The Southern Intersite Match.

Well today was the day of the annual Southern Intersite Match, where 4 teams of 10 anglers representing 4 angling forums pit their wits and fishing skills against each other in a light hearted match . Well I say light hearted, but over the years it's become quite competitive for some, but as usual I'm fishing for the team from Maggotdrowning.com and our ethos is still to enjoy ourselves and the day without actually trying to win . The other teams are from Angling Forums, Total Fishing.com and TalkAngling so we'll see how the day goes . The first look out of the bedroom window was promising, offering the promise of a decent day weather-wise ahead, though the forcast reckoned we might get a few showers at some point .
A cup of coffee to kick start the old grey matter, then get the car loaded before setting off for the fishery. A nice easy drive down saw me pulling into the fishery just after 8am and pulling up in the car park next to Mick the Chippy. Climbing out of the car it was strangely still, and people were saying that the lakes were like glass with no hint of a ripple to be seen, a very rare occurrence at Monks!!!!!

Down to the chuck wagon for a bacon sarnie and coffee and the greetings and banter were soon in full flow as the 4 teams started to assemble prior to the draw.. New faces being introduced, while old ones were greeted and abused in equal measures . 9am and the team captains drew their teams pegs which were then alloted to their team members. The MD's draw was done and with 5 sections on each lake peg 60 on Lake 2 was mine. I was quite happy with that as I much prefer Lake 2 having fished it more than Lake 1.

With new match rules in place at Monk Lakes including bait and net limits, decisions had to be made about bait and as I loaded my kit up onto the barrow I selected 7 pints of pellets, a couple of tins of corn and 2kg of groundbait for the day as well as 4 keepnets (well you never know your luck ).

With my gear safely round to my peg it was time to set up. Peg 60 has a decent bit of depth and a decent left hand margin to a bush. The plan was to fish paste and pellet and concentrate on 2 lines today, 5mtrs straight out where there was around 5½ft and the margin with around 2½ft. For the 2 paste rigs I selected a couple of Malman SC paste floats made up on 0·18 Power Match with size 12 Ashima Barbless hooks. I also set up a Malman 4X 14 Champers on 0·14 power match with a size 16 Drennan Carp Match hook for fishing the pellet on the deck out at 5mtrs and a Malman Slapper, again on 0·14 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan Carp Match hook for up in the water, that would also double up for the margin if needed. Bait wise the paste was a bag of Dynamite Swim Stim Amino Original that I had put through a liquidiser to make it really fine and added a packet of GOT Baits pineapple Atomic Cloud which mixes up to a nice soft consistency, a selection of hard and soft hook pellets and some corn, with 6mm pellets for feed.

With the new weight limits in place I put 3 keepnets in straight away just in case, as I didn't want to run the risk of disturbing the margin later if I was catching well. Everything was ready by 10·30am and with half an hour to go I strolled back to the car to get my jacket just in case we got the odd shower (You aren't allowed to cross the bridge now once the match has started ) Nick(Bag Up) was settling in to peg 46 as I got round to the car, and you couldn't accuse him of being the worlds tidiest angler ......

As I made my way back I took the opportunity of snapping a picture of Clive on end peg 77 as he sat waiting for the off ......

Fred(Milo)Parker fishing for TalkAngling had draw the other end peg (56) and was obviously hoping for a decent day ahead ......

While the lads at the other end were obviously discussing their prospects, and I had to Fancy Nick Gilbert's chances (but not his dress sense ) after he'd drawn peg 67 as he's got a good record at Monks......

So 11am and the All-In was called and I cupped in 2 big pots of pellet at 5 mtrs and fed some pellet down the left margin. I started off with a banded 8mm pellet at 5mtrs which resulted in a couple of lightening fast bites that I couldn't connect with. Third time lucky though as a slower more positive bite resulted in a first fish, a nice plump Mirror of around 2lbs nestling safely in the net . It was a case of steady away from then on really, working the bait , lifting and dropping the rig or a little drag to one side to try and induce a bite. There was just a little to long between bites but the fish that I was getting were plump Mirrors so at least a bit of weight was going in the net and at the end of the first hour I had 7 fish for around 18lbs .

Looking across I could see Hathers(moleman) who appeared to be going along quite nicely on peg 54 and luckily he had a cap on, so I wasn't getting dazzled by the reflection from his bonce ......

while over on peg 46 Nick appeared to be going along quite nicely thank you, regularly putting fish in the net......

Try as I might I just couldn't seem to up the rate , while Mark on peg 59 to my right seemed to be catching faster than me, though he was getting a lot of Barbel (I couldn't actually see though as he was hidden by the bush). So about 12·30 I had my 1st look with the paste rig and while it didn't provide any increase in bites, they were a lot more definite when they came and easier to connect with.

By 1·30pm I was feeling a little parched and realised that I'd left my drinks in the car , and as you're now not allowed across the bridge once the match is on I took a stroll up to Mick to scrounge a drink. The man himself kindly obliged with a whistle wetter and appeared to be enjoying himself as he slid another fish into his waiting landing net while I watched ......

I took the opportunity to pop down and see how Nick was getting on, and he reported that he'd had a blinding start with 20 fish in the net in the 1st hour, things had slowed for him however and he was actually fishing on the deck to keep some fish going in the net !!!!!! Anyone that knows Nick will know that he's a confirmed "up in the water" man, so thought I'd better catch proof of this rare event on camera ......

Just after 2pm I noticed a tail pattern in my left hand margin, so felt it was time for a look there. Just 3 sections were needed to drop the paste down the margin and after a couple of minutes the float slid away and I found myself attached to a better fish that appeared to be determined to go and visit the opposite side of the lake. Almost straight away I could feel it was a foul hooker, but fortunately after a few minutes I was able to slide it tail first into the landing net, another plump Mirror, but this one went about 6lbs .

I stayed with the margin swim for the remainder of the match, yet again I couldn't up my catch rate though. However I was putting fish into the nets on a regular basis even if it wasn't quite as quick as I would have liked and felt I should have brought some maggots with me as they would probably have drawn a few more Barbel into the peg .

Looking around it was hard to see how others were doing due to the lush bankside vegetation, indeed I could just see Clive's head peeking above making him appear somewhat like a Jap Sniper in the jungle ......

While Mick being somewhat loftier in the height department (though he may have been standing up ) could be seen playing another fish when I glanced round ......

My final 40 minutes were quite frustrating as sport seemed to slow right down, and I only managed to put a couple of fish in the net in this period meaning that when the All-Out was called I'd ended the match with 40 fish in my nets. Clive and I had drawn scales duty for the causeway so I managed to get packed away and my kit back to the car while we waited for the scales as they weighed the car park bank first.
Unfortunately Nick(Bag Up) fell foul of the new rules as his 2 nets at the Weigh-In were both over 60lbs so he only recorded a level 100lbs (50lbs for each net ) I'm not really sure what happened there though as he had 4 nets in the water during the match .

So we finally got round to the Weigh-In on the causeway and Morgan kindly took on the recording duties allowing Clive and myself to get on with the weighing. Fred kicked off with 114lbs. Mark Smith took the honours in my section (8) with a fine 145lbs, which proved to be the 3rd best weight on the day, and giving me a right battering off the next peg as my 98 lbs was only good enough for 3rd in section . Section 9 saw 3 consecutive 'Tons' brought to the scales with Nick Gilberts being the best of them at 168¼lbs and the top individual weight on the day . The final section (10) saw all four anglers record 'Tons', with Roland Lucas's 153½lbs, which was the 2nd highest weight on the day winning the section . Billy Lowe put 128½lbs on the scales to record his first ever 'Ton' in a match and take 2nd in section, while poor Clive's 112½lbs was only good enough for last in section .

So with the Weigh-In completed we made our way back to the car park for the results and it was obvious that Lake 2 had been the one to draw, with Lake 1 fishing much harder, in fact just a single 'Ton' weight was recorded on Lake 1 by Paul Law (justin case) the Talk Angling Team Captain . With all the results in it was the lads from Total Fishing that took the honours on the day by just a single point from the Angling Forums team. Maggotdrowning trailed into 3rd place with the lads from Talk Angling bringing up the rear.

All in all it had proved to be a good day though, Thanks to Vince for organising todays match with his usual customary efficiency . Thanks to Morgan and his staff for providing his fishery for the day  and finally Thanks to everyone from all the forums who made it a most enjoyable day with the match fished in the right spirit, nice to catch up with some we already knew and others for the first time . Happily for me, and unfortunately for Vince  normal service had been resumed and Vince had to hand back one of my Golden Nuggets that he'd taken from me at Rolf's, so a nice end to the day for me at least .

The Southern Intersite Match.

A nice smooth run saw me pulling into the car park at Monk Lakes at around 8am. I'm fishing for the Maggotdrowning.com team today in The Southern Intersite Match. The Intersite matches were originally conceived as friendly get-togethers where members of the various angling forums could meet and put faces to names from the various forums and enjoy a light hearted day out at the same time. However there's quite a competitive element to these matches nowadays though the Maggotdrowning ethos is still to enjoy ourselves and enjoy the day without winning .

By 9am all the teams were assembled for the draw, with only the Total Fishing team being an angler short . Our team for the day was Nick Gilbert(captain). Matt Nutt, Gary Thorpe, Matt Love, Vince Gould, Paul East, Bill Gibbins, Clive Pritchard, Trevor Little and Peter Morton(myself). We were fishing Match Lakes 1 & 3 today and my draw gave me peg 112 at the end of the causeway by the aerators on Lake 3. Settling in to my peg i fancied it for a decent days fishing as I had a vacant peg to my left and the wind off my back. I had Ant Sparrow(antmusic) of Total Fishing for company behind me on 113, the other aerator peg and looking across I could see Fred Parker(milo) from TalkAngling and Vince to his right.

The Southern Intersite Match.

Well today saw me making the relatively short trip down to Willow Park Fishery at Ash Vale for the Southern Intersite match and within an hour of leaving home I was pulling into the car park to see many of the participants already there, ready and eager for hopefully a good days fishing, despite the fact that it was obviously going to be a scorchingly hot day.

Breakfast taken care of, most of the anglers were eager for the draw and while we waited many took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones that they had only spoken to on the various forums before. In that respect it was nice to meet up with bad.boy bagger and baging up art, two lads from Bath who use the TalkAngling forum and had told me how much they had enjoyed reading this blog, Cheers Lads.

A quick phone call meanwhile revealed that unfortunately Dai Thomas wouldn't be joining us as an electrical problem with his car had forced him to return home to Wales. However a local stepped in to make up the numbers for us ensuring that we would not be short on the day.

Vince's team meeting was short and to the point, with just 1 instruction.......DON'T WIN!!!!!!!!.
I should probably explain at this point that Maggotdrowning.com team members don't take the Intersite Team matches too seriously, indeed when the series started, it was designed to be light hearted, and an opportunity for anglers from other sites to meet each other, put faces to names and have a bit of fun. We have just carried on with that ethos despite a competitive edge creeping in for some other teams.

So with the draw over it was time to make our way to our pegs. I already knew that I would be fishing the Big Lake and peg 73 on the culvert bank was going to be "home" for the next 5 hours.

 A nice comfy peg and with the pegging leaving every other peg out, plenty of room to operate. Given the good head of Bream present I set up 2 feeder rods and paced them both out to around 45yds and clipped them both up.
Groundbait was the new Bait-Tech Special'G' Green with Casters and chopped worm added and worm, caster or a combination of both as hookbaits. I did set up a pole for a line at 8mtrs but this was very much a get out of jail option as I wanted to concentrate on the feeder.

All set up with 25 minutes to go I took a stroll round to see Vince who was on peg 59 over on the Bungalow Bank in what can be a good Bream swim with the wind blowing into it, though todays bright sunshine rather negated that. He had Perry Stone, one of the local experts for company on end peg 57 but seemed relaxed enough when I left him to get back for the start.

The Southern Intersite Match.

Well, Saturday morning 8am and we all started to assemble in the Cafe at Willow for the Intersite match. It promised to be a grueller as the temperature was already up to 18°C and would make it to 30°C before the day was out.
Last to arrive were Neo and Brian who had travelled up from Wales at less than 24hrs notice to fill in for people that had to drop out, and Milo who had got caught in a bit of traffic.

The team on the day was as follows with the respective lakes we were fishing on...

1. Vince - Big (Team Captain)
2. Peter - Big
3. Milo(Fred P.) - Big

4. Matt Nutt - Middle
5. Gary Thorpe - Middle
6. Blackhydro (Clive)- Middle
7. NoMoreLongWalks(Paul) - Middle
8. Slimcatcher(Nick B.) - Middle
9. Neo1(Nick W.) - Middle

10. Me (Simon) - Small
11. RonB - Small
12. Badatfishing (Darren) - Small
13. Brian Bevan - Small
14. Andy222 - Small
15. Polepot(Nick J.) - Small

How did my match go??????

This was my draw, Peg 77, looks lovely doesn't it?

Unfortunately it proved to be almost entirely devoid of fish, or at least those that were in any way inclined to feed in the heat of the day. 3 hours on the feeder produced not so much as a bite, and the pole line appeared devoid of life as well apart from a few small perch that fell to some worms that polepot had let me have.

A quick visit to vince mid match revealed that he was having an even worse time than me, with just a couple of knocks on the feeder that had come to nothing, although he did lose a beast of a carp right at the death as it dragged his rig through the roots of a nearby bush in the margins.

4pm and the all out revealed the full horror of the battering with Milo weighing 2ozs, Vince recording a DNW and I ended up with 4lbs 4ozs of small Perch, to all finish last in our respective sections.

Our stars on the day were NoMoreLongWalks(Paul), Gary Thorpe and Matt Nutt who each scored section 2nds

Overall the top 5 on the day was as follows.........

Teams.........

Making the running totals for this years series.......

....... with the Northern match still to come.

The Eastern Intersite Match.

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

Southern Intersite Match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ashley with Keith "Fishermans Blues" Arthur .

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

Dan with a specimen Perch...

And a Bream for me...

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

 Western Intersite Match.

Well I travelled down to Sells Green just outside Devizes today for The Westen Intersite Match and arrived at around 7am.
Into the 3 Magpies pub for breakfast and the draw. It was a Top Breakfast and along with Coffee and top ups cost just £4 .
As always it was nice to meet up with some old friends again and put a few faces to those that had previously been only names on a computer screen.

One of the lads in our team had been kind enough to share his info with me via PM, and as I hadn't ever seen the venue I went with it .
As a result of the draw Peg C1 saw me faced with a gap between 2 moored narrowboats at 14½ mtrs, and I fancied it for a few fish, despite it feeling like a winters day .

Well What a Weekend!!!!!

Saturday:

The Southern Intersite Match.

This has been pretty well detailed elsewhere, so I'll keep it brief.
I drew peg 72 on the big lake at Willow Park. You really need a good ripple on the surface, and the Culvert bank pegs were flat calm, so I knew it would be a grueller.

Looking across to the Bungalow bank from peg 72....

Pole at 12mtrs with the float at dead depth and dotted right down was the order of the day for a bag of small skimmers, roach and perch.
Onto the scales at the end for a weight of 11lbs 11ozs.
Only good enough for last in section.

11lbs 11ozs of hard earned fish......

Sunday:

Hawthorne AC club match.

Elphicks Fishery, Sandwich Lake.

Up at the crack of dawn again, and 19 of us met up for the draw, with peg 18 sticking to my hand, I have to say my heart sunk.
Peg 18 is in the far right hand corner as you look across from the car park bank, and Alan & Loz (who fished that peg on an MD's mini fish-in) will vouch for the fact that the average depth is about 18 inches.
Still got to make the most of it. I only set up 1 float rig for the pole fished dead depth (yes all 18 inches of it!) to fish pellet over pellet, with white hydro in the top kit, and I set up my feeder rod.(well I put it back in when i got home the previous night )

Looking over to the car park bank from peg 18....

Yet again flat calm conditions and warm sunshine turned it into hard work, but slowly I managed to get a few bites and put a few fish in the net.
Those that have fished it will tell you that Sandwich lake is a bit of an aquarium with such a wide range of species in it that you never really know what you're going to catch next.
Well by 1pm the pole line had dried up, so it was out with the groundbait feeder with hair rigged meat on the hook which managed to keep the fish coming till the end.
It was a real mixed bag that I took to the scales, Common & Mirror Carp, an ornamental Fantail, Crucians, Roach, Perch, Skimmers, Chub and green and golden Tench.
Nothing big, but they took the scales round to 35lbs 6 ozs, Good enough for 2nd on the day, and a nice way to end a busy weekend.