I had arranged to meet Dave the Fish at Hartleylands today, with a view to having a practice for the forthcoming Intersite match. To say that it was a dull, grey, wet, windy, and thoroughly miserable day would be an understatement!

Some of the Total-Fishing lads had come down for a practice and after a brief chat they set off to fish Peartree while Dave and I set up on Nicks.

Vince appeared to give us a pep talk, but things at the start were a shade slow, so Vince was dispatched to the Bakery at the farm shop for the pies. With these consumed Vince bid us farewell as he had to collect some people from Gatwick .

Dave and I redoubled our efforts ringing the changes to get an idea of what would and wouldn't work. At times the drizzle seemed to be falling horizontally instead of vertically, but we ploughed on for the good of the team, putting together bags including Tench, Skimmers, Carp and Barbel until about 3·30pm when Daves joints decided they had had enough of the cold and wet.

As a taster these are a few pics of some of the stock in Nicks.........

GHOSTIES.....

KOI.....

BARBEL.....

All in all a worthwhile day,with some methods sorted and filed away for use on the day, and the promise of more to come before the big day.

Having been told by Maria that she would be working late today, I decided that I'd sneak off and have a few hours at Harleylands today .
Looking out of the window at 7am, the car was covered in frost, so it was another ½hr under a nice warm duvet followed by a leisurely breakfast before loading the car.
I got to Hartleylands just after 10am, and with just 3 other cars in the car park, and with a layer of cat-ice on Samsons pond, I drove up to have a look at the reservoir. Getting out of the car i realised just how strong and cold the wind was and decided to go for a bit of comfort and fish Finches which sits in a hollow about 20 feet below the reservoir and would be nicely sheltered.

Looking down Finches...

I fancied fishing the pole,and given the steep nature of the banks at the car park end, elected to have a stroll down to the far end where the flatter banks make it easier to fish at 13 mtrs to the far bank cover.
Setting up on the end peg I noticed that yet again the fishery staff had been hard at work renewing all the platforms on the pegs, Nice solid 1 mtr square wooden platforms that are covered in chickenwire so that they are non-slip .

End peg...

I just set up the one top kit threaded with white Hydro, with a rig comprising of a Drennan Carp 6 float with 4lb line straight through with a bulk and two no10 droppers ending with a 18 Kamasan Animal. Bait was to be sweetcorn fished over micro halibut pellets, with a few expanda pellets prepared as an alternative hookbait.

I wasn't expecting any fireworks, but after 20mins the float slid away and I connected with a nice Common that after a brief scrap, slid over the net to brighten up the day. A nice plump fish in mint condition that went just over 5lbs......................

1st of the day...

Slow and steady would be the best description of the day, 13 bites produced 12 Carp and 1 Submarine that just wandered off down the lake without stopping. I don't think it even knew that it was hooked!!!!
The rest were a mix of Commons and Mirrors, all plump fish between 3 & 5 lbs, and in beautiful condition .

...

Part of the days catch...

...

So all in all, a nice little session with about 40lbs of fish on a day that didn't promise an awful lot at first. Yet again Hartleylands had come up with the goods.

Hawthorne AC

AT Supercup match.

So off down to Harleylands for our Supercup match this morning.
On the way down in the car and the outside temp is reading -2°C, and the fields are so white with frost that it looks as if it had snowed.
On arriving at the fishery the temp has risen to a stunning 0°C but there doesn't appear to be any signs of frost! There's a bright blue sky and just a gentle breeze. The water temp is 4°C.

Into the draw, and I find myself making my way to peg 20, with a leasurely 1½hrs till the start of the match.

Peg 20,Looks lovely doesn't it?......

Well I've been told that feeder (either maggot or groundbait) with a ·08 hooklength and a 22 with single red maggot is the way to go dropped about a metre away from the island, so that gets set up 1st.
Can't resist setting up the pole as well and the main line of attack will be at 13mtrs where I've got 5ft,using a ·6grm Drennan Lake with a ·07 hooklength and a 22 again.Through the top2 I've got the new Drennan green dual core (6-8) set soft,as I'm expecting stockies no bigger than 12ozs max.

All in,and after cupping in a few micro pellets and a small amount of dry groundbait on the pole line,it's out on the feeder.
Well it wasn't happening for me but the lad to my left on peg 21 is catching steadily from the off while I can't buy a bite,but all the time I've been feeding 2-3 maggots every couple of minutes on the pole line.

After ½hr it's out onto the pole line and after 10mins the float dips,and I'm into a Carp at last,not huge at about 6ozs but at least it's a fish. Another 20mins and not another bite,so back onto the feeder and manage another couple and that's the way it went nearly all match for me. Even a pep talk from Red Leader had no effect other than to lighten the mood.

Well with about ¾hr to go I'm being battered by the next peg, I reckon he must have 20+lbs while I've got abour 6lbs if I'm lucky.
Back out on the pole once more and they're there and in the last 45 minutes I manage a fish a chuck. Why couldn't they have turned up earlier?
Come the weigh-in and the lad to my left puts 22lbs 2ozs on the scales which easily eclipses my 13lbs 9ozs.
The match is won by Medway Tackle (blue) by 14pts to 10pts, so that's us knocked out for another season .

Overall the 16 of us weighed in 235lbs 6 ozs, an average of over 14½lbs per man, which I feel given the conditions just goes to show what a good fishery Harleylands is to produce those sort of weights on a hard January day .

First a word of warning Dear Reader,

If you fancy a quiet days fishing in pursuit of Perch DON'T post the idea on Maggotdrowning.com.
Hijacked?.........Well at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

Last week realising that i'd be off today (friday) I posted on the going fishing section,

"I fancy a day at Hartleylands on Friday the 2nd to kick off the New Year.
Anyone else up for it?"
Thinking that someone may be mad enough to fancy a trip out after the excess of Christmas & New Year.
Dave the Fish mentioned that he fancied a crack at the large Perch that inhabit Samson pond, and before you could say "STRIKE" they were all lining up to join in.

Welshmen (Dai & son Dan) were planning round trips from the valleys, while a grumpy ex-pat old Englishman, moved a doctors appointment to stow away to his homeland.
Colin joined in because he had to supply a kettle for Dave the Fish, While Mick (Weyback) tagged along on the flimsy pretence of aquiring a ring for an old rod.
Terry aka Wily Coyote decided that as he'd found his "Winter Woolies" he'd better use them, and on the day from out of the blue "The Hat" aka Andy appeared.

Vince, the bailiff on hearing of this mini invasion, suddenly found a visit to his
Mother-in-law to be preferable,in case he had to get the excavator out to extend the pond, though he did appear briefly to part us from some ££££'s for BDAA raffle tickets.

Malc? Who knows with his inherent sense of direction, he may still be wandering the surrounding lanes seeking a sign.

So to the fishing.
Well it was soon apparent that 9 into a tiny pond that may at a squeeze take 7 wasn't going to happen so some split to other parts of the fishery.
The Hat & Wily to the reservoir, with The Hat armed with his new margin pole to try for his target of a "Twenty" on the pole, while Wily just wanted to be alone to recover from the shock that grumpy ex-pat old Englishman (Geoff),was in fact the very same Master G Palmer that he had been at school with some 40 years before.
Mick to the relative seclusion of Finches, while Colin elected to try Hennicker, though he later shifted to Nick's Lake.
The rest of us?
Being Lazy Buggers piled onto Samson, despite it being at least a 2 yard walk from the car park.

Oh yes , the fishing.............. Well not exactly stunning.
The Hat got his Carp, just a shame that it had been on a diet and lost 15lbs, but did get a specimen Perch

Colin managed to save his day with some small Carp from Nicks lake.

Dave wondered if his float tip would ever get wet, but did manage a couple of silvers at the death on some month old pinkies. Mind you he did have the handicap of seeing a beardless Geoff in the swim next door all day.

Geoff managed a couple of Gudgeon and a few silvers, but was left cursing after losing a Common Carp of about 5lbs, that smashed him having swum through some brambles, and promptly retreated under his hood and baseball cap to hide his shame.

Dai, despite the provocation of Geoffs phone playing "Sweet Chariot" at various times got a few silvers and a start in "The Fishing race 2004", but poor Dan despite trying with Dads pole in his swim only succeeded in bumping the 3 Roach he hooked.

Me?
3 small Carp and another Common lost when the hook came out, and about 20 assorted small Skimmers, Roach and Hybrids.

And 12 points for The Fishing Race 2004 ...........

The best bite of the day? Without doubt the hot pasties and pies that Dave the Fish kindly supplied half way through the day from the farm bakery. Nice one Dave.

So that was it a nice quiet day out that became a mini fish-in.
Friendships made and renewed, and faces put to names. A laugh and a joke with the fishing becoming incidental.
All in All......A Grand Day Out.

Well what a weekend!!!

First off it was down to Hartleylands farm to meet Dave the Fish and the lads of Marsh AC for their club match on Finches Pond.

Dave had kindly invited me to come along and fish as a guest of his club, so who was I to refuse .
An 8 am draw in the car park, and a brief chat with Vince (vg1037) the bailiff, who unfortunately wouldn't be fishing with us, saw the pegs allocated and off we strolled to set up.

Looking down over Finches....

It's a lovely intimate little pond, with only about a dozen pegs on it, and nearly everyone was occupied. I must admit that I had some reservations as to whether it would be able to handle this sort of pressure, as it's more of a pleasure venue in my eyes.
Still nothing ventured..........the pond itself holds a good head of fish, Carp up to 28lb, including good number of "high doubles", Roach up to 1½lbs, Skimmers, Perch and Chub up to 4lb, and of course Eric the Eel, who when last caught weighed 7lb.

I arrived at my peg, No4 and was faced with a good 16 mtrs to the far bank cover, possibly the widest swim on the pond, now given the fact that the peg is reached by about 15 steps down through trees and I was only guesting I wasn't about to spend all day shipping a pole back uphill, so out came the waggler rod (shock horror ) mind you I did set up a margin swim to tackle with my margin pole and some swimstim paste .

Peg 4...

Well come the off, and the pace wasn't exactly electric, and with 5 of us almost fishing the same bit of water, there was plenty of banter ( P*** taking) especially as Dave was on peg 2 and Colin was on peg 5.
A little further up the pool a few fish started to show after the hour mark, but nobody was setting the place alight, with mostly just small Roach putting in an appearance.
A while later Dave wandered round for yet another chat, by which time I had the margin pole out with a big bit of paste. As we chatted the float did a little dance and decided to vanish and my astonished strike met with an immoveable object, then the rig sprang back with a large scale firmly attached to the hook.
I was sure that I could hear laughter as Dave returned to his peg.
The day was wearing on and it was still all to play for with anyone that managed a good last hour in with a chance.
No more action on the paste, so back out on the waggler to see if a few more roach would play, away went the float and this wasn't the expected Roach!!!!!
Now on a 2lb bottom and size 20 a little care was called for, and after 5 minutes of supremely skillfull playing a 10lb Mirror Carp was safely in the net .........

and here's the resulting Carp..............

I'd love to say that things picked up from there, but it was not to be, just a few more small Roach for me, but Dave had the good last hour and managed 6 Carp to pick up the win on the day, while my 11½lbs left me somewhere in midfield.

A shy winner on Peg 2...

Still thanks to the lads at Marsh AC for an enjoyable day, shame about the crash on the A21 though that meant it took me nearly 3 hours to get home.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 2	Dave Collier	22lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 8	Tony Roberts	16lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 3	Jim Boase	15lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 7	Roger Noakes	12lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 4	Peter Morton  (Guest)	11lbs 02ozs
6th	Peg 5	Colin Sharrard	9lbs 06ozs
7th	Peg 6	Steve Wormall	5lbs 05ozs
8th	Peg 11	Dave Wormall	2lbs 07ozs
9th	Peg 10	Den Lambird	1lbs  02ozs
10th	Peg 12	Malcolm Norman	03ozs
11th	Peg 9	Ken Walker	01oz
12th	Peg 1	Tim Ford	DNW

Sunday, November 16, 2003.

Hawthorne AC club match.

A club match at Framfield Fisheries on Brookhouse lake. At the draw we always run a football sweep to raise club funds and yours truly won it (£28 nice )
Into the draw and it's peg 30 for me, a peg with no real form and on reaching it I have to say I wasn't inspired, as the water was icy despite the sun the previous day and the colour appeared to be dropping out of it.

Peg 30

Well I had a plumb around but couldn't find a feature but with the most depth at 11-13 mtrs that was going to be the line of attack. Meat is the going bait there at the moment, so it was going to be a question of just dripping in bait a bit at a time through a kinder pot, meat at 11mtrs and caster at 13mtrs with a couple of margin swims as a get out of jail job.

Well the lake was flat calm with nothing showing, all the action took place on the opposite side of the island, only odd little Roach and Skimmers showing on my side.

Still Life...

Well come the weigh-in and i've managed a meagre 3½lbs of small silvers for another midway finish, but there in the net lay a small Rudd of 2ozs. We run a Fish of the Day competition ( another of our treasurers little money making schemes), and guess who won another £10 for Fish of the Day. So at least i walked away £38 better off than I'd started the day.

 

Well this weekend saw me spending a good part of my time at Hartleylands Fishery................

Marsh AC club match.

Saturday was at the invitation of Dave (Dave the Fish), His club Marsh AC had booked the Reservoir for one of their club matches and as all the pegs weren't taken, Steve (beebs) Jason (NofinPhish) and Myself recieved an invitation to join them.
Assembling in the Carpark for an 8.30am draw, it was nice to meet John (tutu) and Colin who had accompanied Dave to the Welsh Fish-in. Also present, though in a working capacity was Vince (vg1037) the Bailiff at Hartleylands.

I drew in the high 30's and arrived at my swim to find the wind blowing in my face and the only shady peg on the whole fishery, so while others sat around in tee shirts & shorts, I was in a bib & brace and a fleece (M/D's of course )
I started on the poleline at about 10mtrs fishing pellet and managed to winkle out 6 skimmers and a small carp before the wind made presentation too awkward. Had I not been a guest I would have gone straight onto the method feeder as this is a banker for a few Carp, but sitting in my carryall was a ball of paste.
Now paste fishing is not one of my strengths, but having read a few of Malc's exploits, it's a bait I'm determined to get to grips with, so it was out with the margin pole, tie up a couple of rigs and lets have a go.

Paste in the margin.......

Well lets just say that it was fun , trying to condition myself not to strike every dip and tremor of the float, and towards the end of the afternoon having tried endless variations of rigs I felt as if i was coming to terms with it and a few decent fish had ended up in the net .

4pm and time for the weigh in and with Vince in charge we worked our way around.
Dave had set the pace with a 40lb bag, with everyone having caught a few.

Nice one for Dave........

Colin put just over 51lbs on the scales, all caught on the Method, which was to prove the winning weight. Steve had contented himself with using the day to practice his silver fish approach in readiness for the intersite match in a couple of weeks, and definatley caught more fish than anyone for a bag in the teens.

The Weigh-in......

Jason proved to be the dark horse, in what he professed to be his first ever fishing match, and duly put 49lbs on the scales for 2nd place. Well done Jason (I may have to rethink the team ).
Last but one to weigh was me and I was pleasantly surprised to see the needle creep round to 47lbs, nearly all paste caught .

So thanks to Dave and the lads of Marsh AC for a very pleasant day as their guest, I hope you enjoyed yourselves, I certainly did.

Hawthorne AC club match.

So Sunday morning and i'm in the Carpark again, this time for a Hawthorne AC match on Nicks Lake. Nicks is one of 3 new lakes that have just been opened at Hartleylands and was only stocked with fingerling Carp last November, but already these fish weigh around 6ozs.

A low turnout of only 15 anglers meant that we only put the even pegs in the draw to give everyone a bit of room, and peg 10 was mine, It was flat calm as we set up but as soon as the whistle blew so did the wind.

Peg 10..........

Now Vince had warned me that the fish tend to follow the wind, so you can imagine my joy to find the wind blowing from behind me and blowing my fish away.
I wish I could say that I fished a blinder, but I wasted far too much time on a pellet line scratching for bites. I finally started to get a few at 12mtrs to maggot, but it was to little to late. I managed to put 15lbs 6ozs on the scales for 6th, but only 17lbs was needed for 2nd. At least I got another 3 points for the fishing race, having caught a few small Ghosties.

Mint little Ghostie....

Mike Vincent ran away with it, with 28lbs 4ozs for 1st. Everyone caught though and in a couple of seasons time this is going to be an awesome match venue.

So that was my weekend, 1 fishery but two very different lakes,and mixed fortunes .

Well a day off today and it seemed a shame to waste it, so after dropping Maria at work it was off down to Hartleylands Farm near Cranbrook in Kent.

The object of the exercise was to try out one of the new lakes on the complex as our club have a match on there in the near future. Nick's Lake is the largest of the three new lakes and has been stocked with small Common, Mirror and Ghost Carp between 8oz and 1.5lb, a few larger specimens up to 5lb and some good Roach and skimmers.
Acting on advice recieved from Vince the Bailiff, I headed to a peg with the wind blowing into it,and set up a couple of rigs to fish expanda pellet. Owing to the recent weather the water level on this lake is about a foot down which left me with about 2 feet of water at the top of the shelf, and 3 at the bottom of it.
Things were slow at the start, but after a chat with Paul (the owner) and a bit of fine tuning of rigs and feeding I was soon catching a steady stream of small stockies .

A Pristine Roach.

A Darker Common.

Well from the first put in it was almost non stop. Carp to about 4lbs, Tench and Roach all getting in on the act. The Carp were a curious mix from classic golden tones to all shades, some being almost black, all being fighting fit and in great condition .

Last one of the day.

Thanks to Vince and Paul for the tips and advice, if you're in the area do yourself a favour and pay Hartleylands a visit, you won't regret it.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well I have to say that the best part about todays club match at Hartleylands Reservoir was the Breakfast at The Little Chef beforehand.
The Reservoir at Harleylands is situated at one of the highest points of the farm, and when the wind blows you can really suffer .

Long pole is the name of the game here 12mtrs+, but with the wind being so variable from flat calm to a howling gale all day, presentation proved a nightmare with just a few small Roach as my reward for sticking it out for the first 2 hours.

It got so bad that I sat it out on the feeder for the final 3 hours! Twice the tip went round resulting in a couple of plump 2lb+ Carp. Then right on the final whistle the tip went again and I carefully played a similar Carp to the net, but at the very last second it rolled on the hooklength and was off.
At the scales i weighed 5lbs 14ozs for 5th,but that lost Carp had cost me 3rd place.
It just about sums up the way my season has gone in the club matches.
Just one more club match to go at Willow Park next month and then we can do it all over again!!!!!!!!!

Hawthorne AC club match.

It's off to Hartleylands Farm for the 8th match of Hawthorne AC's season today, and as I jumped into the car to make my way down to the fishery the heavens opened, and didn't let up for the whole trip down until i pulled into the car park.
The fishery at Hartleylands Farm comprises a number of ponds and an irrigation reservoir,which is where we were to fish today.

After the usual welcomes and insults from those fishing today it was time for the draw, thrusting my hand into the draw bag I was rewarded with peg 17, which as it turns out is the very peg I struggled from in this years AT SuperCup match, so not a good start , but in for a penny........

Now there are a lot of Skimmers & Roach present in the reservoir but you really need to target the Carp to frame on the reservoir at this time of year, and if they aren't in your peg you'll struggle, which is exactly what I did !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 It didn't seem to matter what I tried I couldn't get a sniff of a Carp all day. The only thing that would take my bait were either Skimmers or Roach and at the end my rather meager weight of 22lbs 3ozs was only good enough for 12th place .
Still some good weights were recorded, The match was won with a weight of 83lbs 14ozs of Carp caught by Paul Ollerenshaw,(The reigning Club Champion) for his 5th win in 8 matches ............

Some nice fish came out, including this one for Don Freeman, a nice plump Mirror Carp of 9lbs 15ozs ..............

Not my day today, but it beats the hell out of being at home and decorating. Anyway roll on Friday when I'm taking the brother-in-law Chris out for a days punt fishing at Old Bury Hill in an attempt to get him his first ever Tench.