLadWigan) , Sven C (with Gemma to follow on Saturday), Alex(Fish-Fingers), Dave(Scouse) with Neil(bluenose), Larry, Terry(Wily Coyote) and Jess & Szabi (Jackcatcher & Tincabelle)

I decided to drop into the swim next to Scouse and Neil so that I could keep an eye on my hubcaps, and as I was setting up my bivvy Dave(theFish) and Colin (thePike) arrived, and the usual round of greetings and abuse ensued .

Strange things these bivvies and bedchairs, No drawers for your tackle and only available in a rather drab green or heaven forbid CAMO!!!!!! You could lose them on the bankside.
I set up my 2 carp rods and baitrunners with method feeders and placed them on my pod, not quite a PUPSS but it would have to do .

What! No Burgundy????

So time to start fishing? Well not quite, a quick tour round the pond to meet and great everyone, and try out the new camera consumed another hour before i was settled in, with Sven obliging with a well timed bream as a subject ........

Pineapple & Tutti antbait softee's on both rigs gently lobbed to midway were greeted after a while by a couple of respectable Bream, both around the 4lb mark, so off the mark and cause for a celebratory beer.

Wind and squally showers were doing their best to put a damper on the day, and Jason (NoFinPhish) arrived late on and managed to slide into a swim between Geoff & Dai.
Neil finally managed a carp on his pole between phonecalls and texts as can be seen in the pic below......

Unfortunately, not being fishery members we weren't allowed to nightfish (apart from Sven who's a member) so most adjourned to the local hostelry (The Queens Head) to sample a few pints, before the evening soiree round Geoffs bivvy.

Saturday, weatherwise brought more of the same, with the odd fish for most and Jason probably winning the numbers game with a good run of fish in the morning and Szabi showing up Jess, who in his defence spent a fair bit of time showing Fish-Fingers the ins and outs of various rigs. The morning only provided a single bream for me almost identical to the pair from friday.

With the day moving on Jess, Szabi and Wily departed citing other engagements for the Sunday, while a few of the lads were tempted by the lure of the small pond, which appears to have a higher stocking level than the main lake. Daniel brimming with confidence went for a £1 side bet with Jason on who would have the largest carp of the day .

3pm and I had a screamer on the rod I had cast close to the marginal tree on my right, and I thought I was winning the tug of war till the fish turned 180° and buried intself into the roots.
Having to rerig I could resist no longer and set up a waggler to see if I could mug anything in the margins. Sure enough after a few small skimmers and roach an unsuspecting tench obliged, not big at a couple of pounds, but most welcome none the less..

Once more the pub won the battle of the early evening, but after a curry and a couple of pints I sneaked off to return for a last hour before dusk. No action I'm afraid but we ended with a small gathering at my peg over a coffee before decending on Dai for the evening entertainment. Biglad was in his usual superb form, if a tad restrained by the presence of young Amy while Jason thoughtfully checked out the depth of Dai's Margin and Dan waved farewell to his £1.
June it may be, but Flaming it certainly wasn't and with a cold dew forming the party was curtailed earlier than it could have, though probably much to the relief of those in the mobile homes and campers on the other bank .

We had been warned that a real gail was expected overnight, but thankfully it never materialised. A few of us decided to take a quick trip up to look at the new match lake that's just been opened on the site. It's still very new with construction still in progress, but plenty of planting has taken place, I can't say that it inspired me to make a visit, but who knows, maybe in a couple of years when it's more established .

With it still being grey and overcast and very few fish showing, most were thinking of getting bivvies packed away ready for the trip home.
I was just starting to pull my bivvy pegs when a steady run developed on my rod baited with 4 bits of hair rigged corn and after a short but spirited fight I was rewarded with a plump common weighing in at 14lbs, a lovely end to the weekend .

Having packed all my kit up, it was time for farewells, and is always the case at these sort of meetings that tends to take a couple of hours in itself . Dai had managed to bag a carp as I passed  ......

Dave and Colin were packing away his bivvy, while the final site as I headed to the carpark was of Geoff and BigLad trying for a final fish before departing as Amy looked on......

The end of another MD's weekend away in good company, some great laughs and a few fish caught by everyone. Well done to Dave the Fish for organising it all .

The only Mystery?
Where was Beebs? Comatose under a Duvet somewhere no doubt .

Maria had to work today, and wanted a lift as she had to start at 6am, so I arranged with a pal of mine Dave Collier to pop down to Hartleylands today for a session on the Reservoir .

The drive down was wet but uneventfull and I arrived at 7am to find there was a small match booked on the Reservoir, but as only pegs 7-17 were being used a phonecall was made to Dave who was about half an hour behind me, and we decided to go for it.

I settled for peg 30 and on his arrival Dave settled into peg 28.
As we tackled up the sun was starting to break through and things were looking promising, even though some of the carp were still spawning .

Baitwise for me it was just what was in my carryall, some 3 & 6mm expanders, corn and meat. Dave had brought some cockles with him as he finds that these are ignored by the silvers that are present.

I fed a margin swim and another at around 8mtrs, and sure enough pellet whether it was 6mm or 3mm produced roach, skimmers and hybrids, while Dave had a swift couple of carp with his first two put ins at around 4mtrs.

A change to corn finally produced a couple of carp for me but the weather was threatening a turn for the worse as the sky was darkening to our left and the wind was getting up .

A better carp from my margin swim on corn gave a good account of itself, and as I was playing it Dave was into one himself that was only marginally smaller .

All to soon thunder was rumbling and lightning flashing in the distance and I shot off to the farm shop to get us a couple of hot beef pasties for lunch.

With the pasties eaten the rain arrived with a vengence, and it was a question of just sitting it out under the brollies and leaving the poles well alone as lightning flashed across the reservoir and thunder crashed over our heads.
After about half an hour it stopped, the sky cleared and once again the sun was shining .
Dave had made a discovery that his Gortex overtrousers weren't as waterproof as they once were, probably due to all the fish slime, mud etc that had accumulated over time and decided to dry off in his car.

The fish were still feeding and another couple of carp and yet more silvers came my way, but over to my left I could see grey skys building again and decided to quit while the going was good.
Dave emerged from his car, dry oncemore and declared that he was going to fish on for a while.

Thankfully we weren't far from the car park and as I loaded the last of my tackle, the rain started again .
A quick farewell to Dave with the assurance that I would see him next Friday at Sumners for a 3 day Fish-In with some people from MD's and I was on my way.

How did Dave fare? Well he phoned me when he got home to tell me what a wimp I was and that after I left the rain stopped, the sky cleared, the sun came out and it was glorious for a while.
A bit later it got really dark again, chucked it down and then finished off with hailstones .

He ended up with 15 carp and a load of silvers for about 80lb in total.

Watching the weather forcast last night before Match of the Day, Maria remarked "Looks like being nice tomorrow, Why don't you pop out fishing?"

Well no further invitation was needed , so 7am saw me loading the tackle into the car. I had decided to go down to Hartleylands Farm, as with 8 different lakes & ponds you can normally find somewhere to fish on even the busiest day. Well on arrival 6 of these were booked for matches, just leaving a choice of 2 of the smaller ponds, Finches & Woodside.

I popped up to Finches and with only 3 other anglers fishing at the far end settled on a swim to the right of peg 7. This is the narrowest point, being just 8mtrs to the far bank.

Bait owing to the unplanned nature of the trip, was to be whatever was in my holdall, which was 4mm & 6mm GOT Baits expanders and sweetcorn

The rig was simplicity itself, an eyed series2 fox match, knotless knotted to 2½ft of 0·17 Carpteck with a Drennan Carp1 cocked with a no6 and a no10 dropper.

An underarm flick with a pinch of 4mm pellets and 6 grains of corn primed the swim and off I went. Within a couple of minutes the float slid away and a gentle lift contacted the 1st fish of the day which proved to be a fighting fit Mirror Carp of around 2½lbs .

The pattern continued for most of the session, the disruption caused by each fish neccesitating refeeding and a patient wait till the next found the bait. Around 11am an angler who had set up next to me on peg 6 came round for a chat as he couldn't buy a bite .
I ended up giving him one of my identicle rigs and some corn, but for him it was not to be and he packed up at 1pm without so much as a bite .

I carried on getting fish probably every 15mins, and when I decided to pack up at around 2pm, the obligatory 'Last Cast' produced the best fish of the session at around 6lb.

A nice finish to an unplanned session with 21 carp for around 50lb+ of fish on a sunny spring day .

Meeting up in the car park at Monk's just after 7·30am the 1st thing on the agenda was brekkie, kindly paid for by Dave . Duly fortified we made our way down the left hand side of Puma Lake and selected a couple of swims for ourselves, in fact Dave ended up in the same swim that Andy (The Hat) had fished when we visited last December at Simon's invitation.

Dave and I both set up our poles to fish at around 11mtrs which offered a comfortable 4½-5ft of water.Feed wise Dave elected to cup in hemp I adopted a loose feed approach with pellet, maggot and a few grains of corn.

Almost straight away small Chub found our baits taking them on the drop, so a quick delve into my winder tray found a margin dibber rig more suited to Carp that was added to a top kit with green dual core (6-10) And i soon had some more small Chub on double maggot fished 2ft deep .

What we really wanted was to get amongst the better fish so back onto the bottom rigs and Dave soon had something a little better pulling back, which resulted in........

.............A Goldie for Dave.

Don't mention the Goldies to The Hat.

Well he may have bred every fish in the lakes, but they obviously decided that being netted by him once was enough, so shut up shop and refused to bite for him.

Throughout the morning a few of the larger Carp had been cruising around, in fact earlier 1 had cruised past Dave's feet in the margins and despite Dave hanging a bait in front of it, it had carried on its merry way .

Well as Dave and I stood chatting, having said farewell to Simon, one cruised into the margin of my peg, I threw a few grains of corn in front of it and it went straight down for them. Grabbing my up in the water rig and hooking a grain of corn on I dropped it in only to see the Carp suck it in straight away. STRIKE and it's on and it's then I remembered that it's only a light elastic Thankfully it was more of a plodder than a turbo nutter and 5 mins later Dave is doing the honours with the net.
It looked to have a little bit of damage so rather than weigh it,it was slipped straight back, as we both agreed that it was probably a scraper double.

while Dave managed a few more Goldies and Skimmers among the ever present Chub.
4pm saw us call it a day as a cool wind sprung up. All in all a most enjoyable day in good company, with things looking good for the Southern Friendly MD's match in May.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well stupidity overcame common sense this morning, as instead of just rolling over and staying under a nice warm duvet cuddled up with the wife when the alarm went off at 6am, I got up and decided to give it a go on my club's match. So at 7am there I was loading the tackle into the car for the drive down to Framfield Lakes just outside the village of Uckfield. Frost on the car didn't boad well, and the frost on the surrounding countryside got heavier as I approached the venue .

On arrival the catering wagon was closed, so no hot cuppa and bacon sarnie.

Now there are about 7 pegs you don't really want to draw as you can't reach the islands from them, so of course I drew peg 60 which is probably as far away from an island as it's possible to get. Out came the waggler, while the next peg set up a bomb rod, so between us we would see if anything was about. I also set up 4 sections of pole to target a dead reed bed in the margin to my right.

10am and all in, and after an hour the waggler had produced just a couple of plip Roach, while next door hadn't had a touch. Also a cold crosswind had sprung up ruining presentation, so it was pole time. Targetting a small gap about a foot square, it was a question of feeding 4 grains of corn and fishing a single grain till a bite or fish arrived .

Well apart from watching those fishing to the island catching, I actually managed to winkle a few small Carp out and at the final whistle managed to put a level 19lbs on the scales which was enough for 6th place on the day.

So hard work in the cold and wind, but given the limitations of my peg on the day I was reasonably happy with the result.