Dai

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 1.

    Maggotdrowning.com

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Southern Fur & Feather.


    Monks1.jpg Monks Match Lake 1 picture by pnm123

    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..................

    Mattandbrokenno5web.jpg picture by pnm123

    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............

    Vincepeg20web.jpg picture by pnm123

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

    Nickpeg19web.jpg picture by pnm123

    .......... 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..............

    Billpeg18web.jpg picture by pnm123

    ......... 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.............

    Kevpeg17web.jpg picture by pnm123

    ......... 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.

    Position  Peg       Angler    Weight
     1st Peg 36  Mike Jameson   54lbs 12ozs
     2nd Peg 35  Trevor Little   44lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 7  Matt Love   37lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 19  Nick Gilbert   36lbs 12ozs
     5th Peg 18  Bill Gibbins   35lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 10  Jay Lay   29lbs 14ozs
     7th Peg 28  Steve Clinch   29lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 24  Roger Harris   21lbs 12ozs
     9th Peg 17  Kevin Loveland   21lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 14  Ian Jones   20lbs 04ozs
     11th Peg 4  Sven Castle   20lbs 00ozs
     12th Peg 13  Jim Boase   19lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 6  Peter Morton   18lbs 10ozs
     14th Peg 42  Chris Withall   18lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 20  Vince Gould   17lbs 00ozs
     16th Peg 2  Paul East   14lbs 00ozs
     17th Peg 31  Tony Roberts   13lbs 10ozs
     18th Peg 38  Clive Pritchard      13lbs 00ozs
     19th Peg 26  Dai Thomas   11lbs 08ozs
     20th Peg 41  Alan Loader   10lbs 04ozs
     21st= Peg 40  Pete Midgley     9lbs 00ozs
     21st= Peg 37  Andy Spreadbury     9lbs 00ozs
     21st= Peg 34  Ron Bignold     9lbs 00ozs
     24th Peg 9  Ryan Wells     4lbs 02ozs
     25th Peg 29  Terry Goff     3lbs 12ozs

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The JINX Series 2007

    Match 5.

    RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123

    Well it's the final match of this years Jinx Series today at Rolf's Lake and for a change there's no driving for me as a fellow Maggotdrowner Paul East aka NoMoreLongWalks had said that he would pick me up as he had managed to secure a guest spot on the match . A sunny morning held the promise of a good day and with Paul arriving in good time we had time to stop of in Battersea on the way for a hearty breakfast, and a smooth trouble free trip down saw us pulling into the car park at Rolf's around 11am allowing us plenty of time before the supposed 12 noon draw. The one worry was that as we had driven down the sunshine had disappeared to be replaced with a heavily overcast grey sky.
    A stroll round the lake soon revealed that the lake was almost back at it's normal level with most of the platforms finally being above water and that John Bennett had been busy gardening, with a lot of work having been done on the swims.

    At the draw there was plenty of discussion, Could Ant hang onto the lead in the series or could a permutation of results today see the long time leader lose out to either Royst, Mark, Brian or Nick and could Dave(yorkie)Moore and Eric maintain their narrow 6 point lead in The Pairs over Mark C and Paul Roberts. The actual draw was a little late (as usual ) which meant that we would be fishing from 2pm till 7pm.
    Into the draw bag and I draw peg34 on the little lake, a peg widely regarded as a flyer. I've only fished it once before on the Saturday of the MD's Pairs weekend, when the lake was still a fair way above it's normal level and had managed 73¼lbs from the peg . With plenty of time before the start I set up a feeder and a new Shakespeare Mach3 11ft pellet waggler rod that I've just brought as well as a couple of top kits for the pole. I was hoping to nick a couple of early fish on the feeder or waggler before concentrating later on the right hand margin.

    Looking across I could see Clive who must have run to peg8 as he had drawn it on Bank Holiday Monday and had 202lb 4oz , while the previous Saturday John Walker had 530lbs from the peg, so no pressure there. For company on peg7 Clive had Nick Jones (Polepot) and on 6 Dirk(The Dangler)Williams, with Royst further down on peg 4 and Steve Wilson on 2. While to my left I had Colin on peg36 and Nick(Neo1)Williams on 38 while Mark C was on 40.

    So 2pm and the All-in, a big handfull of pellet into the bush to my right and another couple in front of it then out to the lily pads with hair rigged meat on the feeder. Looking up I could see that Clive was already in to his 1st Carp, swiftly followed by a Skimmer.

    My tip didn't as much as flicker, normally you would expect lots of little twitches as silvers attacked the bait or even a couple of liners if Carp were present somewhere in the swim, but nothing moved it at all.
    Polepot appeared to have snared one on the feeder.........

    while Mark C had had one and Steve Wilson had had a couple of fish...........

    but looking down, the bank to my left resembled a still life as both Colin and Nick were in the same predicament as me..........

    I'd been religiously feeding my margin swim, but it it was far to early to take a look and as I had seen a couple of fish topping I decided to take a look with the pellet waggler after 40 minutes of inactivity on the feeder. A couple of pouch fulls of pellet and first cast out the rod is nearly ripped from my hand!!!
    The fish put up a spirited fight but the rod dealt with it all, despite the fish at one stage tangling itself in the line giving the appearance to some of it being foulhooked and was soon safely in the net. An obvious weigher, it tipped the scales at 14½lbs, a lovely way to get off the mark and christen a new rod at the same time . In the next 30 mins I managed another couple of 6lb'ers and then it died on me.

    All the time it had been getting cooler, so much so that I went back to the car for my bib & brace and a fleece. Having a chat with a few of the lads on the car park bank on the way back revealed that it was hard graft for everyone with only the odd fish being caught.

    As the afternoon drew on Colin had finally got a Carp of about 5lbs while Neo1 had got one as well along with a couple of Skimmers. Poor Steve had had a bit of a disaster however, while playing a decent Carp his no4 section of his pole had snapped clean in two and he could only watch helplessly as the top 3½ sections of his pole slid below the surface of the lake like Excaliber..........

    things had picked up however for Dirk and Royst with them both appearing to be walking away with the match and matching each other fish for fish, although Dirk appeared to have the edge with more of his fish being weighers and including a clonking Golden Orfe that tipped the scales at 6lbs 4ozs.


     

    With just an hour to go I noticed that Clive had started to finally find a few fish, to little to late, but at least he was catching which was more than the majority of us were doing.........

    Finally 7pm rolled round putting most of us out of our misery. While my 3 Carp only weighed 26½lbs, amazingly it was enough to give me a section win!!!!!!  Due to the low weights the weigh-in didn't take as long as usual and it was soon confirmed that Dirk had won the day with his 1st ever Jinx Ton  and Royst just missing out due to losing a number of fish, costing him not only the match but the overall win in the Jinx Series  as well

    Ant despite the horror of a DNW on the day hung on to win the Jinx Series  with Royst taking 2nd overall, while the Pairs was won by Dave Moore and Eric Robathan in a close finish with Mark Causer and Paul Roberts.

    Position Peg           Angler     Weight
     1st peg 6 Dirk Williams 109lbs 00ozs
     2nd peg 4 Roy Ravenhill   90lbs 00ozs
     3rd peg 2 Steve Wilson   62lbs 00ozs
     4th peg 8 Clive Pritchard   61lbs 00ozs
     5th peg 23 Eric Robathan   31lbs 04ozs
     6th peg 7 Nick Jones   29lbs 08ozs
     7th peg 34 Peter Morton   26lbs 08ozs
     8th= peg 18 Dave Collier   25lbs 00ozs
     8th= peg 20 Brian Bevan   25lbs 00ozs
     8th= peg 28 Dave Moore   25lbs 00ozs
     11th peg 38 Nick Williams   18lbs 04ozs
     12th peg 15 Fred Parker   14lbs 04ozs
     13th peg 40 Mark Causer   14lbs 00ozs
     14th peg 26 Tim Westmoreland    (Guest)   12lbs 08ozs
     15th peg 29 Geoff Eggison   11lbs 05ozs
     16th peg 10 Simon Rowley   10lbs 08ozs
     17th peg 36 Colin Sharrard     5lbs 00ozs
     18th peg 31 Tony Roberts           (Guest)     4lbs 08ozs
     19th= peg 14 Nick Watkins-Price     2lbs 00ozs
     19th= peg 25 Anne Thomas            (Guest)     2lbs 00ozs
     19th= peg 32 Paul Roberts     2lbs 00ozs
     22nd peg 24 Dai Thomas              5ozs
     23rd= peg 9 Paul East                  (Guest)      DNW
     23rd= peg 13 Paul D                      (Guest)      DNW
     23rd= peg 17 Malc Doyle      DNW
     23rd=      peg 19 Ant Haywood      DNW

    So another Jinx Series survived.

    A big THANK YOU to Malc for organising what still remains the friendliest series of matches that I've ever had the pleasure to fish in, and the reason for that is the anglers that compete in the Series. Thank you all for making it the event it is.

    Highlight for me was seeing the look on Nick Jones's face when he picked up his 1st ever Jinx section at Holly Farm and then repeated it again at Stockton. Well Done Nick, couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.
    Can't wait to do it all again next year . Nurse, Time for my medication.

    Overall  Series Result.

    Position     Angler      Points    Weight
     1st Ant Haywood 1 1 1 2 5    5 268lbs 09ozs
     2nd Roy Ravenhill 2 2 1 1 2    6 334lbs 13ozs
     3rd Brian Bevan 1 6 1 2 2    6 174lbs 05ozs
     4th Dave Moore 1 3 2 3 1    7 258lbs 00ozs
     5th Eric Robothan 4 1 2 3 1    7 197lbs 04ozs
     6th Mark Causer 2 1 3 1 3    7 184lbs 01ozs
     7th Nick Williams 1 6 1 3 2    7 164lbs 01ozs
     8th Keith Ashby 3 1 2 1 6    7 140lbs 01ozs
     9th Paul Roberts 2 2 3 1 5    8 172lbs 07ozs
     10th Nick Jones 2 4 1 1 5    8 122lbs 03ozs
     11th Malc Doyle 1 3 3 2 5    9 162lbs 12ozs
     12th Steve Wilson 2 2 4 3 3    10 172lbs 07ozs
     13th Fred Parker 1 6 6 2 1    10   98lbs 12ozs
     14th Peter Morton 3 6 2 4 1    10   97lbs 10ozs
     15th Colin Sharrard 2 1 6 4 4    11 109lbs 04ozs
     16th Clive Pritchard 3 2 5 3 4    12 156lbs 04ozs
     17th Matt Nutt 3 6 2 1 6    12 147lbs 03ozs
     18th Dave Collier 3 3 6 4 2    12   90lbs 03ozs
     19th Dirk Williams 5 6 6 2 1    14 132lbs 00ozs
     20th Simon Rowley 4 3 5 6 2    14   49lbs 15ozs
     21st Geoff Eggison 4 4 4 4 2    14   43lbs 03ozs
     22nd Nick Watkins-Price 5 2 5 4 3    14   23lbs 12ozs
     23rd Dai Thomas 4 3 6 5 3    15   46lbs 07ozs
     24th Kevin Lake 6 5 4 1 6    16   34lbs 00ozs
     25th Gemma Doyle 6 5 3 3    17   21lbs 00ozs
     26th Mark Lake 6 4 3 5 6    18   15lbs 05ozs
     27th David Ashby 4 6 5 5 6    20   16lbs 12ozs
     28th= Jeff Hollidge 5 6 6 6 6    23     0lbs 00ozs
     28th= Malc Hawkins 5 6 6 6 6    23     0lbs 00ozs
     30th Dan Thomas 6 6 6 6 6    24     0lbs 00ozs

    NB: Anglers were allowed to drop their worst section result during the series so that the Overall Series results were decided by best 4 out of 5 section points.
    Overall weight counting in the result of anglers tieing on points.

     Overall Pairs Result.

    Position              Anglers      Points     Weight
     1st Dave Moore & Eric Robathan 11 10 10 27 12    43 455lbs 04ozs
     2nd Mark Causer & Paul Roberts 13  8 17 16 30    54 356lbs 08ozs
     3rd Roy Ravenhill & Dave Collier 23 22 38 13 10

        68

     425lbs 00ozs
     4th Keith Ashby & Nick Williams 24 36 12 22 47

        94

     304lbs 02ozs
     5th Ant Haywood & Simon Rowley 20 18 22 43 45

      103

     318lbs 08ozs
     6th Steve Wilson & Kevin Lake 49 27 31 26 38  122 206lbs 07ozs
     7th Geoff Eggison & Fred Parker 35 49 50 28 26  138 139lbs 15ozs
     8th Brian Bevan & Mark Lake 40 55 22 35 43  140 189lbs 10ozs
     9th Gemma Doyle & Matt Nutt 44 53 24 21 70  142 168lbs 03ozs
     10th Dai Thomas & Dirk Williams 49 46 70 36 20  151 178lbs 07ozs
     11th Nick Watkins-Price & Peter Morton 42 50 43 45 24  154 121lbs 06ozs
     12th Colin Sharrard & David Ashby 32 43 53 42 51  168 126lbs 00ozs
     13th Malc Hawkins & Nick Jones 47 47 45 39 41  172 122lbs 03ozs
     14th Clive Pritchard & Jeff Hollidge 45 42 65 52 39  178 156lbs 04ozs
     15th Malc Doyle & Dan Thomas 39 54 47 51 65  191 162lbs 12ozs

    NB: Pairs were allowed to drop their worst points total during the series so that the results were decided by best 4 out of 5 points scores.
    Overall weights counting in the result of pairs tieing on points.

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    Maggotdrowning.com

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

     Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2007.

    RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123

    So there i was 6·30am on Saturday with the car all loaded up and ready to get off to Rolf's Lake for the 2nd Annual Maggotdrowning Pairs Tournament.
    A quick stop off on route in Battersea for a spot of breakfast followed by a trouble free run down the M40 saw me pulling into the services just after 8am, closely followed by Paul East (NoMoreLongWalks) along with Dai and his good lady Anne and Vince (vg1037).
    A short phone call soon revealed that Ady (BigLadWigan) was doing a passable impression of lost & confused driving around Holton trying to remember where the lake was, so he elected to return to the services and follow us down there.

    Soon it was a case of back into the cars and down to Rolf's, arriving just after 9am you can imagine my shock to find Malc and his daughter Gemma already there, indeed the car park was almost full as various Maggotdrowners arrived from all corners of the country.
    Geoff P had taken the long distance award, having been chauffeured down from Scotland by his son for the weekend. While looking around you could see a mini Maggotville emerging as a number of bivvies went up.

    Maggotville2.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    Talk as usual was about just how many "tons" would come out over the weekend but as I took a walk round the lake, nagging away in the back of my head was a little voice telling me that things might prove to be a lot harder than many people thought owing to all the water that had been in and out of the venue during the preceding weeks.

    It was good to see that pegs 16-18 had been reinstated opening up the choice of pegs available, indeed standing in the car park it was hard to believe that the lake had been bursting it's banks the previous weekend and it was a tribute to the efforts of John and his helpers even going to the trouble of running a pump round the clock in order to make sure that the venue was eminently fishable, leading many to wonder why another website's match due for the Friday had been canceled by them the previous Monday.

    Finally Dave Webster (RedLeader) arrived, having collected Tony Prentice (teepee) on the way he'd obviously had a "Blonde" moment setting the Sat Nav so that the route from Yorkshire to Wheatly was via the M25??????

    So finally we're all assembled and the draw takes place for pairs, which finds me paired for the weekend with Tony Roberts (spamwham) a fellow Marsh AC member, and then the draw for pegs. Dave and I were the last to draw and I found myself holding Peg 34, considered by many to be a flyer, so no pressure. However on arriving I found that the rope that marks the far edge of the swim had been moved away from it's usual position???? Tony. my partner had drawn peg 38 so at least we could keep an eye on each other.

    Pegs34-38.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    Settling into the peg I set the box up on the submerged platform and elected to concentrate on the margins which were about 18" deeper than usual, but also taking advantage of the new ruling that allows the use of rod and reel, set up a feeder rig to cover my options.

    Next door on peg 35 I had Dave "Yorkie" Moore for company, a fellow competitor in The Jinx Series of matches, so if nothing else a good bit of banter was assured.

    DaveMoore.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    12noon and the all in sounds, and it would be nice to say that we all got off to flyers, but it was Gazmalman who had flown off his platform before the match had even started, Malman Floats? well it would appear he does, even if he is well dotted down due to consuming a few to many pies ..................

    .............the crazy bit is that he did it again during the match, this time losing a weigher in the process that probably cost him the section.

    For a lot of the anglers it proved to be a hard old day, most had fish in their swims at some point in the day but getting them to show an interest in a bait was another matter. Try as they might it proved to be a struggle, some like Dave grafted away for 5 hours and were only rewarded with a single fish proving once again that there is more to it than just turning up at Rolf's to guarantee a ton-up bag.

    RedLeader.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    I was lashing in the pellet on the margin line while fishing the feeder out by the rope but for no reward, while teepee opposite on peg 6 had landed 1 and lost a couple. However we all had to watch as Ian Ward (Chin) on peg 7 and Gemma on peg 8 caught steadily from the off and with the lake not fishing to it's potential strolled away from the rest of us. Ian winning the day with 108lbs 8ozs, while Gemma was unfortunate enough to lose a good fish in the final minutes that could have pushed Ian all the way, but still finishing in overall 2nd place with 98lbs, a really top performance on the day allowing her to take more than a few £1 coins off of the assembled company.

    I had been fortunate enough to nick a  few decent fish at the end with a final 12½lb'er with 5 mins to go, my 73¼lbs pushing up to 9th on the day while Tony had found out about the power of Rolf's fish, putting 45lbs on the scales for 13th overall but losing many more. A lesson learned hopefully.

    As most know Rolf's health has not been the best so it was especially good to see him put in an appearance during the afternoon and have a gentle stroll round having a chat with those present.

    The weigh-in proved just how hard it had been for most with only the 1 "ton" and more weights under 50lbs than above it, Rolf's had indeed shown us it's hard side, though hopefully with plenty of feed having gone in, things would improve on Sunday.

    Soon the Barbecue was lit and the beers cracked open with Rolf stopping on for a bite to eat before returning home.
    Around 9pm the rain stared to fall, but with Dave's gazebo and countless brollies available the banter continued for some long into the night.

    Barby.jpg picture by pnm123

    Sunday dawned dry and sunny and with breakfast cooked once more on the barbecue for most it was just a question of waiting for Pete Archer (Vespe) and Keith Arthur (Fishermans Blues) fresh from his morning radio show to join us for the draw. Both duly arrived and the draw was underway.

    I found myself on peg 9 this time while Tony had draw sock on with peg 8, while I had Chin to my left on 10.
    with the all in at 12noon, Ady on peg 31 was looking like Raison, Nudd & Wilson rolled into one as his paste attack brought immediate rewards, alas it was not to last, but he looked good while it lasted, unfortunately all to briefly.

    Adypeg31againweb.jpg Ady (BigLadWigan picture by pnm123

    I started off with an absolute nightmare , there were fish in front of me but regardless of what I put on the hook or the depth I fished at, all I got were foulhookers that proved to be unlandable. By the time that Ian walked past with his 5th weigher and yet another fish trashed another rig, my pole was thrown up the bank, to stop myself from smashing it in a fit of temper.
    Once again I reverted to meat fished in conjunction with a feeder full of fishery pellet, which finally allowed me to put a few fish together.
    Ian meanwhile was putting another decent net together but was losing a few under the submerged platform costing him several damaged top kits

    Chinpeg10web.jpg picture by pnm123

    Tony however was going along steadily and managed to beat his PB Chub 3 times during the course of the match, culminating in a glorious 5¾lb'er.

    Tonypeg8.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    Tony (Teepee) had drawn peg 6 for the second day running and although he managed to improve on his day 1 weight, it wasn't by enough to have any effect overall.

    TeePeepeg6.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    Throughout the match even though I couldn't see him I could hear Malc (The Jinx) mostly as he traded banter and insults with young Ian .........

    Malc.web.jpg picture by pnm123

    ......... however he played a bit of a blinder edging to a win on the day with a level 143lbs, pushing Tony down to 2nd place with a creditable 136lbs. I managed 91lbs for 7th on the day and both days results gave us a total of 52points which proved to be enough for us to take the title of MD's Rolf's Pairs Champions for 2007 and receive our trophies from Fisherman's Blues himself.

    Champsweb.jpg picture by pnm123

    Finally I would like to add my thanks to Dave for organising the whole weekend. To John & Pauline Bennett & John Walker whose efforts to get the fishery ready for us were very much appreciated. To Keith Arthur for joining us on Sunday along with Pete Archer & his sponsor Vespe for providing some goodies for the winners. To Rolf, It was good to see you at your fishery once more and Finally to all The Maggotdrowners in attendance, it's you that make the weekend the success it is. Let's do it all again next year.

    Position               PairsPoints
     1st Peter Morton & Tony Roberts 52
     2nd Ian Ward & Vince Gould 46
     3rd Simon Mound & Paul Thompson     44
     4th Clive Pritchard & Adrian Wood 41
     5th= Malc Doyle & Chris Kendall 39
     5th= Dirk Williams & Dai Thomas 39
     7th Ant Haywood & Paul East 38
     8th Gaz Malman & Gemma Doyle 35
     9th Alex Malman & Geoff Palmer 33
     10th Tony Prentice & Steve Bowman   29
     11th Chris Ellis & Tom Little 28
     12th Keith Arthur & Simon Rowley 26
     13th Dave Webster & Dave Collier 20
     14th Steve Wilson & Pete Archer 18
     15th Dave Moore & Dave West 13
     16th Colin Sharrard & Terry Goff 11

                 Saturday 
     Place         Angler     Weight
     1st Ian Ward    108lbs 08ozs 
     2nd Gemma Doyle      98lbs 00ozs
     3rd Clive Pritchard      91lbs 04ozs
     4th Dirk Williams      84lbs 12ozs
     5th Paul Thompson           84lbs 08ozs
     6th Gaz Malman      80lbs 12ozs
     7th= Chris Kendall      77lbs 12ozs
     7th=  Alex Malman       77lbs 12ozs
     9th Peter Morton      73lbs 04ozs
     10th Simon Mound      57lbs 08ozs
     11th Dave Moore      57lbs 00ozs
     12th Ant Haywood      45lbs 08ozs
     13th Tony Roberts      45lbs 00ozs
     14th Dave Collier      44lbs 08ozs
     15th Paul East      42lbs 08ozs
     16th Geoff Palmer      40lbs 12ozs
     17th Tony Prentice      37lbs 08ozs
     18th Adrian Wood      36lbs 12ozs
     19th Dai Thomas      30lbs 04ozs
     20th= Terry Goff      29lbs 12ozs
     20th= Chris Ellis      29lbs 12ozs
     22nd Steve Wilson      27lbs 08ozs
     23rd Tom Little      23lbs 00ozs
     24th Vince Gould      17lbs 00ozs
     25th Colin Sharrard      15lbs 08ozs
     26th Malc Doyle      15lbs 00ozs
     27th Simon Rowley      11lbs 04ozs
     28th Steve Bowman       8lbs 04ozs
     29th Dave Webster       6lbs 08ozs
     30th Dave West        1lb 00ozs

                  Sunday 
     Place         Angler    Weight
     1st Malc Doyle  143lbs  00ozs  
     2nd Tony Roberts  136lbs  00ozs
     3rd Steve Bowman        121lbs  04ozs
     4th Dirk Williams   114lbs  08ozs
     5th Paul East   111lbs  04ozs
     6th Ian Ward   105lbs  12ozs
     7th Peter Morton     91lbs 00ozs
     8th Keith Arthur     88lbs 12ozs
     9th Chris Ellis     87lbs 08ozs
     10th Vince Gould     75lbs 12ozs
     11th Paul Thompson     65lbs 12ozs
     12th Simon Rowley     60lbs 04ozs
     13th Clive Pritchard     59lbs 08ozs
     14th Simon Mound     58lbs 04ozs
     15th Steve Wilson     54lbs 00ozs
     16th Ant Haywood      50lbs 12ozs
     17th Tony Prentice     49lbs 04ozs
     18th Geoff Palmer     48lbs 08ozs
     19th Adrian Wood     44lbs 12ozs
     20th Dave Webster     44lbs 00ozs
     21st Chris Kendall     32lbs 12ozs
     22nd Tom Little     26lbs 08ozs
     23rd Alex Malman     25lbs 04ozs
     24th Pete Archer     25lbs 00ozs
     25th= Gaz Malman     24lbs 04ozs
     25th= Gemma Doyle     24lbs 04ozs
     27th Dave Moore      23lbs 00ozs
     28th Dai Thomas     22lbs 08ozs
     29th Dave Collier     17lbs 12ozs
     30th Dave West     13lbs 08ozs
     31st Terry Goff     10lbs 08ozs
     32nd Colin Sharrard        DNW

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The JINX Series 2007

    Match 1.

    RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123


    So here we were, back again for yet another Jinx Series.The banter was soon flowing as usual as most of the usual suspects were back again having been released back into the community along with a few new unsuspecting fools that had been attracted in the false hope of not being affected by The Jinx.

    The weather in the week leading upto the match had not been kind with heavy rain almost leading the lake to overflowing into the surrounding fields. Thankfully a spot of swift action by John Bennett and a couple of the local lads had saved the day meaning that no fish had been lost. However with every peg was under water and with pegs 16-18 lost to the recent bankside collapse and 19-21 out of bounds as they had been fenced off to keep the fish in, a bit of repegging was nessessary to accomodate the 29 anglers present on the day.
    Oh, and just to add to the problems the Carp had decided that today was the day for Lurvvvvvvve!!!!!  thrashing the margins to foam wherever you looked.


    Well of course the planned 11·30am draw was never going to happen, This is The Jinx Series after all, as Malc's car decided to self destruct yet again on the trip up from Wales, so it was more like 12·30pm once the draw was done with the fishing to be done from 1·30pm - 6·30pm.
    I had drawn 15, which in reality was somewhere around peg 38 if you had been able to see it, to my right for company I had Monkey (Nick W-P) and Dai for company while Malc had ended up literaly in peg34 (stewards inquiry needed there i think )

    Malcin34.jpg

    How to approach it was going to be the question as the conditions were like nothing I had ever encountered before at Rolf's. I settled for a margin approach just past a bush to my left which is normally on dry land surrounded by grass and also set up a feeder rod as i had plenty of space down into the corner on my left to throw to.

    So 12·30am and all-in sees me put a bit of meat onto the feeder rig and a plug of over wetted feed pellet into the cage feeder and lob it down towards the corner + 3 good handfulls of feed pellet are deposited in front of the bush. A couple of minutes later and the tip wraps round and I'm into a Carp. It actually felt strange to be using a rod at Rolf's, and despite some encouragement from Malc...."You won't land it"..... it was soon in the net. Well you can imagine my amazement on lifting the net to find not 1 but 2 Carp safely nestling in the bottom of it!!!!!!!!
    Apart from the weigher at 9½lbs with my hook in it's mouth there was another of around 8lbs keeping it company!!!!! However I did the decent thing and put the 8lb'er straight back, a good start none the less.

    Straight back out and another couple of minutes pass and the tip wraps round again but this time it's just a solitary 7lb'er that's in the bottom of the net. So 10 minutes in and 18lbs+ already, could this be a red letter day?
    Unfortunately the next 40 minutes saw not so much as a flicker from the tip, so reluctantly it was out with the pole rig...................

    PeteratRolfs.jpg

    ................... Dropping it in to what is normally a shallow margin saw me being plagued by silvers that just whittled away the bait whether it was pellet, paste or meat with the occaisional one managing to hang itself just long enough to find itself on the hook.

    Conditions were having an effect on most, I could see Eric on 39 fishing his "Margin" and giving what appeared to be some Prestons 19h or was it Purple Hydro? lacky a good work out


    Brian on what is normally peg1 getting amongst a few fish by fishing up in the water, though he did loose a few as they dived under the sunken platform as he tried to land them, while next door to him........


    ............Paul was slipping a few in his net in the hope that he could finally beat Matt off of the next peg as he was suffering from a peg that seemed to be solid with silvers.

    Directly across from me was Simon (me)............


    .........who despite the sunglasses wasn't Terminating to many, while next door to him was Clive..........


    ................who despite having spent countless hours over the last few months getting to know the venue by fishing in the various leagues was just having one of those days where it just wasn't happening for him .

    Dirk wandered along with his son who had come down to help him out with a tale of woe involving a 12lb'er and a landing net that split depositing said fish straight back in the water , while monkey having struggled for a bite finally hooked one only to have it strip his rig complete with his newly brought hydro straight out of his top kit!!!!!

    Dai finally managed one but it did lead him a merry dance on what appeared to be black hydro, seeming to be ever so reluctant to get it's head up..........


    ...............While Malc having finally reverted to the pole was starting to put a number of weighers on the scales.

    I finally managed to get amongst a few fish by fishing tight up against the bush in about 12 inches of water over what is grass with a big lump of paste, a tactic which saw me put another 9 fish on the bank though only the last was a weigher, though I probably lost a similar number that just bolted straight through the bush.

    Weigh-in time saw me end with 64lbs 8ozs for 3rd in my section and 12th on the day, not the best or worst result on a day that has frustrated many.

    Taking the honours on the day was Dave "Yorkie" Moore with a new PB match weight of 150lbs..........


    ...........a very popular winner as Dave is one of the few originals left that has fished  The Jinx Series since the very 1st series of matches.

    Unfortunately Rolf wasn't present for the match today as a result of having had an operation the previous day,
    However all our thoughts were with him for a full and speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him fit and fully recovered on our next visit.    

    So that's it for this 1st match, hopefully The Minx will be in attendance on the next match at Tunnel Barn Farm so that a few of us can reclaim some £1 coins that we have merely lent her.
    We'll see when we do it all again on Saturday 30th June.

    Position    Peg              Angler     Weight
     1st Peg 8 Dave Moore  150lbs 10ozs   
     2nd Peg 15 Ant Haywood          145lbs 04ozs
     3rd Peg 14 Roy Ravenhill 139lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 34 Malc Doyle  135lbs 12ozs
     5th Peg 1 Brian Bevan  109lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg 9 Mark Causer   93lbs 04ozs
     7th Peg 2 Paul Roberts   81lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 25 Nick Williams   76lbs 12ozs
     9th Peg 3 Matt Nutt    75lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 40 Eric Robathan   72lbs 14ozs
     11th Peg 32 Colin Sharrard    66lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg 38 Peter Morton    64lbs 08ozs
     13th Peg 30 Fred Parker    62lbs 12ozs
     14th Peg 24 Steve Wilson   59lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 6 Clive Pritchard    44lbs 12ozs
     16th Peg 22 Keith Ashby   36lbs 04ozs
     17th Peg 31 Keith F                     (Guest)   32lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 29 Nick Jones    30lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 13 Tim Westmoreland     (Guest)   23lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 4 Simon Rowley    20lbs 04ozs
     21st Peg 36 Dai Thomas    17lbs 00ozs
     22nd Peg 10 Dave Collier    15lbs 00ozs
     23rd Peg 23 David Ashby      8lbs 00ozs
     24th Peg 27 Paul D                       (Guest)     5lbs 00ozs
     25th Peg 11 Geoff Eggison                4ozs
     26th Peg 7 Jeff Hollidge       DNW
     27th Peg 37 Nick Watkins-Price      DNW
     28th Peg 26 Malc Hawkins       DNW
     29th Peg29 Dirk Williams       DNW

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The JINX Series 2006

    Match 6.

    RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123

    Well The Jinx Series really lived up to it's name, as it returned with a vengance, reducing even Rolf's Lake to mediocrity and biting most of us on the bum in the process.

    Twentyone of the series regulars were joined in the car park by eight guests, such is the reputation of the venue, and with the outcome still to be decided in both the singles and pairs, the draw was eagerly awaited.

    As usual it was a tad late, and after drawing peg16 I wasn't exactly chuffed, but with 2 guests in my 5 man section things were maybe not so bad.
    For company I had Keith on 15 (today's Golden Peg ) and Paul on 17. These are normally better winter pegs, but Keith had already decided to fish the meat as it had brought him plenty of success recently (2 double tons), and being the Golden Peg would ensure that Keith gave it his full attention. Paul was still in with a very good chance of the pairs title so would also giving it his maximum attention.

    I had decided to go with paste with 6mm expanders as a back up and when the All-in came at 1·30pm I potted 2 large cups of squid/liver pellets in at 7mtrs in front and one into the bush to my left for later. Out with the paste at 7mtrs and wait for a bite, even if it wasn't the best area I was sure that a few fish would come my way.

    1 hour in without as much as a knock I was starting to have misgivings, normally with pellet going in at a steady rate you'll get a fizz in the swim, I hadn't seen so much as a bubble . A couple of fish had come out on the car park bank, but other than that most seemed to be struggling.

    1½hrs in and Keith was finally into one and so was I as the float finally buried.
    Mine was only about 5lbs, but it was a start.
    Adding a section to fish beyond my feed produced nothing, while a quick look under the bush produced a foul hooked fish that tore off leaving me with just a scale. Keith meanwhile had added a 13½lb weigher, while Paul's swim appeared entirely devoid of carp.

    Eric opposite me on 25 managed to put a few together as the match progressed, but not in the usual numbers.

    Apart from another couple of foul hookers that left me scales for souveniers, I managed just 2 more carp and a small skimmer for 16lbs 6ozs . Keith had managed another couple boosting his weigh to 31lbs 12ozs, which would prove to be enough for the section , while Paul managed just 6 small roach for 6ozs .

    Colin guesting on peg 19 said at the end that he hadn't had a bite all day, but did manage to land a couple of foul hooked fish, the largest right at the end weighed 18½lbs ..............



    The weigh in soon revealed just how hard the day had been,as it was conducted in what must have been a record time............


    but with Eric winning his section, I knew he had pipped me by a point, but it was all academic once Brian put an excellent 109lbs 8ozs on the scales to win his section and the Individual Jinx Series overall .

     1st  Clive Pritchard                  (Guest)   120lb 08oz  
     2nd  Brian Bevan   109lb 08oz
     3rd  Adrian Wood                     (Guest)     61lb 11oz 
     4th  Derek Robathan                 (Guest)     51lb 04oz 
     5th  Malc Doyle     47lb 12oz
     6th  Dirk Williams     42lb 10oz
     7th  Simon Rowley     38lb 08oz
     8th  Nick Watkins-Price     38lb 02oz
     9th  Eric Robathan     33lb 00oz
     10th  Nick Jones     32lb 08oz
     11th  Keith Ashby     31lb 12oz
     12th=  Mark Causer     31lb 00oz
     12th=  Kev Lake     31lb 00oz
     14th  Geoff Eggison     30lb 08oz
     15th  Ant Haywood     28lb 08oz
     16th  Chris Withall                     (Guest)     28lb 04oz 
     17th  Colin Sharrard                   (Guest)     26lb 08oz 
     18th  Steve Wilson     23lb 08oz 
     19th  Dave W                             (Guest)     22lb 12oz 
     20th  Neil  McMurran      21lb 14oz
     21st  Matt Nutt     18lb 12oz
     22nd  Tony Roberts                     (Guest)     17lb 08oz 
     23rd  Peter Morton     16lb 06oz
     24th  Gemma Doyle                      (Guest)     15lb 08oz 
     25th  Dave Ashby     13lb 00oz

    I'd just like to say a big WELL DONE to Brian, he's fished a superbly consistent series with 4 section wins and 2 seconds, all on venues that were new to him, making him a worthy winner of the series .

    The final prizegiving/farewells were of course a complete cock-up as is usual with Malc , as he had left the trophies, prize money and pairs running totals on the kitchen table in Wales. So no change there then .

    I'd just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Malc for organising what is probably the most enjoyable and friendly match series I've ever fished, and another BIG THANK YOU to all the anglers that have fished the series, It's you that makes the series the success it is .
    Let's do it all again next year .

    Overall Individual Series Result.

     1st   Brian Bevan 

    1

    2 

    1

        6 points   381lb 12oz 
     2nd

     Eric Robathan 

    4 

       7 points   254lb 04oz
     3rd  Peter Morton 

       8 points  278lb 06oz
     4th  Steve Wilson 

    4 

       8 points  199lb 04oz
     5th

     Mark Causer 

       8 points  183lb 10oz
     6th  Malc Doyle 

    3 

       9 points  179lb 08oz
     7th  Dirk Williams 

     10 points  224lb 14oz
     8th  Matt Nutt 

    6 

     12 points  336lb 06oz
     9th  Ant Haywood 

    4 

     12 points  215lb 14oz
     10th  Dave Ashby 

     12 points  198lb 06oz
     11th  Paul Roberts 

    6 

     12 points  172lb 11oz
     12th  Geoff Eggison 

    5 

     12 points  160lb 00oz
     13th

     Simon Rowley 

    4 

     12 points  134lb 00oz
     14th  Dave Moore 

     13 points  227lb 15oz
     15th  Keith Ashby 

    4 

     16 points  151lb 08oz 
     16th  Nick Watkins-Price

    6 

     16 points  109lb 05oz
     17th  Tim Westmoreland      

    6 

     18 points    79lb 08oz
     18th

     Kevin Lake 

     18 points    63lb 01oz
     19th

     Nick Jones 

    6 

     20 points    94lb 02oz
     20th  Nick Williams 

    5 

     20 points    69lb 14oz
     21st  Neil McMurran 

    6 

     21 points    82lb 00oz
     22nd    Dai Thomas 

     23 points    29lb 08oz
     23rd  Mark Bennett 

     24 points    75lb 00oz
     24th  Dan Thomas 

     24 points    16lb 00oz
     25th  Nick Bryan 

     26 points    82lb 02oz
     26th  Roy Ravenhill 

    6 

     26 points    74lb 12oz
     27th  Andy Felton 

    6 

     26 points    40lb 00oz
     28th  Pete Thompson 

    6 

     27 points    84lb 00oz
     29th  Jimmy Leedham 

    6 

     27 points    46lb 04oz
     30th  Geoff Palmer 

    6 

     28 points    30lb 08oz
     
    NB: Anglers were allowed to drop their worst section result during the series so that the Overall Series results were decided by best 5 out of 6 section points.
    Overall weight counting in the result of anglers tieing on points.
     
    Overall Pairs Result.
     
    Position               Anglers              Points    Weight
     1st  Geoff Eggison & Eric Robathan 33 33 18 16 13 17

    97

     414lbs 04ozs
     2nd  Ant Haywood & Paul Roberts 9 60 12 16 48 32

    117

     388lbs 09lbs
     3rd  Keith Ashby & Simon Rowley 25 60 29 36 30 12

    132

     274lbs 08ozs
     4th  Kevin Lake & Dave Moore 48 62 16 21 38 27

    150

     291lbs 00ozs
     5th  Andy Feltham & Brian Bevan 25 31 33 44 35 33

    157

     421lbs 12ozs
     6th  Mark Causer & Neil McCurran 39 35 46 35 38 23

    170

     265lbs 10ozs
     7th  Malc Doyle & Roy Ravenhill 50 34 41 47 20 34

    176

     255lbs 04ozs
     8th  Peter Morton & Jimmy Leedham 34 62 47 36 13 48

    178

     324lbs 10ozs
     9th  Steve Wilson & Dai Thomas 33 62 36 46 46 32

    193

     230lbs 12ozs
     10th  Dirk Williams & Mark Bennett 25 60 64 42 34 35

    196

     299lbs 07ozs
     11th  Nick Williams & Nick Jones 39 60 23 50 47 37

    196

     163lbs 08ozs
     12th  Matt Nutt & Geoff Palmer 21 62 64 34 33 47

    197

     366lbs 14ozs
     13th  Dave Ashby & Tim Westmoreland 35 62 35 45 50 49

    214

     198lbs 06ozs
     14th  Dan Thomas & Nick Watkins-Price  46 34 62 38 64 37

    217

     125lbs 05ozs
     15th  Nick Bryan & Pete Thompson 17 64 64 64 64 64

    273

     166lbs 02ozs
     

    NB: Pairs were allowed to drop their worst points total during the series so that the results were decided by best 5 out of 6 points scores.
    Overall weights counting in the result of pairs tieing on points.

     

     

  • Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2.

    Maggotdrowning.com

     magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Southern Championship.

    MonksMatchLake2.jpg Monks Match Lake 2 picture by pnm123

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

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


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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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


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


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

     1st       Nick Gilbert  170lbs 00ozs 
     2nd Peter Morton 100lbs 08ozs
     3rd Rob Page   95lbs 00ozs
     4th Dai Thomas   81lbs 08ozs
     5th John Brimicombe     80lbs 08ozs
     6th Clive Pritchard   78lbs 08ozs
     7th Chris Withall   70lbs 00ozs
     8th Dave Collier   65lbs 00ozs
     9th Darren Smith   64lbs 00ozs
     10th Ron Bignold   63lbs 00ozs
     11th   Paul East       57lbs 08ozs
     12th Terry Goff   53lbs 00ozs
     13th Vince Gould   52lbs 08ozs
     14th Colin Sharrard   44lbs 08ozs
     15th Kevin Loveland   24lbs 00ozs
     16th Jessica Gould   21lbs 00ozs

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

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The JINX Series 2006

    Match 1.

    RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123

    Well I met up with a few of the lads in the services on the M40 beforehand and around 11·30 we made our way down to Rolf's.
    Once in the car park it was soon obvious that nothing had changed and that yet again
    The Jinx Series
    was going to be a monumental festival of p*ss taking & fun.
    Nick had kindly sorted some shirts for the series and here's the proof........

    I was a little taken aback at the draw to recieve a presentation from Malc! however the contents of the envelope set the tone for the day! A set of Lime Green pants with no arse in them. (Maria says they'll avoid the skidmarks at least!!!) and No I don't have a photo of them, but I'm sure someone has.

    So draw done and off to our respective pegs. A nice short 5 yard walk for me to peg 30. Rolf has just started rebuilding the pegs and this is the 1st one he's completed, Nice new platform and steps down to it, a real armchair job . To my right was Dan who didn't look to happy as he had a few bad memories of being pegged next to me at Rolf's last year, and to my left I was a little concerned to see Pete Thompson (quietman), who has probably spent more time than most at Rolf's over the years and has a pretty good idea of what makes he place tick.

    Due to changes to rules and pellets available at Rolf's this year, a few questions have sprung up over the best way to approach things. I had been a couple of times already this season and had frankly struggled coming to terms with it, so for this match I decided to go with what I know, and that was to fish 6mm GOT expanders over loose fed hemp, at a distance I could throw the feed to, hopefully keeping things nice and simple.

    As usual with The Jinx matches things were running a bit late and the all in came at 1·30, called by myself as Malc didn't have a watch with him.

    Almost straight away David on peg 28 seemed intent on taking the place apart, his 1st fish took a bare hook as he shipped out a pot of pellet and every time i looked around his black hydro seemed to be streaming out.

    Things were not quite so hectic for the rest of us, with a few skimmers and the odd carp just keeping things ticking over, though Pete did manage to bag a specimen perch .......

    Slowly but surely things started to inprove though, Paul (Mr Buckethead aka Turkish) Finally managed to catch a carp at Rolf's, not just the one either..........

    MarkC was putting a few together on peg 32 including some perch in a pretty mixed bag.........

    Nick (polepot) came wandering along, hoping for some clues as he was having a bit of a mare, Having drawn peg 34 it seemed that everyone had given him different advise, and if that wasn't bad enough he was trying to get to grips with using a new pole and Hydro for the 1st time. To top it all off he had been further traumatised by watching Malc strip down to his underpants (thankfully a site I missed) and leap in to retrieve a top kit.

    By mid afternoon the carp seemed to settle on my feed and I started to put a few together,

    David was still in regular action although it was hard to judge the stamp of his fish as he was on Black Hydro.
    Matt across on peg 12 was putting together a decent bag having started to sneak a few lumps out from down the edge, you could tell they were decent fish as periodicaly he could be seen climbing onto his box in an attempt to net them .....

    Finally the all out came at 6·30 just as I had connected to a final carp that was foulhooked in the tail, a few anxious moments while I tried to get his propeller out of the water to subdue it followed before I managed to net it.

    Packing up and taking my gear back prior to the weigh-in, I heard a sound that I couldn't quite place till I realised it was coming from Dai's car!!!!!!!! The engine was running, and had been running for the whole match!!!!!!!! Luckily Dai still had ½ a tank of fuel and at least it was nicely warmed up for a quick get away.

    Back for the weigh-in and my 50lbs odd of weighers with what was in my net gave me 125lbs overall which was enough for my section as David had 110lbs (more fish, but a smaller stamp) still allowing both of us to join the exclusive 100lbs+ JINX CLUB.I believe Antwood also joined us on his very 1st Jinx match and Matt took the overall honours on the day with a fine 139lb bag from the little used peg 12.

    Finally as this was Churt's Memorial Match, the trophy should have been presented to Matt, but Malc had forgotten it!!!!!!!!
    No Surprise there then.

    However SteveW and myself did FINALLY get our hands on the Pairs Trophy we won last series.........

    .......however as it has to go away for engraving that's probably be the last we'll see of it.

    So that's it, 1 down, 5 to go and on to Engine Pool, It should be fun, but with The Jinx you never know.

    Individual Results on the day were as follows

     1st  Matt Nutt 139lb 02oz
     2nd Peter Morton 125lb 00oz
     3rd Dave Ashby 110lb 02oz
     4th Anthony Haywood 108lb 10oz
     5th Paul Roberts   96lb 11oz
     6th Brian Bevan   86lb 12oz
     7th Eric Robathan   84lb 12oz
     8th Pete Thompson   84lb 00oz
     9th Nick Bryan   82lb 02oz
     10th   Steve Wilson   76lb 08oz
     11th Simon Rowley   76lb 00oz
     12th Mark Bennett   75lb 00oz
     13th Dirk Williams   60lb 14oz
     14th Keith Ashby   60lb 04oz
     15th Neil McMurran   60lb 02oz
     16th Dave Moore   57lb 11oz
     17th Nick Jones   50lb 02oz
     18th Malc Doyle   45lb 12oz
     19th Andy Felton   40lb 00oz
     20th Geoff Palmer   30lb 08oz
     21st Nick Watkins-Price       29lb 15oz
     22nd Nick Williams   25lb 00oz
     23rd Dai Thomas   22lb 08oz
     24th Mark Causer   18lb 03oz
     25th Dan Thomas   15lb 00oz
     26th Geoff Eggison   13lb 00oz

    You can find Rolf's own report HERE.

     

  • Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick's Lake.

    Dave the Fish's 

    Fur and Feather Fun Match.

    nickslake.jpg picture by pnm123

    22 hardy souls headed down to Harleylands in Kent yesterday to take part in a Xmas match organised by Dave the Fish from Maggotdrowning.com

    I met up with a few of the lads at the Knoxbridge Cafe at around 7·30am to find it a tad busy, a party of shooters had obviously beaten us to it, meaning that the service was about as far removed from "Fast Food" as you could imagine.
    By the time that Jess & Szabi and The Welsh Contingent (Dai, Neo, Geoff & Malc) arrived it had slowed even more, and as we left for the draw they were still waiting!

    With the delays making the draw run late we decided that we would fish from 10·30 to 3·30pm so we all dipped in and made our way to our respective pegs.
    I found myself on 22 with The Jinx for company on 23. Not only were our pegs in the shade but we had the wind howling into them and although there was no ice on the lake it was soon obvious that the only people that would be at home on them would be Eskimos. Looking across to the other bank it was bathed in sunlight with barely a ripple on the water!

    I set up a pole and a feeder rod with a small maggot feeder, while Malc elected to fish the feeder all day to the island in front of him.

    All in and I went out on the pole, and needless to say with both Malc and Dave standing behind me my first bite, a small very delicate affair, (don't believe Malc when he tells you "it speared the bottom" ) resulted in me missing it horribly and wrapping the rig round the tip.

    I stuck it out on the pole for an hour for 4 small fish (1 Skimmer, 1 Roach, 1 Perch and a Gudgeon). In the meantime Malc had managed 3 Carp and Neo a few pegs down had managed a few small stockies. I could see Omega Mike (who I regard as something of a venue expert) pegged further round and bathed in sunlight starting to put a few together on the long pole.

    Sven on peg8 (The Flyer) and Colin opposite me appeared to be catching regularly,
    and with my hands starting to become numb with the cold the pole was replaced with the feeder rod.
    Looking round it appeared that a Garden Gnome had turned blue with the cold , but it was only Malc staring at his tip willing it to go round..

    Slowly i started to put a few small Carp together by dropping the feeder as close to the island as I dared.

    Just after Noon the best part of the day arrived in the shape of Dave & Jean bearing Hot Pies & Pasties along with a bottle of Canadian Club. Truely Inspired and most welcome, even if Malc did complain that they weren't served on Daves usual Silver Tray.

    Into the fading light, and a few missgivings were being aired about the wisdom of fishing to 3·30pm, it was getting that cold that I had a couple of feeders crack up where they had become so brittle in the cold.
    With 5 mins to go I'm sure that I heard the ominous sound of breaking carbon from further down the bank followed by a softly muttered Welsh curse, though I could be wrong.

    Finally the whistle sounded, and it transpired that Malc and I would have to perform Scales Duty. My 27lbs 2ozs started the ball rolling (and secured £1 from Malc ), Omega Mike came up just short with what was still a creditable bag as he'd fished the pole all day. Colin was soon in the box seat however with a 50lb+ bag, a worthy winner on the day. Sven & John on adjacent pegs had obviously had a close match, with Sven just having enough for 2nd on the day pushing John down to 3rd and me to 4th. A very good result for Sven as I'm sure he would admit that matchfishing isn't his thing. Nick Gilbert also managed 27lbs on the day.

    Gathering up our kit Malc and I returned to find our nets frozen solid (told you it was cold ) so back to the car park for the prizes and farewells.
    I have to say that given the conditions the lake fished well on the day, even though the fish were shoaled up in pockets.

    A big thank you to Dave for organising the match and to all those that attended from near and far, making the day the success it was. We'll have to do it again, preferably in warmer conditions though.

    The final results were :-

     1st     Colin Sharrard 51lbs 12ozs
     2nd   Sven Castle 28lbs 11ozs
     3rd John Holdsworth   27lbs 04ozs
     4th Peter Morton 27lbs 02ozs
     5th Nick Gilbert 27lbs 00ozs
     6th Mike Jameson 25lbs 01ozs
     7th Nick Williams 19lbs 10ozs
     8th Tony Roberts 17lbs 01ozs
     9th Chris Withall 11lbs 08ozs
     10th   Kevin Loveland   9lbs 11ozs
     11th Jim Boase   8lbs 07ozs
     12th Jess Brind   7lbs 13ozs
     13th Dai Thomas   7lbs 11ozs
     14th Malc Doyle   6lbs 02ozs
     15th Geoff Palmer   5lbs 07ozs
     16th Rob Page   3lbs 09ozs
     17th Terry Goff           11ozs

    + two blanks and 3 who tipped back.

     

  • Manor Farm Leisure. The Boundary Pool.

    The JINX Series 2005

    Match 6.

    Well all to soon the final match of The Jinx Series had come around with the Venue being The Boundary Pool at Manor Farm Leisure.

    A bit of a change for me was that during the preceding week Dave the Fish had expressed a desire to come and see if all the things that he had read and heard about the series were true (as if you could make them up!!!!) so he volunteered to pick me up and drive me on the day.

    As has been my custom for the series we left early, so that I could arrive in good time to get a look at the fishery and try to get a feel for it. A stop off on route in Battersea saw us fortified with Sausage, Egg, Bacon and Bubble + a mug of tea.

    A trouble free trip saw us arrive in plenty of time, while an initial look around The Boundary Pool revealed a lake that was at least 2 feet down from what appeared to be it's normal level with a stiff breeze blowing into the opposite bank to the one we were going to fish, very few fish moving, though a pleasure angler was catching a few small carp to feeder tactics.



    Back to the café for a tea and a sausage sandwich and the lads were starting to arrive.
    Soon we were all assembled, even Matt who had flown in from holiday at 9am.
    12·45 and with the draw due at 1PM and no Malc to be seen, I thought I'd better give him a ring!!! Well he was driving down a dirt track somewhere in the surrounding countryside,
    LOST AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!, Sorry Gem but I think he needs a Sat Nav system before he fits a stereo into the car.

    Draw finally done, the start of the match was put back to 2·30 pm. With only 15 of us present for the last match we were well spread out with just Matt, Dan and myself in "bantering" distance on pegs 1,3 and 4 at our end. The fishing? Not quite what we had been led to expect, finicky and frustrating bites or were they liners being the pattern of the day for me at least. I'd been told that to have any chance of winning the series that I needed Matt to be 3rd and for me to win the section (Steve W, who was also in with a shout being the wild-card as he was in another section) but with a couple of hours gone, young Dan was showing us both a clean pair of heels.

    With a couple of hours to go and us all scratching it was time for a bit of refreshment, with tea being served in a most civilised way by "Butler" Dave.


    Events show that a good last hour with a couple of better fish gave Matt the section and the series, while a bonus carp hooked up the bum (Mugged???) allowed me to sneak past Dan at the death.

    Congratulations must go to Dai, who managed his 1st ever match win on the day with 29lbs 12ozs of feeder caught carp, a great result for a good mate.

    Just the raffle remained, which finished in the dark and the final results of The Series to be announced!
    But alas no Series Final Results!
    Malc had managed to post the result sheet to one of his poor customers somewhere in England, but they've been posted on the site now.

    A word of thanks from me to Dave the Fish for acting as my Chauffeur & Butler on the day, Hope you enjoyed your insight into what makes The Jinx Series the matches to be on.

    THE RESULTS ON THE DAY

     1st Dai Thomas  29lb 12oz 
     2nd    Matt Nutt  21lb 00oz
     3rd Dirk Williams  20lb 08oz
     4th Peter Morton  18lb 00oz
     5th= Keith Ashby   17lb 08oz
     5th= Malc Doyle  17lb 08oz
     7th Dan Thomas  17lb 06oz
     8th= Geoff Eggison  14lb 12oz
     8th= Steve Wilson  14lb 12oz
     10th Mark Causer  13lb 00oz
     11th Nick Jones  11lb 06oz
     12th Roy Ravenhill   8lb 04oz
     13th Paul Roberts   5lb 08oz
     14th Nick Williams   4lb 14oz
     15th Nick Watkins-Price              3lb 02oz

    Finally i'd like to say a big THANK YOU to the inimitable Malc for running the most pleasurable match series that I've ever taken part in. Captain Chaos might be a better name, but without his efforts it just wouldn't be the same!!!!

    THANK YOU to Trevor Price and all at G.O.T.Baits & Merlin Baits for the series sponsorship and the very generous raffle prizes that have hopefully raised a few bob for DEBRA
    .

    Next an equally big THANK YOU
    to all of the lads that have fished in the series.
    As with all matches, it's the anglers taking part that make or break the events and as a newcomer to the series I couldn't have wished to have fished with a better bunch of lads who made me feel at home straight away.

    Finally,
    Congratulations to Matt
    , 4 section wins and a new record weight for the series says it all, A very worthy Winner.

    I'll definitely be back for next years series.


    This is Malc's run down on the series result

    THE JINX SERIES 2005

    SPONSORED BY
    G.O.T BAITS
    &
    MERLIN BAITS


    HELPING TO RAISE FUNDS
    FOR THE CHARITY
    DEBRA



    THE FINAL RESULTS




    Well thats another Years "JINX" SERIES over and what a series it's been

    Plenty of new faces and a new Series match record put on the scales by Matt in round 1 with a cracking weight of 211lb 4oz

    We've also seen many personal records being broken including Marks best match weight of 116lb 2oz which was also his first match ton

    Young Dan setting his best match weight at 95lb 8oz which also included a new personal best Carp of 15½lb

    Dai not to be out done by Dan put in a new best match weight of 69lb 6oz and also recorded his first match win

    There has been a total of 5 100lb plus nets and a 200lb plus net and only a total of 12 blanks recorded during the series which is also a new record as normally there are a lot more of those

    We've had loads of entertainment from Neo in the way of snapped pole sections, swimming pole sections and general misfortune but he's taken all the stick in the way it's been intended.

    Matt has also given everyone a few laughs with his high rise landing tactics.

    We've suffered the normal mishaps from yours truley in the form of being late, getting lost, leaving stuff at home, getting dumped on by fisheries and generaly running a series like a total pillock, but thats all part of the fun.

    The banter has flowed during every match especially if drawn near Dirk or Paul.

    And a nicer bunch of lads could not be found to fish with...


    Now for the Final Positions


    This years winner for the second year running is MATT NUTT with 6 points and a total weight of 404lb 8oz Well done Matt a fine effort.

    Second place this year goes to new boy Peter Morton
    with 8 points and a total weight of 213lb 9oz not a bad result when you think Peter had not seen 5 out of the six venues before.

    Third place with 9 points is THE JINX
    himself by way of a greater weight as Keith Ashby, Steve Wilson & Malc Doyle all scored the same 9 points but Malc comes out on top with a total weight of 299lb 5oz


    NOW THE FULL POSITIONS & WEIGHTS


    Worst result is in RED and final total is minus worst result (total weight also included)

     1st  Matt Nutt                 3   2   1   1   1     6 Points  404lb 08oz 
     2nd Pete Morton 2 2 1 2 1 2   8 Points  213lb 09oz
     3rd Malc Doyle 2 1 5 3 1 2  9 Points  299lb 05oz
     4th Steve Wilson 4 1 3 1 1 3   9 Points  217lb 08oz
     5th Keith Ashby 1 5 2 1 3 2   9 Points  207lb 04oz
     6th Dai Thomas 3 3 2 3 1 1 10 Points  142lb 13oz
     7th Mark Causer 1 2 3 2 6 3 11 Points  185lb 12oz
     8th Geoff Egginson 3 5 1 3 2 3 12 Points  174lb 15oz
     9th Dirk Williams 2 5 1 4 4 1 12 Points  161lb 02oz
     10th    Dan Thomas 5 2 3 4 3 3 15 Points  160lb 03oz
     11th Roy Ravenhill  3 5 1 2 6 5 16 Points  176lb 11oz
     12th Paul Roberts 4 1 6 2 5 4 16 Points  163lb 02oz
     13th Eric Robothan 2 5 2 3 4 6 16 Points  136lb 04oz
     14th Neil McCurran 1 6 6 1 3 6 17 Points  138lb 10oz
     15th Derek Robothan  5 1 3 5 4 6 18 Points    62lb 12oz
     16th Nick Jones 3 5 4 6 3 4 19 Points    76lb 11oz
     17th Dave Ashby 4 6 4 4 2 6 20 Points    79lb 13oz 
     18th Nick Watkins-Price          5 5 4 6 2 5 21 Points    16lb 06oz
     19th Nick Williams 4 5 5 4 4 5 22 Points    63lb 04oz
     20th Tim Westmoreland 6 3 6 6 6 6 27 Points      8lb 08oz
     21st Pete Thompson 5 6 6 6 6 6 29 Points    11lb 00oz
     22nd Dave Moore 6 5 6 6 6 6 29 Points     D.N.W

    Not fished any, 6 points awarded for each match
    Jimmy Ledham
    Scott Essary

    Now we move on to the PAIRS RESULTS



    Comeing home in FIRST PLACE are Peter & Steve with a 60 Point total and combined weight of 431lb 1oz well done as up to the last match it was all still to play for.


    THE PAIRS RESULTS
    Worst result is in RED and the final total is minus worst result (total weight also included)

    1st   Peter Morton & Steve Wilson 19   14  13   16   5   12  60 points431lb 01oz
    2nd Dai Thomas & Mark Causer 13 15 19 14 32  11 72 points349lb 07oz
    3rd Matt Nutt & Nick Jones 16 23 16 27 14 13 82 points481lb 03oz
    4th Geoff Eggison & Dirk Williams 17 38  4 29 21 11 82 points336lb 00oz
    5th Nick Williams & Malc Doyle 18 20 32 22 17 19 96 points338lb 09oz
    6th Roy Ravenhill & Paul Roberts 18 22 31 14 43 25110 points339lb 13oz
    7th Derek Robothan & Dan Thomas 36  9 21 31 28 33122 points222lb 05oz
    8th Eric Robothan & Dave Ashby 26 45 20 20 16 52127 points206lb 01oz
    9th Keith Ashby & Dave Moore 29 38 33 28 37 31158 points207lb 07oz
    10th  Tim Westmoreland & Nick Watkins-Price 46 28 42 52 36 41193 points  24lb 14oz
    11th Neil McCurran & Scott Essary 32 52 52 29 34 52199 points 120lb 10oz
    12th Jimmy Ledham & Pete Thompson 44 52 52 52 52 52252 points   11lb 00oz

     

    Thanks to all for a good 2005 series.



    Malc Doyle100lb+ JINX CLUB MEMBER 

     

  • Clattercote Reservoir.

    The JINX Series 2005

    Match 5.

    ClattercoteReservoir.jpg Clattercote Reservoir picture by pnm123

     
    Well it looks as if THE JINX is slowly coming home to roost for a few of the participants in the series.

    17 of us met up for round 5 and after the usual banter set off down the boards to our alloted pegs.

    For most of us it appeared that the fish didn't really want to play with the notable exception of Peg26 where Steve W had a very pleasant day with a succession of carp and a winning bag of 89lbs 6ozs.

    Spare a thought for those around him, Keith had to watch him bagging all match while struggling for his 4 fish while Dirk managed to avoid the dreaded DNW with a solitary Perch.
     
    I struggled with just a tench and a carp in the first 3 hours till i strolled down the boards to plant a smacker on Malc's head , finally managing another 5 fish on the baggin wag  for 27lbs 10ozs to bump me up the results.


    NickW (Neo-1) managed to get out of jail by snatching some small perch from under the boards, while Nick WP (Monkey) managed a couple of carp in the final hour to lift his spirits with his best result in the series so far ......


    Dai on the end peg spent the match finding out just how far a 2¾lb carp rod could bend as he did battle with a succession of lumps under the boards with a final score standing at 15-4 to the carp , putting 20lbs 14 on the scales for 6th.

    Neil M managed a couple of proper ones at the death for 18lbs and 8th..........


    .......but did have the distraction of having to watch Paul trying everything he could think of all day to no avail and still record a BLANK!!!!!!!!

    Malc fished THE MAGGOT for 3rd on the day with a level 28lbs (the lengths he'll sink to to get £1 off me.)


    Keith's lad David managed to beat dad 19lbs 14ozs to 10lbs 12 ozs............


    Geoff E snuck into 5th with 24lbs 2ozs...........


    while Matt fished his usual tidy match on pellet & feeder for 37lbs 2ozs and 2nd on the day.............

    So it's onward to Manor Farm for the final match of the series, can we keep THE JINX at bay or will it return with a vengeance? We'll soon find out.

    Individual Results.

     1st Steve Wilson 89lb 06oz 
     2nd   Matt Nutt 37lb 02oz 
     3rd Malc Doyle 28lb 00oz
     4th Peter Morton 27lb 10oz 
     5th Geoff Eggison 24lb 02oz
     6th Dai Thomas 20lb 14oz 
     7th David Ashby 19lb 14oz 
     8th Neil McCurran  18lb 00oz
     9th Eric Robothan 13lb 00oz
     10th  Nick Watkins-Price       12lb 00oz
     11th Keith Ashby 10lb 12oz 
     12th Nick Jones   9lb 12oz 
     13th Dan Thomas   2lb 02oz
     14th Nick Williams   1lb 00oz
     15th Derek Robothan          6oz
     16th Dirk Williams          2oz
     17th Paul Roberts    DNW

     

  • Barford Lakes. Norfolk.

    The Eastern Intersite Match.

    Here's the Maggotdrowning.com Team on the day.............


    Paul(tommyturtle001), Andy(Marshall), Dai, Gaz, Alex, Tony(gingert76), Dan.
    Nick(Neo-1), Martin, Peter(Mugger).

    A good day was had by all, and a BIG THANK YOU must go to Bob Bradford (swimfeeder) who stepped in to organise the day.
    Nice to see that we kept our record on the day, as I believe that MD's is the only team that has had a full team of site members at every round. (What No Ringers!!!!)

    In truth the venue favoured the locals and our result wasn't helped by not being able to practice prior to the match and the bewildering number of bans that the fishery operates.

    Here's our results on the day...............

     Dai Thomas (DaiFish) 31lb 10oz  
     Andy Marshall 21lb 01oz
     Tony Luetchford (gingert) 17lb 12oz
     Paul Thompson (TommyTurtle)    17lb 03oz
     Alex Malham 13lb 13oz
     Peter Morton (Mugger) 13lb 08oz
     Nick Williams (Neo1) 12lb 01oz
     Gaz Malham  9lb 02oz
     Martin Scott   8lb 12oz
     Dan Thomas  2lb 04oz

     

  • BW Makins Phase 3. Outer Avon.

    The JINX Series 2005

    Match 4.

    Well Saturday saw me arrive at Makins for the 4th match in The Jinx summer series.

    Owing to a double booking by British Waterways we had been moved from Phase 1 Lake 2, and reports from Phase 3 didn't bode well.

    As a venue it looks fine, but the water had a strange stillness to it that i couldn't put my finger on.

    I drew peg 23 and Geoff E on peg 22 soon informed me that we would struggle as he was a regular at Makins. sad.gif

    Plenty of grass growing through the platforms on most pegs rather gave the game away that it doesn't get a lot of fishing pressure and I have to say Geoff was dead right.

    After 5 hours 5 fish (all carp) from 6 bites gave me 10lbs 8ozs for 11th on the day.

    At least I managed to win my section by default, giving me a brown envelope to cover my costs, my 3rd pick up of the 4 matches so far. 

    Next comes Clattercote Reservoir in 2 weeks time.
     
    Individual Results.
     
     1st        Matt Nutt 36lb 12oz
     2nd Keith Ashby 33lb 00oz
     3rd Neil McCurran 30lb 04oz
     4th Mark Causer  19lb 04oz
     5th= Roy Ravenhill 19lb 02oz
     5th= Steve Wilson 19lb 02oz
     7th Malc Doyle 16lb 00oz
     8th Eric Robothan 14lb 06oz
     9th Paul Roberts 13lb 02oz
     10th Dai Thomas 10lb 14oz
     11th Peter Morton 10lb 08oz
     12th David Ashby   8lb 02oz
     13th Geoff Eggison   6lb 02oz
     14th Derek Robothan   6lb 00oz
     15th Nick Williams   4lb 12oz
     16th Dirk W   4lb 06oz
     17th Dan T   3lb 06oz

     

  • Stockton Reservoir.

    The JINX Series 2005

    Match 3.

    StocktonReservoir-1.jpg Stockton Reservoir picture by pnm123

    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..............

    [image]

    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 .

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    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 .

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

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    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..........................


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

    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 Crybaby [:C].

    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.

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    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.

     1st Dirk Williams 59lb 02oz
     2nd Peter Morton 58lb 10oz
     3rd Geoff Eggison 54lb 13oz
     4th Matt Nutt 53lb 06oz
     5th Roy Ravenhill 44lb 03oz
     6th Eric Robothan 37lb 02oz 
     7th Keith Ashby 33lb 00oz
     8th Dan Thomas 31lb 05oz
     9th Dai Thomas 26lb 13oz
     10th   Mark Causer 18lb 06oz
     11th Steve Wilson 13lb 08oz
     12th Nick Jones 12lb 10oz
     13th Derek Robothan 12lb 08oz
     14th Dave Ashby 10lb 01oz
     15th Malc Doyle   7lb 05oz
     16th Nick Watkins-Price     1lb 04oz
     17th Nick Williams    DNW

     

  • Willow Park Fishery.

    Southern Intersite Match.

    WillowParkFishery.jpg picture by pnm123

    What can you say?
    Team MD's approached the match in their usual professional manner.

    Preparation..... Absolutely None!!
    Team Selection..... Last Minute Panic ..... But all members of the team were forum members.
    Tactics..... Just catch a bleedin fish.
    Objectives..... Enjoy the day.

    The scene was set at 8·30am with a phone call from THE JINXinforming me that he had taken a slight detour from Reading and was just turning round at Jct1 of the M3.

    8·55am and My phone goes again, Yes you guessed it, it's THE JINX again.
    "I'm here at GOLD VALLEY but where is everyone else?"
    My reply wasn't really suitable to post here but was along the lines of so I passed the phone to Dave the Fish to guide him in while I went in to draw for the team.

    The match itself is probably best glossed over, as for most it was a bit of a struggle though special mention must go to young ashley who along with his dad John stepped into the breach at the last minute and managed a creditable 25lbs 15ozs for 2nd in his section from the Middle Lake.

    A vote of thanks also to Jason (NoFinFish) who popped down during the day to support the team, and Beebs who also put in an appearance and invited us back to his house for a pint after. Much appreciated

    Here's how the team performed on the day........

     Peter (Mugger) Morton  33lbs 14ozs     4 Points 
     Malc (THE JINX) Doyle            27lbs 12ozs   2 Points
    Ashley (Stalker123)Griffiths                 25lbs 15ozs   3 Points
     Keith (Gandhi) Ashby  18lbs 14ozs   3 Points
     John (Carper783) Griffiths  12lbs 12ozs   1 Point
     Matt (Dark Horse) Nutt  12lbs 07ozs   2 Points
     Daniel (DanFish) Thomas   5lbs 10ozs   1 Point
     David (DaiFish) Thomas   4lbs 08ozs   1 Point
     Nick (Neo-1) Williams   3lbs 00ozs   1 Point
     Dave (TheFish) Collier   2lbs 08ozs   1 Point

    My Thanks to all that fished, everyone tried their best and you can't ask for more than that.

    And here's a few pics from the day.....

    Ashley with Keith "Fishermans Blues" Arthur .

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    Dai struggling manfully trying to fish his "washing machine" swim...

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    Dan with a specimen Perch...

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    And a Bream for me...

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    and finally Malc & Gemma watch the Weigh-In...

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  • Blyton Ponds.

    Maggotdrowning.com

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

     Fish-In.

    BlytonPonds.jpg picture by pnm123

    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 ThumbsUp [:T].

    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 .

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    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 Tongue [:P]. 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 ThumbsUp [:T] .......

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    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........

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

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    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.

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    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

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    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!!!! Tongue [:P]Big Smile [:D]

    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.....

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

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    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  .......

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    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 Tongue [:P].


    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  .....

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    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 Tongue [:P]. 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 .

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    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  .........

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    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 Tongue [:P].

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    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 .

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

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    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 ThumbsUp [:T]