Marsh AC club match.

The Top Lake at Rayne Lodge just outside of Braintree in Essex is yet again the venue for the second Marsh AC club match of the year. However we normally visit the venue in late may once things have started to warm up a bit. The view through the bedroom window today promised a decent start to the day ahead, but the forecast was for heavy showers after midday . I soon had the cats fed, while cereal and coffee fuelled me to load up the car and set off. A good traffic free run saw me arriving in the car park just after 7·30am along with Kevin & Jean. Soon the others started to arrive and with just 14 of us fishing today things were soon underway. Dave asked Keith and I to sort out the pegs to use today so we set off round the lake while others ferried their gear down the hill and Dave collected the monies. Virtually every peg looked good for a few fish and Keith and I made the picks trying to give most anglers a bit of room and our 14 choices went into the hat ready for the draw .

Into the hat and it's peg 14A for me, the 2nd time in the last 3 visits (the other one was peg 14) I never seem to be able to get out of this corner of the lake when we visit, but it's normally good for a few fish .

Knowing the area so well it didn't take long to get set up, just 3 top kits with black hydro. It can tow a bit in this corner if the wind gets into it so I set up a couple of rigs to fish at 6mtrs where there's around 3 feet of water, the first was an 0·4 NG XT Gimp on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X while the second was a, 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil Mk 2 again on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X which was a little more delicate and would see use if it wasn't towing. The third rig was my customary 0.2 NG Edger again on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for the margin lines that had around 2 feet of depth. Bait was simply 6mm coarse pellet for feed and the hook along with some sweetcorn and 6mm GOT Rippers as alternative hookers.

There was still a good 30 minutes to go so I took a stroll to see how others were going to tackle things. Al and Dave were already exchanging banter on the prospects for the day that lay ahead . Kev was settling into peg 1 which I'd fancied for a few fish when Keith and I selected it earlier. Jean kindly provided a freshly cooked sausage and bacon roll and a mug of coffee to wash it down . Chris had set up for a catch anything with fins approach. Most seemed to be going with the pole, though Martin next to me on peg 14 was going for the feeder to the island in front .

10am and the whistle sounded for the All-In. A cup of pellets with a few grains of corn was fed at 6mtrs along with a handful of pellet into the left hand margin before I shipped out with a banded 6mm pellet, Dave over on peg 21 had got off to a flyer with 6 fish in his first 6 put in's!!!!!!!!! and I had seen Al netting a couple of quick fish as well.
A few more pellets flicked over my rig and a couple of lift and drops soon saw the float slide away and a spirited fight from a small common followed before I netted it to get myself off the mark . The first hour was nice and steady, keeping a little bit of feed going in and working the rig kept the bites coming and a few small carp and skimmers coming to the net.

Word was filtering down that Dave was already in the pound seats as he'd found the fish in the margins and feeding from the off, while Al had reverted to the method to the point of the island in an attempt to keep up with him as he couldn't buy a bite from his margin . I could hear the two of them talking and tales of 3-4lbs fish, which meant I was going to need some more and larger fish than I'd already got, especially when my next fish was this mint little common ......

I took an early look down my margins but to no avail so it was back to 6mtrs to keep working it, occasionally adding another section to see if anything had backed off the feed, but they didn't seem to be there in any numbers. I would take 2 or 3 fish and then have to wait 10-15 minutes for a bite. This seems to be the pattern in this part of the lake since 2009 when all the overhanging trees that provided cover were cut down and it now seems that fish just move through the area and you almost have to ambush them as they pass through as they seem reluctant to settle for any length of time.

Mick over on peg 16 was putting a few together but having to work for them, though this was disturbed when a passing duck snaffled his bait as he was laying his rig in. Thankfully Mick managed to get the duck to the bankside where he finally managed to unhook it after some deft work with a disgorger, the duck swimming off with just a few feathers and its dignity ruffled . Martin was having a hard time of it, latching into various snags round the island and then seeing his reel handle fly off and land in the lake. Undaunted he soon changed reels and was back in action ......

For me it was just a question of plugging away and keeping a few fish going into the net as apart from Dave and Al nobody else seemed to be getting among the fish from what I could see or hear. I kept having the odd look down the margins but they steadfastly refused to produce as much as a bite, and after a blank spell of nearly 20 minutes at 6mtrs I re-fed it pretty heavily and set of for my customary stroll with the camera . John was struggling next door to Martin and it looked like the two travelling companions would be battling to the end of the match for the bragging rights today .......

Clive was settled into peg 11A and having a look down his left hand margin, having struggled to catch from the right hand side of his peg ......

Keith was on peg 10 and working hard to put a few together and beat Mick in another battle of the travelling companions, though I did manage to bring a smile to his face when I related the tale of Mick's encounter with the duck .....

Simon and Graham had similar tales of struggle, though Graham's did ring a little hollow as he lifted into a fish as I passed by ......

Ken seemed quite content with his lot tucked away in a corner on peg 5 and was happily putting a few together today ......

Chris on peg 3 was also putting a mixed bag together with his approach, but felt that he could be doing better .......

Kev on peg 1 was having a mare in all honesty, not only was he struggling for bites from his swim, he also had the perfect view of Dave and Al apparently bagging up just across from him ......

Dave had vanished for a stroll by the time I got round there, but I probably shouldn't have asked Al what the crack was, as it wasn't a pretty site ......

Back at my peg it was just a question of head down and get on with it, nick a couple of fish then wait a while before getting another couple. At least they were getting a little larger as time wore on with a few 2-3 pounders mixed in among the smaller ones . After yet another blank spell I took another look down the margins with 45 minutes to go and the float buried by a feisty little mirror that was soon in the net and thankfully this continued right up to the whistle sounded the All-Out at 4pm .

Packing away my kit I couldn't help wondering what the outcome would have been had they turned up earlier in the margins? I was sure that Dave and Al were way out in front but reckoned that my late run of fish should see me with around 70lbs of fish to put on the scales.

The Weigh-In started with Kev on peg 1 who only managed a meagre 12lbs . Chris recorded 38½lbs while Ken was happy to see his fish weigh 53lbs , Graham's 42¼lbs was followed by Simon's 36½lbs and Keith chipped in with 39½lbs. Clive had a smile on his face due to his 56½lbs while Martin and John both recorded a level 16lbs to share the bragging rights in the car. My fish came to 77lbs leaving me happy with what I'd got from my peg . Mick's 36½lbs meant that Keith had the bragging rights for their trip home and Terry could only muster 26½lbs for his days efforts. that just left Al who was admitting to 70lbs (meaning he probably had a Ton+ ) and Dave who was owning up to 80lbs and he's normally pretty close with his estimates. Al in fact put 106lbs on the scales and Dave 87½lbs .

So back up Heart Attack Hill to the car park where Dave sorted out the days results and the monies. The Winner today was Al with Dave taking 2nd and third place for me . The sections went to Ken, myself and Al .

Next up for Marsh AC is an Inter-club match at Hartleylands Farm against Morefax AC , but before that I'm off on my first trip of the year to Rolf's Lake next Friday for a 2 day Special Jinx Match.

Al's Match.

Marsh AC club mate and fellow Maggotdrowner Al Loader had booked the Match Lake at Hawkhurst for a knock up today and with a good few booked on for it everyone was hopeful of a good days sport . Unfortunately the view from the bedroom window was a bit bleak when I looked out, dull grey and overcast with rain falling, but with the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee to fortify me I soon had my waterproofs on and the car loaded up and headed for Hawkhurst. Thankfully the rain soon stopped, but with the temperature showing just 6°C and some fog outside Tonbridge it looked like a none to glorious spring day ahead .

I pulled into the car park just before 8am to find most already assembled and the last couple followed me in. A cool North easterly wind was noticeable as Keith collected the match fees for Al, before we headed to the fishery Restaurant for breakfast before the draw. The breakfast served at Hawkhurst is one of the best (2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, mushrooms, beans/tomatoes, fried slice + toast and tea or coffee) which sets you up nicely for the day ahead, and as we chatted over this, Mick the Chippy was adamant that the Golden Nugget would be returning to him today .

With breakfast taken care of it was back to the car park for the draw. With 16 anglers present all 20 pegs were in and when my turn came peg 3 was mine for the day. Collecting my kit I chatted to Mick McMillan who was happy to have drawn peg 5 , though he wasn't quite so happy when he found out that I'd drawn peg 6 for Al .
A short walk to my peg revealed Tony on peg 1 while Brodie was on peg 2 and Dave Hough to my right on peg 4. Happiest angler on the day should have been Derek Lockwood on the other bank as he had one empty peg to his right and three to his left. You can see where everyone else drew on the peg plan below ........

My set up for Hawkhurst was pretty simple. 3 top kits loaded with black hydro and the first 2 rigs were identical, made up of a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil Mk 2 on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for a 5mtr line (top 2 + 2 sections) on the deck where I had around 4ft of water, while the third was a 0.2 NG Edger again on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for a margin line against the boards. Bait for the day was going to be hard 6mm fishery pellet along with some 6mm GOT Rippers .

With the match being fished from 10·15am till 4·15pm I had a bit of time before the start to have a stroll round and have a chat prior to the All-In so I strolled along the top of the banking behind the pegs to get a better view. Mick McMillan and Al were settled into pegs 5 and 6, a couple of the favoured pegs and would be hard to beat today as they're both more than capable of doing a big weight ......

On peg 7 Mick was hoping that the power of Beechams powders would hold his cold at bay in his quest to gain back his Golden Nugget and Clive obviously had a cunning plan that was focused on the contents of a tin ......

I had a quick chat with Keith who wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Mick today, while Terry was having a chat with Paul on peg 10, picking his brains as Paul has a very good record fishing here ......

John seemed happy enough on peg 12, as he had Dave for company today on peg 11 and the 3 empty pegs to his right ......

Derek was in splendid isolation on peg 16, Rod was going with the waggler from peg 19 and Mick Wright was tucked into the corner on peg 20 and hoping to get the bragging rights for the trip home to Milton Keynes with travelling companion Keith today, while over in the opposite corner Tony seemed lost in contemplation of the day ahead ......

10·15am and the whistle was blown signalling the start of the match. Before I could even pot in a cup of pellet Mick was netting his first fish of the day!!!!!! and was netting a second before I shipped out a rig with a 6mm banded pellet on the hook . The hoped for instant bite didn't materialise for me and others were already into fish before a bit of lift and dropping of the rig was rewarded with the float jagging under. A quick lift resulted in a pleasing resistance and a small common of around 1lb was soon in the net to get me off the mark . That set the tone for me, a pinch of pellet every put in and keep working the rig produced the bites and kept the small carp coming and I ended the first hour with 14 fish in the nets. That north east wind was really chilling despite the sunshine, but kept a decent ripple on the swim.

In the second hour the wind dropped a couple of times but it was noticeable that without the ripple the bites dried up, only returning with the wind. This was especially noticeable as Terry opposite me had the wind off his back leaving his peg a lot calmer, which resulted in him really struggling for a bite ......

Despite the lulls in sport when the wind dropped I managed to maintain my catch rate and at the end of the second hour I'd added another 17 fish to the nets, and felt that I was holding my own with Tony and Brodie, though Dave to my right seemed to be catching at a slightly faster rate ......

Steady away was the story of the third hour for me though Brodie felt that he needed to try a different approach to maintain his catch rate and switched to fishing shallow in an effort to keep them coming ......

Derek over on peg 16 was getting his head down, catching regularly and was obviously profiting from having those empty pegs around him ......

...... as well as being able to keep an eye on Mick and Al who, according to the grapevine were neck and neck and both catching well, though Al did have to take a break to go and get some more pellet as he had run out.

Strangely though I hadn't seen Dave having his customary stroll during the match and looking up toward his peg I could see him hunched over and concentrating on his right hand margin, so he was obviously catching well .......

into the 4th hour I had 50 fish on my clicker when a bit of a disaster struck. As I netted another carp which thrashed around and broke the line on the rig , and despite going straight back out with a second identical rig I couldn't buy a bite, no apparent reason for it, but I decided to take a couple of minutes to retie the original rig and once I'd done that had a bite first put in with it.

Mick was still plundering his right hand margin over on peg 20, but the fish that he was getting seemed to be quite small ......

However it was soon apparent that all was not well as sport seemed to slow down for most around the lake, The margins beside the boards were devoid of fish for me and I couldn't get a bite when I tried there indeed in that 5th hour I only managed to put 8 fish in the net.

The final hour was no better for me either, and in all honesty I was quite relieved when the whistle sounded the All-Out leaving me with 65 fish to weigh-in.

I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car and chatting to others they had all seemed to suffer a poor last couple of hours.

First to weigh-in was Paul on peg 10 putting 97¾lbs on the scales. Keith and Clive had 66½lbs and 71½ respectively while Mick the chippy's cold had finally caught up with him as he weighed 31½lbs . Al placed a fine 139lbs on the scales but it would only be good enough for second today as Mick McMillan topped that with 148½lbs to take the win on the day . next up Dave Hough's 123½lbs would give him 3rd . I weighed 105lbs, Brodie 87½lbs and Tony 81lbs. Round to the opposite bank and Mick secured the bragging rights over Keith with a level 98lbs. Rod recorded 23lbs and Terry 34½lbs. Derek recorded a fine 114½lbs to finish just out of the frame. John put 91½lbs on the scales and Dave was last to weigh with a decent 104½lbs.

So Thanks to Al for organising the day , just over 1400lbs of fish put on the scales averaging over 80lbs per man can't be a bad days fishing on a cold spring day, and Thanks to Mick the Chippy for another Golden Nugget .

 Marsh AC club match.

Well today would see me fishing the first Marsh AC match of the season down at Monk Lakes on Match Lake 4 . Having not fished since the last club match in the middle of October I was really looking forward to this, getting back on the bank and blowing a few cobwebs away. I was soon back into the old routine, up early, get the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee for myself before loading up the car and setting off for the venue.
It was a dull grey overcast morning as I drove down toward Staplehurst with the temperature showing just 8°C . I'd like to say that it was an uneventful trip, but a bit of debris falling from a truck I was following shot under the car, with a bang signalling that it had hit something!!!!! The centre box of the exhaust as it happens, which will now need fixing . Anyway I made it to the fishery with Rod and Clive arriving behind me. Getting out of the cars Clive looked around and uttered the immortal words "Well at least it isn't windy"....he really should have known better .

Over to the food bar for a breakfast roll and a cuppa where a healthy turn out of club members was assembling along with Mick the Chippy who was my guest for the day .
The draw took a little longer than usual as Dave had club fees to collect, but the draw was soon underway and I found peg 154 was mine while Mick drew 155 meaning we would have a good old chat today if nothing else.

Into the cars and up to the lake, I soon had my gear at my peg as I was able to park within 20 yards of it. I can't say I was delighted with it as pegs 154-160 are generally regarded as "The Corner of Death" and not the most favoured to say the least, but hopefully we would still get a few .

As we started to set up the wind got up, a nasty chill north easterly from my right blowing down into the corner, making it feel cooler still . Having not fished for a while it took a bit longer than usual to get set up, even though I was going to keep it pretty simple today. Just 2 top kits loaded with black hydro and a couple of rigs the first was an 0·4 NG XT Gimp on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X to fish on the deck at around 10mtrs, while the second was a, 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil Mk 2 again on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for a 4mtr line on the deck. Both lines had a similar 4ft of depth. Bait for the day was going to be a mix of maggot and hard 6mm pellet along with some 6mm GOT Rippers .

Mick meanwhile had the site of a couple of randy swans on his pole line that decided it was the perfect time and spot to make cygnets !!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully they soon departed though.
Kev also appeared with a welcome cup of coffee from Jean . Dave signalled the All-In at 10am and I fed a mixed pot of maggot and pellet at 10mtrs, before starting with double red maggot over it, while Mick started on the method just short of the island. Mick was soon off the mark with a gudgeon which led to a discussion of the merits of the humble gobio and soon followed it with a small carp and another gudgeon before my float dipped and I bumped a bottle top off. However it was soon followed by another, all of 2 inches long, but at least I landed it saving myself the dreaded DNW .

I could already hear splashing from up on peg 151 though where Al was able to fish across to the side of the island in relative comfort and seemed to be catching carp already.
Mick was ticking along till he got broken by an unseen denizen of the deep, but I was starting to worry about the destination of the Golden Nugget that was riding on our head to head. Maggot appeared to just attract tiny skimmers and roach so a pot of 6mm's was followed by the rig with a 6mm ripper on the hook. a bit of lifting and dropping resulted in a positive bite and finally a carp was on it's way to the net, a nice plump little mirror of around 1½lbs .

It was still hard graft for me, though Mick kept slipping one or two into the net. By 12o'clock I just had 6 carp and that solitary tiny skimmer to show for my efforts so I fed 3 handfuls of pellet onto the 4mtr line and decided to take a stroll with the camera .

Rod and Ken on the other bank of the Corner of Death were having an ever worse time of it than Mick and I as they had the North Easterly blowing full into their faces ......

Graham at least was sheltered by the island, but was still having a struggle to find some fish and had an early look down his margin with some paste to try and snare a carp or two ......

Vic's peg looked lovely but he was having to work hard for fish that really didn't want to play ball ........

Kev was also struggling despite encouragement from Jean (at least I think that was what it was ) I found Tony fishing his right hand margin as his main swim appeared to have died on him, and was lucky enough to get him to pose for a photo with his next fish ........

Simon was struggling as well despite using his new Maver Elite Carp for the first time and I managed to talk him into letting me have a go with it. A nice pole, but not for me as the balance didn't feel quite right I'm afraid even after I got Simon to fit the 13mtr extension the right way round .

Round to Keith who complained he was being battered by Mick on the next peg, but he was soon into a fish, but as I raised the camera for an action shot the hook gave way. The curse of the camera? who knows but I felt it best to depart before copping a top two round the ear-hole .

Chris was whittling a few out on his first session since recovering from his broken arm, while Dave had gone for a stroll. Looking back though I could see that Keith and Mick were having a good old ding-dong with the two of them both playing fish ......

Clive seemed utterly miserable as he found fishing at 16mtrs to reach the island to much in the wind that was buffeting him and had resorted to the feeder but with little joy . It didn't help that he had to watch Al on the next peg catching well from the side of the island as it sheltered him from the wind, and it was pretty obvious already that he would be the one to beat today ......

As I returned to my peg Jean arrived with a welcome cuppa and a cheeseburger from the food bar, so that was consumed before I got back to the business in hand.
Time to attack the 4mtr line and see if I could make something happen. Feed a small handful of 6mm's and swing a banded 6mm out to the same spot. A couple of lift and drops and the job's a good un as the float buried resulting in a nice little Mirror . It was never hectic but by sticking at it I soon had small carp and F1's coming regularly to the net, forcing Mick into trying a similar approach in an effort to avoid the loss of a Golden Nugget.

Fortunately for me, I managed to keep them coming at a greater rate than Mick and when Dave called the All-Out at 4pm we both knew the destination of the Nugget.

With the kit back in the cars the Weigh-In started at Mick's peg with a hard earned 39½lbs while my net came to a level 63lbs . John chipped in with 23½lbs. Al had made the most of his island peg with a fine 113½lbs . Clive had suffered with just 29lbs and Martin had fared even worse with 17¾lbs . Dave and Chris had had 84lbs and 53lbs and Jim 27½lbs. Mick's 83lbs left him short of Keith's 97½lbs. Zack added 23lbs to the total and Simon could only muster 20lbs while Terry was rewarded with 46lbs. Tony put 61½lbs on the scales, while Jean's coaching had resulted in 37lbs for Kev. Vic's hard work produced 70¼lbs for him while Graham could only muster 20½lbs. Rod and Ken finished things off with 9½lbs and 18¾lbs respectively.

Back to the car park for the results, with Al taking the win . Keith second and Dave 3rd  .   Al, Dave, Keith and Vic taking the sections on the day and Mick's Golden Nugget found a new home in my pocket .

Next up for me is Al's Knock Up at Hawkhurst on the 14th so keep your eyes out for that report .

Marsh AC club match.

Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent is the venue today for the final Marsh AC match this year. The club has booked The Reservoir for today, which should make a nice change as we normally fish Nick's Lake . It was an early start for me as I'd arranged to meet up with Mick Pearson who was coming along as my guest today for a spot of breakfast prior to the match.
There was a noticeable chill in the air as I loaded up the car, and as I made my way down the temperature was only registering 4°C on the car thermometer . I arrived at The Knoxbridge Café just after 7am to find Mick waiting for me. We were soon tucking into a hearty breakfast and catching up with events since we'd last met. Kevin & Jean along with Graham,John,Martin and Zack arrived for breakfast as well, and with that taken care of it was just a matter of a five minute drive up to the fishery.

Pulling into the car park it was the usual hive of activity as greetings were exchanged and tackle was assembled prior to the draw ......

Marsh AC
Alders Farm Fishery

Well today sees me and some other members of Marsh AC visiting Alders Farm Fishery just outside the village of Great Brickhill. It's really nothing more than a friendly mid-week knock up that's been arranged by club member Keith Ashby who lives reasonably close to the fishery. It's a venue that's capable of throwing up some mega match weights, so it will be interesting to see how we get on fishing the Match Lake today .

However that means an early start for me today to avoid as much weekday traffic as I can, so I'm up at silly O'clock and have the car loaded and ready to go in time to drop Maria off at work at 6am, then it's a case of driving straight through Central London to get onto the M1, then onto the A5 to get to Alders Farm. This saw me pulling into the car park just before 9am along with Al and Keith P . We soon had our kit unloaded and with our nets dipped and feed pellet purchased from Gary who pointed us in the right direction and we made our way down to the pump house where Gwen had kindly opened up so we could get a pre match bacon sarnie and a cuppa that was much appreciated . Joining us today were Trev and Bert from GOT Baits along with Mick and John B who work with Keith. Standing outside on the patio you could see plenty of carp cruising around Peg 1 and a couple of crusts were eagerly devoured by them. Trev as usual was a mine of information for those that hadn't fished the venue before . Unfortunately Simon phoned to say he'd had been delayed, so at 9·30am we went ahead with the draw and peg 1 was the one that ended up in my hand. Nice short walk then .

Day out at Hartleylands

It's off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today. I'm meeting Dave, Terry, Simon and Gino for a days fishing on the reservoir. Our club Marsh AC have a match there in a couple of weeks time, and as none of us have fished the reservoir for quite a time it seems like a good idea to have a session before the match to try and suss out what works and what doesn't .

No point in an early start today as I'd arranged to meet the lads at 9·30am at the fishery, and that was when I arrived to find Terry, Simon and Gino there already and just about to set off to pick their swims . A quick discussion ensued and with a few anglers already ensconced in pegs we decided to fish what I refer to as the 'Finches Bank' as it runs parallel to Finches Pond. The lads set off to bag their pegs while I unloaded my kit, and with my trolley loaded set off to claim a peg. It was promising to be scorcher of a day, not a cloud in the sky and the first peg I came to was 24 between two overhanging trees and pleasantly shaded, but I felt that Dave would probably like that one (once he finally got there ) so left that one. Next up was Gino on 23 with Simon on 22. Terry had gone further round to Peg 18 as he'd always fancied fishing that one, so I settled on peg 20 to leave Simon a bit of space ......

With the sun climbing higher and barely a breathe of wind, the water looked like glass. It definitely was going to be a warm one today . First things first, so the kit was unloaded and as it wasn't a match I fed a couple of good handfuls of pellet down the left hand margin straight away , then started to set my kit up. One of the things I noticed was that hardly anything was showing on the surface, which I felt was a little strange given the conditions. I knew that Simon was going to try the pellet wag, so left mine in it's ready sleeve, It wouldn't take long to set up if I decided to give it a go later. Instead I decided to just fish 2 lines, the first at 2 sections and a top 2 straight out where I had around 5 feet of water and the second down the left hand margin.. Rigs were a 4x12 CX pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with a size 14 Guru MWG and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 14 Guru MWG for the margin line. Bait today was simply 6mm pellet for feed and plenty of it with 8mm pellet for the hook ......

By now Dave had arrived and strolled up to see where we all were, and as I expected he did indeed decide to settle into Peg 24 . It was around 10·30am by now so time to get started. I could see that fish were already in the margins over the bait I'd fed, but I was going to ignore them for now and just keep some bait going in and take a look there later in the day. At the start I fed 2 good handfuls of pellet straight out and another down the margin before shipping out a banded 8mm straight out. A couple of lift and drops of the rig and the float sailed away and it was immediately apparent that I was attached to one of the reservoirs hard fighting carp . They give a good account of themselves and make full use of the deep water there, but I soon gained the upper hand and had it sliding over the landing net, a nice chunky Mirror, longer than the width of my 22 inch net and around the 10lbs mark ......

With us not using keepnets today I decided to use my clicker to keep track of what I had today and it soon started to tick over as I started to pick up regular fish. I was feeding a good handful of pellet every put in as well as keeping some bait going into the margins and was soon picking up a mix of Mirrors and Commons on a regular basis, the average size of which seemed to be around the 4-5 lbs mark with the odd better fish .

Around 11·30am Dave called out that the kettle had boiled, so I strolled round for a cup of coffee , to find that Dave was playing what turned out to be his first carp of the day ......

Simon's mate Gino was also into a fish, he's quite new to fishing and was taking it easy as the fish gave a good account of itself and refusing to get it's head up, but steady gentle pressure won the day and he was rewarded with a lovely ghostie ......

With refreshments taken care of it was time to get back to my peg. Unfortunately the pellet wag had failed to produce anything of note for Simon, just a couple of small carp and a skimmer , so he'd reverted to the pole as he'd seen me catching regularly. The fish were still there on my return and it was really just a question of keeping the feed going in to keep the bites coming, The margin was still coloured up as well, so I just kept the feed going in, but still left it for later . Over on Peg 18 however Terry was having a bit of a struggle and getting a few to many skimmers rather than the carp he'd been hoping for, though the odd carp was getting a look in ........

Dave had come up for a stroll, it seemed that the carp I'd seen him playing had been his only one !!!!! and all he was getting were roach, and although they were of a decent stamp around the 8-12oz mark, they weren't what he was really after . From where I was sitting I had a pretty good view of what was going on around the reservoir and there must have been around 20 anglers in total, however the majority appeared to be struggling with just the odd fish coming out and despite the heat there was still nothing showing on the top. My peg seemed to be the exception however and I can only put that down to the amount I was feeding . Whatever it was the fish kept coming and by 1pm I had 103lbs on my clicker. So with a 'Ton by One' I decided to take a break and go and put the kettle on for another cuppa .

By now Dave had opted to try paste in an effort to try to tempt another carp, but it's probably not a good idea to try and hit sharp paste bites when you've got an audience of piss taking supportive mates watching your every move and they're ripping it out of you offering you their support . Dave gave it up and joined us for a coffee as we mulled over the mornings sport or lack of it in some cases.

With the inquest over we returned to our respective pegs. More feed onto both lines, but it seemed I'd left it a little to long as my line out in front seemed to be devoid of carp now, though there were plenty of skimmers that seemed only to happy to engulf an 8mm pellet . Time to target the margins. All morning I'd fed where the shelf dropped off and by laying the rig out so that the bait rested on the slope I had a bite straight away . Fishing against the slope the fish tend to dive off for the deeper water which limits any disturbance and once that initial run is contained they can be played out away from the swim. That first fish turned out to be a nice Mirror around the 7lb mark, and once again it was really just a case of steady away and taking fish on a regular basis ......

With the water well coloured up there was really very little chance of the fish vanishing on me as long as I kept the feed going in to hold them. Simon had taken another look on the pellet wag but that had proved to be fruitless. He'd had a couple of carp on the paste but had now decided to take a look at his right hand margin, but with an empty peg between us it wasn't producing nearly as well for him ......

As the afternoon wore on Terry finally managed to start picking up a few more carp among the skimmers that steadfastly refused to go away .......

Gino was still enjoying himself and managing to winkle out the odd carp here and there alternating between fishing the method and the pole ......

and Dave had finally managed to find a few carp from a swim that had frustrated him for a good part of the day, even though he was forced to fish a bit further out than he really wanted to ......

For me it was an easy afternoons fishing with just the odd foul hooker upsetting things and breaking the flow as fish came steadily to the net......

..... and by 4pm it was time for one last coffee as I had 201lbs showing on my clicker . Simon had decided to concentrate on one margin spot and up his feed and it was finally starting to pay off for him as he started to take fish on a regular basis .......

My fish were still there and feeding well and just after 5pm I had my best fish of the day, a nice plump Mirror at around 14-15lbs that Simon kindly caught on camera for me ......

That was my final fish as the rig parted on the strike on my next bite, but with 265lbs showing on my clicker I was happy enough to leave it at that , and I packed my gear away. Terry , Simon and Gino were going to fish on for a bit and Dave managed a final carp before he to decided to call it a day .......

So what did we learn today? If the fish are there it's possible to do a really decent weight, It's possible to struggle in some pegs, even if it holds some obvious feature to fish to, and don't ignore the margins . Thanks to Dave, Terry, Simon and Gino for their company today, let's hope it's a decent day for the match on the 15th, but I somehow feel it may just be a little bit different on the day .

Jinx Match 6

Marsh AC club match.

It's Rockells Farm that is the venue for the latest Marsh AC match today. It normally throws up some phenomenal weights so hopes will be high for a good days fishing today among the club members . I'd arranged to meet at Dave's house and follow him to the venue, so with the cats fed and the car loaded I made my way over there arriving around 6·45am. Chris was strolling down the road, he was tagging along today as a spectator, his broken arm preventing him from fishing. Dave appeared and we were off and we made good time arriving at Rockells around 8am .

A few of the lads set off to peg out as the pegs aren't numbered and I soon had the kit loaded on the trolley, and that's where it all started to go pear shaped. There's a bit of a slope up from the car park to the lake, and halfway up the slope I felt a searing pain in my left calf that brought me to a halt! A couple of the lads came to my aid, but I was left hobbling around and feeling pretty uncomfortable, not the best of starts to my day .

Anyway Peg 13 came my way in the draw, a number that seems to follow me, and I hobbled off with my kit to set up for the day ahead. John had Peg 10 with Jim for company on Peg 11, while Peg 12 was empty. I arrived to find that I had Simon for company on Peg 14 today, Terry was through the gap on Peg 15 ( where Dave had 344lbs last year) Vic was on 16 with Clive on Peg 17 (my peg last year).

I have to say that my initial impression was that the swim looked spot on with an overhanging willow to the right and another to the left , but with my box set up I got a bit of a shock as I put my nets in, finding that the water barely covered them, and a closer look confirmed that the water level was at least a foot down, if not a bit more on the normal level when I've fished there previously ! It's not deep at the best of times and as I sorted out the rigs for the day ahead it became apparent just how little water I had in front of me.

 

I ended up with 3 rigs, all pretty much identical, being 0.2 NG Edger's on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG's, plus a 0·2 NG Margin paste on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Guru MWG that was set up on my margin pole, these were set between 6 and 18 inches deep as that was all the depth I could find regardless of where I plumbed up. Bait today was 8mm pellet and paste with 6mm pellet for feed. but I also had some 6mm floating pellet as these have proved deadly in the past for sorting out the better fish .

On previous visits I've caught well on a top 2 tight in to the margins, but that line was dry today, so I would be looking to fish a line at the end of my nets and across to the overhanging trees. With a bit of time before the off I had a hobble along to see how the others were. Pretty much in the same boat, but someone had been doing some gardening removing a lot of cover, most notably in Clive's swim where an overhanging bush had completely vanished and he was struggling to find any depth of water . Vic's platform was way off the water, but at least he'd managed to get set up in front of it at water level, but again all the bank side vegetation had been cut back. Thankfully Kevin had brought a cup of coffee round and I sat down to drink that as I contemplated the two 3 hour sessions ahead .

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and a handful of pellet to the end of my nets and to the edge of both trees was followed by a banded 8mm to the end of my nets, and I also flicked out a few floaters to the edge of the right hand willow. The float soon slid away and a scrappy little Mirror of no more than 8ozs got me off the mark. Simon was off the mark as well and I soon had another couple of similar sized fish to keep the first one company . Now Rockells isn't really about finesse normally, it's a question of keeping the feed going in and catching quick, but it was noticeable that with so little water, playing fish was making the rest back off, so I was alternating between the end of my nets and across to the willow, while feeding every put in to hold the fish. The floaters weren't drifting out of the swim, but nothing was touching them either .

Across on the other side I could see Keith who seemed to be picking up a few fish down his margin line ......

 

While Dave on the next peg looked like he'd set out his stall to fish his usual floater tactics that work well for him here ......

 

After about an hour I had about 12 fish, not enough by the usual standards so gave the paste rig a try, this is normally a banker for me here as it tends to produce a slightly better stamp of fish, but it wasn't having the desired effect today as I was having to wait to long between bites and the fish that it did produce were of a similar size to the pellet fish so after 30 minutes that was up the bank . Despite keeping a few floaters going in nothing had shown for them so I just had to keep picking off odd fish here and there and at the end of 3 hours when Dave called the All-Out for a half time Weigh-In I had around 35 fish, the biggest of which might have gone 2lbs if I was lucky.

With a set of scales on each side of the lake we soon had it underway. John had 51¼lbs and Jim 29lbs. I weighed 41lbs and Simon 46½lbs. Terry had 25¼lbs while Vic managed 40lbs and Clive could only muster 19¼lbs. Not the greatest weights and we could tell by the pace of the weigh-in across the lake that there had been some better weights over there. Martin appeared with another coffee from Jean and the news that Dave and Al had both had 80lbs +.

At 2pm Dave called the All-In for the second half and it was just a question of carrying on with my approach and hope that some better fish would put in an appearance, and I kept flicking out a few floaters hoping they would do the job, but the only thing they seemed to attract were 3 geese ......

 

The small fish were still there, but were once again coming in fits and starts and at around a pound a time weren't really large enough to build any sort of weight. I could see Dave across the lake was still taking fish at a steady rate and they appeared to be of a better stamp than the ones I was getting ......

 

Another look with the paste proved to be nothing but a waste of time, still yielding little fish, but at a slower rate than fishing pellet. The strange part was that Simon was catching on floaters in the next swim, whereas they were doing nothing for me. Meanwhile John down on Peg 10 was having a cracking session and steadily building a decent weight , as was Vic on Peg 16 who was finally finding some better fish on paste ......

 

I just plugged away amid rain showers to the end, and while I'd caught more in the 2nd session when Dave called the All-Out at 5pm I didn't expect my 55 fish to weigh more than 60lbs . Thankfully the showers had stopped as we packed away, and with a set of scales at Clive's peg we decided to get our part of the Weigh-In over and done with.

Poor Clive's day hadn't got any better with a meagre 16lbs to show for his efforts . Vic's second half had been a definite improvement with 100¾lbs . Terry had 41¼lbs and Simon once again beat me with 71½lbs to my 65¼lbs. Jim had added 38¼lbs to his morning total, but John had the best weight on our bank with a fine 128½lbs .

So with our gear returned to the car park we all assembled as Dave worked out the results and monies. Winner on the day was Mr Chairman Dave with a total of 196¾lbs closely followed by Al on 193¼lbs while John's total of 180¼lbs gave him 3rd on the day just ahead of Keith's 176lbs. Six more 'Ton+' totals followed including my own 106¼lbs so while it would be harsh to say that it had been anything other than a good days fishing , however such is the level of catches that Rockells can produce that it's safe to say that there were a few disappointed anglers that made their way home after the match.

Anyway the final club match of the season lies ahead at Hartleylands Farm on October 15th when we'll be fishing The Reservoir, however prior to that I'm at Rolfs Lake on Saturday for the final match of The Jinx Series.

Bill G's Float Store Series

Match 5

I'm off down to the Private Lake in East Sussex today for the 2nd Saturday running. This time I'm guesting on the fifth of Bill G's series of Float Store matches. I haven't been able to fish the series because of date clashes with The Jinx Series, but with a free weekend I can fit this one in . A quick glance out of the window this morning just confirmed it was going to be one of those changeable days weatherwise, so with the car loaded it was off to East Sussex via a stop off at McD's for a bit of breakfast .

An easy run down saw me arrive around 8·30am at an already crowded car park, where there were both old and new faces as I strolled down to let Bill know I was there and pay my money and dip my nets. Despite being billed as a 9·30 draw it kicked off early at around 9am as people were obviously keen to get to their pegs. Peg 3 stuck to my hand, the willow peg in the corner that Clive had won our club match from last Saturday and one I was more than happy with as it had the wind blowing into it .

Dave Collier had drawn Peg 2 and for company today he had fellow club mate Chris Withall who broke his arm a couple of weeks ago who had come out today to escape the tedium of being stuck at home . Plenty of time to get set up today and I decided to take a pretty single minded approach to the peg and concentrate on the area where the willow branch trailed into the swim and with that in mind I just set up 3 rigs which were all basically similar. Two of them were 0·3 NG Edger's on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG's, while the 3rd was a slightly smaller 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for tight into the margins. Bait was simply 6mm pellet for feed with some 8mm pellet for the hook along with some 8mm GOT Baits Ghost pellets.

With plenty of time to spare I took a stroll to see how the others were doing before returning for the All-In which Bill called at 11am. I fed a couple of pots of pellet along the line of the willow branch and a handful into both margins before shipping out a banded 8mm just in front of the branches. The float settled then buried and a lift had me connected to my first fish of the day. One thing about the fish here is that they do put up a fair old scrap, but I soon had it under control and safely in the landing net. A nice chunky Mirror around the 3lb mark .

Back out and I was treated to a repeat performance with the float burying once more, followed by a brief tussle before a Common popped to the surface and into the waiting landing net, slightly bigger this one at around 4lbs. Third put in and I was in again, another Mirror of around 3lbs, a dream start to the day for me and one that didn't pass without comment from Bill opposite me over on the roadside bank, who'd also got off the mark with a quick fish .

Unfortunately the next two fish that I connected with proved to be foul hookers, the rig returning both times with just a scale on the hook . Dave had taken an early look down his margin and taken a small carp, but in general it was quite obvious that most were off to a slow start. I've not fished the lake a lot, but I have noticed that when the weather is changeable it can become quite moody and the fish seem to shut up shop. Was today going to be one of those days?

I managed another couple of Carp before Chris popped round for a chat. I could see the odd carp moving in and out under the willow branch so fed another small pot of pellets then took a look down the right hand margin. The float buried straight away , A common proving to be the culprit, but no more followed. Back out to the branch where I managed to catch another 3 Carp before Chris returned with the news that indeed it was proving hard for most, though Jonny Watt on peg 5 appeared to be putting a few together . I managed another fish after that, making 10 by around 1pm.

After that however it went very quiet. Dave strolled round for a chat and remarked that there was nothing but pellet on my side tray, and I explained that I was just keeping things simple. From that point on though my bites dried up though from what I could see everyone else seemed to be in the same boat. Looking across I could see Brodie, he's been well in contention in the series and with Mick McMillan missing this match was hoping to capitalise with a good result, but he was struggling like the rest ......

 

A little further along was the vision in red that could only be Matt Love, and he was staring down the barrel of possibly his worst result of the series ......

 

Next to Bill G was Steve Oswick, "badpegpicker" as he's known on the forums, and it certainly wasn't looking like his drawing arm had done him any favours today ......

 

With the sky getting darker and the wind rising we were then treated to rain just to dampen peoples moods a little further. However with the rain came a bite for me, a nice chunky Common of around 6lbs, and as I netted it I noticed it's tail hanging out of the bottom of the net The landing net had ripped and I didn't have a spare. However a bit of a boy scout job with some spare catapult elastic soon had it repaired. After that I managed one more fish before the rain stopped along with the bites again.

Opposite me Bill had gone for a death or glory approach and had balled in three babies heads on his pole line and then gone over it with paste and initially it seemed to do the trick as it produced a couple of quick fish before dying on him again.......

 

The only other person I could see that was having any joy was Dave Hough on Peg 1 who seemed to be picking up the odd decent sized fish as the match wore on . Dave had no joy from his margins and had gone back out, but it had only produced a couple of smaller fish for him ......

 

With about an hour and a half to go it was just a question of sticking at it, trickling a bit of bait in and rotating the lines. Both margins refused to produce anything at all, but I managed another 4 fish before the Sky's started to darken again with 15 minutes to go.

Dave's daughter Chrissy had popped down with her daughter Lillie to so she could see Grandad fishing, and just after that I was into my best fish of the day, a nice chunky Mirror that must have been around 9lbs and that was followed by another of around 6lbs just before Bill called All-Out at 4pm .

I felt I'd got around 80lbs in the nets, but just wanted to get the kit packed up and back to the car before the heavens opened and soaked us all, which I managed to do along with most of the other lads .

The Weigh-In started from with Dave Hough's 54½lbs, Dave's 4 small Carp came to 14lbs 6ozs when Chrissy announced "Come on Lillie, lets go and see some big fish caught by Peter"  daughters can be so cruel to their dads sometimes .  My 2 nets came to 88½lbs. As the weigh-in carried on round Jonny Watt put 61lbs on the scales. Andy Green weighed a level 65lbs and Al tied with Dave Hough on 54½lbs. Matt had a 'Mare' with just 8lbs 10ozs to show for his efforts.

Back to the car park and the heavens did indeed open, leading to hasty exits by most. As it turned out the guests had taken the spoils as I took the win on the day and Andy Green was second Jonny Watt finished third and was the top angler from the Series on the day .  Thanks to Bill for the invite, and Good Luck to all the anglers fishing the Series for the final match .

 

Morefax AC club match.

Well I was awoken from my slumbers this morning when a car pulled up next to mine in the car park. Getting out of the car I found Kev strolling across the car park to enquire if I fancied a cup of coffee? Silly question really, and I soon had a steaming cuppa firing up the grey matter thanks to Jean . A few weeks ago Dave C had been asked by the Morefax club whether he could rustle up 10 members of Marsh AC to make up the numbers in their club match today, so a few members of The Jinx Squad were granted temporary membership to make up the numbers so they could fish today .

The Morefax lads had planned an early draw (8·30am) but with a few being delayed a 9·30am draw and fishing from 11am - 4pm was settled on. Soon those of us that had stopped over had packed away our overnight gear, bivvies etc and the discussions had started about where would be a favourable draw. The only thing most agreed on however was nobody wanted Pegs 19 or 20 . These however would be in the draw as there were 24 of us fishing today. No Minx or Jinx Jnr today though as they were off to Reading to visit their Gran .

Anyway Draw time soon rolled round and Peg 22 on the car park bank was mine for the day, a shortish walk and a bit to close to those unwanted pegs and Ady had struggled for 30lbs from there yesterday. Dai and Terry had drawn the short straws of Pegs 19 and 20 respectively , while down to my left I had Malc on 24 and Mat on 26.

I was just looking for a nice relaxing day today so decided that the rigs from yesterday would be used once more today as I hadn't stripped them off my top kits yesterday .
The 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG allowed me to cover an area at around 5mtrs straight out in front, while the 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG allowed me to fish the edge of the bush to my left and the NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG was fine for the right hand margin. No change to the bait today either, just my usual 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

At 11am John sounded the All-In and a pot of mixed pellet and corn was deposited on the 5mtr line along with a handful of pellets by the bush and down the margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to the 5mtr line. The float soon slid away but it turned out to be what is rapidly becoming my customary foul hooker , and of course as soon as Malc saw it it shed the hook .

However it wasn't to long before the float buried once more and this time the outcome was more satisfying as after a brief tussle a nice scale perfect common of around 8lbs slid over the net . Malc was romping away however with 4 carp in as many put ins, though of course just as he felt he had it sorted he suffered a run of foul hookers leaving him with little more than a collection of scales on his side tray and a rig in the trees behind him .

Jean had brought me a cup of coffee and the news that Kevin was struggling down on Peg 30. A couple of better Bream were next along for me in quick succession, and while I could see a few fish coming out around the Big Lake it didn't seem as if anyone was bagging up. Indeed nowhere was that truer than Pegs 19 and 20 where Dai and Terry were definitely suffering for their sport ......

 

However Dai did pull the rabbit out of the hat, finally connecting with a decent Carp, which despite giving him a bit of a run around finally found itself safely wrapped in Dai's landing net .

Malc was still getting the odd fish though and from the banter I could hear between him and Simps on Peg 28 so was Simps .

Around 2pm Dave C strolled round with news that Nick B on Peg 5 had landed a PB Carp of 19½lbs , and shortly after Kevin appeared with with a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll. With that taken care of it was back to the fishing, but my next two bites proved to be foul hookers that left me with nothing apart from scales on the hook. Next put in the float buried once more, I connected with what was obviously a decent fish which just plodded off as if it didn't realise it was hooked. At first I feared it was another foul hooked fish, but soon realised it wasn't. It was just a big fish that didn't want to get it's head up, every time I felt I was getting somewhere with it, it would just head off in another direction. After 6-7 minutes I had it in close but still hadn't seen it when it headed of toward the bush to my left. I piled on as much pressure as I dared to stop it and it suddenly popped up right by my nets, a big Common. Luckily I managed to net it first time, but it wasn't till I lifted it clear that I realised what a good fish it was.
On the scales it registered 19¼lbs, a pole caught PB for me , and fortunately Malc was on hand to do the honours with the camera ......

 

As I returned it Terry asked what it had weighed, and when I told him he said that he'd be happy with the ¼ at that point. Of course that was his cue for his float to dip and for him to find that the culprit was a small foul hooked Roach .

As the match wound down I managed another 4 carp and one more Bream before the All-Out was called at 4pm. I thought I had somewhere around 50lbs but wasn't unduly bothered as the big Common had made my day , and I soon had my kit packed up and back in the car before the start of the Weigh-In.

Three of the Morefax guys kicked off the weigh in with a best of 60½lbs from Peg 34. Nick W put 75lbs on the scales at Peg 40 to take an early lead . Next came Simon W with 30¼lbs and Dave C with 58½lbs. Nick B had a good day with 116lbs to take the lead and start a row of Morefax weights, the best of which were Tony Moore on peg 13 with 49lbs and Gary Smithers on Peg 14 with 72¾lbs . Dai managed 22¾lbs, but poor Terry could only muster 2 Roach for 4ozs . My weight was 51¾lbs, but Malc put 91lbs on the scales. Mat had 36¼ but Simps cracked a 'Ton' with 100½lbs . Kev managed a tie with Terry on 4ozs and Dave M was last to weigh with 68½lbs.

Back to the hut and Dave C sorted the results. Winner on the day was Nick Bondeau, taking his first ever match win with his first ever 'Ton' and a PB Carp . Second on the day was Simps with the days only other 'Ton' while Malc finished the day with 3rd place . Thanks to the lads of Morefax AC for the invite today, so an enjoyable couple of days at Rolfs came to an end, not the best of weekends in terms of weights caught, but if it was easy it wouldn't be such a challenge, still great fun all the same and a credit as always to John and Pauline .

Jinx Match 5

Well an earlyish start for me today as it's the fifth Jinx Match in this years Series. I'm not having the best of Series myself this year, but as always it's been a great set of matches to fish . However as an added bonus this weekend I'm stopping over and fishing as a guest on a club match on Sunday . Anyway a look through the curtains revealed a sunny start to the day , so having fed the cats and and demolished a couple of cups of coffee, I soon had the car loaded up with my gear and a few extra bits (sleeping bag, pillows etc) and was on my way. It wouldn't be a trip to Rolfs with out my customary stop in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy's Griddle café and a 'Full English' soon had me set up for the day ahead before I climbed back into the car and headed for Rolfs.

I pulled into the car park just after 10am to find that it was already quite full. A number of the lads had arrived on Friday and had fished the night match which Simon has won with 136¾lbs from peg 16 . Discussion as always focused on how it would fish today, and with it having fished relatively hard last night I wasn't expecting it to produce any mega weights today.

11·30am and time for the draw. Webbo wasn't fishing today and young Liam (Jinx Jnr) at just 8 years old would be fishing his first 5 hour match in his place , and it was agreed that Malc (The Jinx) would have the next peg to keep an eye on him. Well Liam drew Peg 31 meaning Malc had Peg 32, Steve drew Peg 13 but seemed more than happy with that, probably because he'd fished it on Wednesday in the open and had a 'Ton' off of it . My dip into the bag yielded Peg 10, a swift return to to a peg where I'd had a mare on the Sunday of the MD's Pairs Weekend . Take a look at the picture below to see where everyone ended up......

So with my kit collected I made my way round to my peg. I had Neil Riddy for company today tucked behind the bush on my right on Peg 9, and club-mate Tony to my left on Peg 11, while across from me I would have the perfect view as The Jinx and Jinx Jnr went head to head . The set up today wouldn't be to dissimilar to the way I fished it the last time. Two 6mtrs lines (a tad further out than last time) at 10 and 2 o'clock to the platform taken care of by a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG. A 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used on top of the ledge tight to the bank on my left, while a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used to fish by the bush to my right. The bait on the sidetray was 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

With a few minutes to kill prior to the off I had a quick stroll round to see how my Pairs partner Fred(Milo) was doing, and as usual he was his laid back self catching up with the news in the paper. However the finishing touch was The Pink Elephant proudly adorning his head as the latest victim of The Minx ......

So at 1pm the All-In was called and we were underway. A pot of mixed pellets and corn were shipped out onto both 6mtr lines and a handful of pellets to the bush and margin swims. An 8mm banded pellet followed out to the right hand 6mtr line. Not a lot happened straight away but Malc was into a fish almost straight away as was Steve. My first action saw the float bury, but the fish bolted off, the rig returning with a scale embedded on the hook, surely I wasn't going another day like the other Sunday .

The wind was blowing down into the Little Lake today, but despite that I heard a YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!! from down on Peg 40, so that was The Minx up and running ......

Forty five minutes in and my float slid away, obviously another carp, but it felt right and after a short but spirited scrap it was safely in the net, I weighed it to be on the safe side, but at just 8½lbs I needn't have bothered. Liam had seemed to get off to a cracking start with Richard, one of the Rolf's regulars keeping an eye on him .

Tony had got of the mark with a couple of fish and then lifted into another only to have improbable lengths of elastic stripped from his top kit , obviously a foul hooker but slow steady pressure saw Tony sliding the net under it after a few anxious minutes, a big 15lbs+ fish and he repeated this next put in with another weigher that went about 10lbs.

My next fish wasn't quite of the same stamp, a Bream of around 3½lbs but welcome none the less, which was soon followed by a roach. Liam however was having a rare old tussle over on Peg 31. He played it really patiently though and with it safely in the net it was obvious that it was something special. Onto the scales with it and it weighed an even 20lbs!!!!!!!! A PB for Liam and thankfully caught on camera ......

Jean had arrived with a welcome cup of coffee , and while I took a few moments for a much needed caffeine hit I could see that Neil was having a bit of a mare with foul hookers and lost fish, and Steve was suffering too ......

Rumour had it that Simon, fresh from his win in the night match was really struggling to avoid a Minxing from his better half as well . As the match wore on I was falling further back, I did manage another couple of Carp and another couple of Bream, but Tony was steadily pulling away, as were Liam and Malc, but a glance up toward Pegs 19 and 20 revealed that I was probably having a better day than Jon and Dave on what have become 2 pegs that nobody wants to draw in this Jinx Series ......

Malc as per usual was doing his best to provide a bit of entertainment , one fish storming off into the distance before diving under the platform on Peg 33 before snapping him up ......

The next one did the best job however diving under his platform and making drop his landing net into the lake before Malc was on his knees and threading his top kit under the platform and retrieving his landing net in the process ......

...... Somehow though through all this Malc somehow managed to stay connected with the fish and finally got it into the net .

With around an hour to go Paul had taken over from Richard keeping an eye on Liam who was steadily putting a good bag together .......

....... but it was Neil on Peg 9 who seemed to have finally sorted things out and was steadily putting a string of weigher's together in a late run . I did manage to add another 2 Carp to my tally in the last hour, but it was to little to late as the All-Out was called at 6pm.

As I was stopping over it didn't take to long for me to get packed away and get my kit back to the car park and as I walked round it was obvious that C section in particular had fished hard today. Soon the Weigh-In was under way with Clive on Peg 34 kicking off with 110¾lbs, which would prove to be enough for the section and 2nd overall today . Dave had 78¾lbs while Gem set The Minx Mark at a level 65lbs. Nick W had 51¼lbs to be her first victim but Budgie scraped though after matching her 65lbs. Paul followed with 70¼lbs and Geoff had 102lbs 10ozs for his first ever Jinx Ton and 3rd overall . Kev could only muster 20¼lbs though. Neil had indeed sorted it out weighing 113½lbs for the section and the win on the day . My 57¾lbs ensured another Minxing for me while Tony had 102¼lbs for 2nd in section. Steve weighed 51½lbs while Simon's 24lbs ensured Gem took the bragging rights today . Terry had 38¼lbs while Fred with 62½lbs and Mitch with 44¾lbs took 1st and 2nd in section. Jon weighed 21½lbs and Dave M 32¼lbs Ady had a level 30lbs, Mat 21¼lbs but Dai had suffered a real mare on Peg 25 with just 7¼lbs to show for his efforts . Simon W had 48lbs and Pete T a fine 95lbs and Nick W-P 30¼lbs. Which brought us to young Liam who weighed in a magnificent 100lbs in his first ever match beating 21 of us on the day . Finally Malc weighed 84½lbs and was delighted to be beaten by his son off the next peg .

So back to the hut where Malc sorted the results and monies. With todays results Clive has won The Jinx Series for a second year in a row , this time with a match to go. Well Done Fella . The Star of the day however was young Liam (Jinx Jnr), and there's no doubt that he'll take plenty more scalps in the years ahead .

So with the days events over some departed, while some of us stopped on to fish tomorrow. Dave Moore and I grabbed a Chinese takeaway, and spent the rest of the evening chatting by the hut to Kayley, Matt and Malc and I have to say it made for an educational and hilarious evening before I climbed into the car around 11·30pm for a few hour kip ahead of tomorrow .