Rolf's Teams of 3. Spring League.

Well the 2nd round of the series and I drew peg 31 on C section, (the previous winning peg) but for me that was just about the highlight .

At the moment Rolf's hasn't settled down with the fish seemingly content to stay in various pegs and avoid others at all costs.
The change in pellet supplier along with a ban on how much you can feed has also effected the water, and in my opinion the new feed pellet is of such poor quality, that the fish appear to actually back off from swims where it's fed .
I feel that the way forward may be to feed Hemp or groundbait in the future ignoring pellet all together, but only time will tell.

Back to the match and just 4 bites produced 3 small carp for me weighing a meagre 13lbs for 2 points .
Keith in B section managed 31lbs 8ozs for 3 points.

The star on the day for the F4W team was Steve Wilson who weighed 97lbs 8ozs from peg 34 for a section win and 8 points, finishing overall runner-up in the match .

This leaves F4W tied on 22 points in 5th after 2 rounds of the series.

Rolf's Teams of 3. Spring League.

Well Sunday morning found me loading the kit into the car for a 70 mile trip to Rolf's Lake in Oxfordshire where I was taking part in the Spring Teams of 3 League with Malc and Nick as part of the Fish4Wales Team .

It was dull and overcast with the threat of rain and a fine drizzle would come and go all day leaving everything soaked by the end .

Waiting in the car park for the draw Malc decided to sort out a couple of rigs for the match ahead. Reaching into his seat box he produced this............

Good Friday, and Maria declares this morning that she's going over to visit one of her friends, so why don't I pop out for a days fishing?
Why not indeed, I've got plenty of pellets and corn, so fill the flask and load up the car and by 9·30am i'm pulling into the carpark at Hartleylands.

Plenty of cars and people gave notice of a busy day, so I popped up to the reservoir to have a look round.
Right on cue as I got out of the car the drizzle started, but I had a stroll round anyway, but as I reached peg 8 i spotted a friendly face in the shape of Terry aka Wily Coyote.
After a brief chat I retieved my gear and settled down on peg 7 next to Terry. It was bit windy from our right to left, but a relatively mild 12 degrees and overcast. Most anglers including Terry were fishing feeders or ledger rigs of various descriptions, but one chap on what looked like peg 13 was catching on a Baggin Wag, showing that some of the fish had to be up in the water.

I set up a waggler to give the pellet a go up in the water, but after an hour without a touch that's up the bank and it's time to christen my new Okuma Twin tip Avon rod, pairing it up with my Capricorn 3500 to fish a Baggin Wag with hair rigged corn 2ft deep. Groundbait was simply GOT Baits pure brown crumb with a couple of handfulls of Swimstim Micro's added.

Within 10 minutes I was into my 1st carp of the day, a really plump fish that Terry and I thought might scrape 10lbs

Terry on seeing this decided to have some of that, as he'd only managed 4 of 5 skimmers up to that point.
He was soon into action

The resulting fish while not being the largest was at least most welcome

I soon had another mirror of a similar stamp to my 1st

however sport was never fast and furious with gaps between bites, then 2 or 3 fish and another gap, well for me at least, Terry was having one of those days where he couldn't buy another bite.

About 12·30 the sky became greyer and the wind got up a bit more, brollies were raised and then the rain came.
At this point Terry's umbrella decided to snap and collapse on him.
Such was the change in the weather that I phoned Malc just to check whether he was in the area???
Having been told it was sunshine and Teeshirt weather in Wales followed by howls of laughter, i bid him a fond farewell just as the rain started to ease.

I seemed to get a run of fish, either mirrors or commons, 2 or 3 at a time, it was if the fish were cruising in small pods.

The commons, while not the largest at the moment, are truely lovely fish, fighting fit and as fat as butter, indeed all the fish appear to have wintered well and bulked up.

As the afternoon went on the wind dropped and the sun tried to poke through the clouds. Terry reverted to the feeder, but alas it wasn't going to produce anything for him, Meanwhile I managed my 20th carp of the day and tried to look apologetic as Terry did the honours with the camera for me once more.

Back to the Baggin Wag for Terry, but still no joy as I coaxed another couple, and as 4·30 arrived I slid my 25th carp of the session over the net, a nicely marked mirror around the 12lb mark

Terry and I looked at each other and decided to call it quits. A good day for me, but one of almost total frustration for Terry, hard to credit that at times our floats were a matter of feet from each other with such wildly different results, but I suppose that's the enigma of fishing.

My thanks to Terry for his company on the day, we must do it again, hopefully with a more even result next time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dave the Fish's 

Fur and Feather Fun Match.

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 :-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maggotdrowning.com

 Individual Championships 2005.

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

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

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

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

I had drawn peg 25 with Steve12 to my right,

and Simon(me) and MarkC to my left.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESULTS.

Well today was one of those spur of the moment days, I've been off with MrsM for a couple of weeks, and one of our golden rules is that if we're both off I don't normally go fishing, but as she had brought me a new pole last week I was itching to try it out, just to make sure I'd set up the elastics right you understand.

Maria said last night that she was going to visit a friend today so I thought I may as well snatch a few hours down at Hartleylands on the Reservoir.

There was a bit of rain about as I woke up this morning, so a leisurely breakfast meant that I didn't load the tackle up till 10·30am, and a bit of traffic meant that I didn't arrive at the farm till noon. There were eight people already fishing on the Reservoir as I settled in on peg 5.

Bait for the day was GOT Baits 6mm expanders and paste, with their 4mm hard pellets as feed. I've been using GOT Baits since a visit to Rolf's earlier in the year and feel that quality wise their range is second to none.
I set up 1 swim in the left hand margin where there was a nice 2ft of water, and a comfy open water swim at 7mtrs with about 7ft of depth. The margins would be fed by hand and wouldn't be touched until clouds of mud betrayed fish feeding with confidence. 2 large pots of pellet primed the 7mtr line.

1st put in on the 7mtr line with an expander at dead depth brought a positive bite straight away and a sharp lift resulted in a few feet of Black Hydro streaming out of the top kit and after a brief tussle a nice plump mirror of about 4lbs was in the net, a nice way to christen a new pole.

1st on the new pole.

Let me say at this point that I tried Hydrolastic when it 1st came out and didn't get on with it. However having visited the likes of Stockton, Clattercote and Rolf's this season I've decided to give it another go in the new pole.I've taken the No1's out of the match kits and cut the power tops back to match, resulting in very stiff kits that I've elasticated through 2 sections. The stiffness of the kits seems to be the key with Hydro. Throughout the afternoon I alternated between 7mtrs and the margin using kits with both red and black hydro fine tuning the tension till I was happy with it.

Typical Reservoir carp

Sport was nice and steady all afternoon despite the occasional flurry of rain and by 5·15pm I'd managed 32 carp, the best being around 8lbs, 3 tench and a dozen skimmers, a great workout for the new pole.

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Lake Match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today I had the pleasure of fishing as a guest with Dave (The Fish) Collier and his clubmates from Marsh AC at Newlands Hall just outside Chelmsford in Essex.

I had heard some good reports about the sport on offer from Dave in the past, and having guested with the club before knew that they are a good bunch to enjoy a days fishing with.

The draw saw me picking peg 20 which proved to be in the opposite corner from the car park.

I have to say that the lake appeared to be a little down on it's normal level, but my peg looked decent enough.

Setting up provided a bit of a shock however, as plumbing up revealed no more than 14 inches of water anywhere, not even at 13 mtrs!!!!! Indeed there was a whole extra inch in the left hand margin, but that was it.

Mud clouds everywhere betraying a silty bottom and fish moving on the top showed that there were obviously plenty of fish stocked, but with the promise of changeable weather, just how it would fish looked as if it would be in the lap of the gods.

10am and all in, and after 45 mins just a single fish to pellet wasn't the start i was looking for, John opposite me was catching fairly regularly as was Dave on Peg 30 in the corner by the carpark. A change to paste tempted another couple for me just as it started to rain. It let up at around noon and with a few fish showing on top I managed to sneak a few out on dapped dog biscuit.

1pm and a half time weigh in took place, Dave putting 70lbs+ plus on the scales, John opposite 50lbs+ and myself around 30lbs while others had struggled.
2pm and we were off for part 2, and a breeze from right to left was preventing me taking full advantage of fish coming to the surface as someone to my right was feeding floaters that kept dragging the fish away. Periodicaly they would come back as they chased the surplus, and when they did I could pick a few off. John opposite was still catching regularly, while Dave appeared to be either playing or netting a fish every time i glanced over there.

Weigh in time and John opposite was soon leading with 150lbs+ while I had managed about another 60lbs to leave me just short of The Ton overall. Dave had had a cracking afternoon with his total for the day coming just short of a Double Ton at 197lbs.

So an enjoyable day in good company finished with 3rd for me at another new venue (I seem to be fishing a lot of them this year) and after we all decamped to the pub for a well earned pint.
Thanks to Dave and the lads of Marsh AC for the day, it was a pleasure to fish with you all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The JINX Series 2005

Match 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

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

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...

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

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

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

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)

Thanks to all for a good 2005 series.

Malc Doyle100lb+ JINX CLUB MEMBER 

The JINX Series 2005

Match 5.

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

 

The Eastern Intersite Match.

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