Marsh AC club match.

An early start for me today as it's a return to The Reservoir at Mill Barn Coarse Fishery for the 3rd Marsh AC match of the year. A glance out of the window confirmed that it looked like a pretty changeable day would lie ahead, so with the cats fed and a couple of coffees drunk the car was loaded up and the waterproofs included along with the rest of the kit . I met up with Chris at Dave's house just after 6am, the reason for the early start being that the first stop today would be a stop at the Castle pub in Little Wakering for breakfast . A steady trip down saw us pulling into the pub car park just after 7·15am to find Kev, Jean and Keith already waiting. I have to say the Full English was Top Quality and well worth the £6 , and having satisfied the inner angler we made our way down to the fishery about 5 minutes down the road.

On arrival we found a number of carpers bivvied up on the car park bank , despite notices posted on the fishery gate reserving this and the left hand bank for our match, but rather than have confrontation we decided to just use 17 pegs down the left hand bank. Waiting for the draw the banter flowed, though I'm not sure that Tony was impressed when he enquired " Where's the sunken island" and I helpfully informed him that "It's under the water".

Time for the draw and when I went up for mine there were no pegs left in the hat!!!! Somehow only 16 numbers had gone in the hat. I agreed to take number 17 to avoid the aggro of a redraw, but John quite fancied fishing next to Martin who was on peg 16, so it was agreed that I would take John's draw (peg 9).

I made my way round to my peg and got down to settling in, the water was well down, well below the swims and with steeply sloping clay there was no way I could get my box down to water level . I elected to stake my nets and fish sitting on the sleeper, a little awkward, but better than being perched high above the water.

Marsh AC club match.

The Top Lake at Rayne Lodge just outside of Braintree in Essex is the venue for what is the second Marsh AC club match of the year. A quick glance through the curtains confirmed that the forecaster hadn't been kidding last night and it promised to be a fine sunny day , so shorts and tee shirt were the order of the day. Cats fed and coffee drunk I loaded up the car and set off round to Dave's house where I met up Chris and Dave for the trip down to the fishery. An accident on the way to the Dartford Tunnel meant we had to divert round it making us a little late, but we still pulled into the car park just after 8am.

Soon all the kit was transfered down the hill to the lake and discussions were underway about the prospects for the day ahead. Vic( SHANGER) Nugent was fishing his first club match with us since joining and had brought his partner Diane along to fish as well , while Keith had brought workmate Mick along as his guest once more. Into the draw and peg 14 was mine for the day (one away from the one I had on my last visit here)......

while Keith drew peg 14A to my left......

 with Kevin and partner Jean to my right on peg 12 and Al next up on peg 11A......

I have to say that the lake looked cock on, There were plenty of fish showing, however they just appeared to be mooching about and it looked as if they were getting ready to spawn to me.

With us fishing from 10·15am till 4·15pm today there was plenty of time to set up, so everything got an outing today. 2 pellet waggler rods and a method feeder set up came out of their ready sleeves along with 3 top kits for the pole.

The top kits were set up with 2 Sackup CX 4x12 pencils on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's and a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG for the margin line. Feed was 6mm hard pellet, with dampened pellet for the method while hook baits were 6 & 8mm hard pellet, corn and a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.

Jean kindly provided me with my customary coffee and a bonus today in the shape of a freshly cooked sausage & bacon roll so I was well set by the time Dave sounded the All-In at 10·15am. A pot of pellets and corn onto each my selected lines then I shipped a banded 6mm pellet out to 7mtrs. A minute later and the float slid away and carp number 1 was on its way to the net . Unfortunately it was only a couple of ounces, not quite the stamp I was looking for . A better example of around a pound was next up and this was followed by a couple of skimmers and I got the impression that the fish I was really looking for weren't present in any numbers.

I'd started catapulting a few pellets across to the corner of the island and after around an hour took a look with the pellet waggler after re-feeding my pole lines. There were fish there alright, I could see them cruising, but after half an hour I'd only managed 3 small carp for my efforts. A quick look with the feeder was unproductive so it was back to the pole.

At this stage nobody appeared to be running away with it, and the word was that it was generally fishing slow. I started to get a few carp interested on my 7mtr line, nothing remarkable, but enough to make me feel that I was holding my own against Keith . Another coffee and sausage & bacon roll from Jean was most welcome , so having been re-fed myself, I re-fed the swim and took a quick stroll to try and see what was happening elsewhere.

Keith was starting to find a few on a more regular basis, though he was ruing the loss of a 'Double' that had taken off out of his swim and just kept going ......

 Simon appeared to be ticking along nicely picking up fish by alternating between on the deck and up in the water in an attempt to keep in touch with the fish......

 Diane was playing a fish as I passed and seemed to think that she might have the beating of Vic .......

 ...... and although Vic was also playing a fish, a quick chat revealed that he was far from confident in gaining the upper hand today ......

 Terry on peg 22 claimed to be struggling, though he was playing a fish while we chatted. while Eddie on peg 1 appeared to be ticking along nicely and enjoying his first day out on the bank for a while ......

Dave had started to catch fishing floaters under the tree to his left and while he was having trouble feeding due to the resident geese he seemed to be getting a decent stamp of fish , and it seemed that Martin had followed his lead and was starting to catch a similar stamp of fish from peg 6 round the corner from Dave ......

Clive was claiming to have a mare, but the fact that he was happy to pose with a small roach that he caught led me to believe that he might just be sand bagging about how his match was going .....

I found Mick in the corner on peg 11 and was shocked to see him fishing the waggler , but he was having a bit of a lean time and figured that it was the best way to tempt a few......

 As I got back to my peg Keith was into another fish so it was time to get my head down and concentrate. First put in and the float buried as a carp intercepted the bait and although the sport was never fast or furious, I managed to keep the fish coming on a reasonably regular basis by keeping the pellet going in to hold the fish. It was nip and tuck between me and Keith right the way to the end with a bit of banter back and forth between the two of us right up till the end when Dave called the All-Out at 4·15pm while I played a final fish that took my total up to 51 carp.

As we packed up I knew it would be to close to call between Keith and I and with the weigh in starting on peg 1 it had made it's way round to Martin on peg 6 before I caught up with it to find Dave leading with a fine 114¾lbs which would prove to be good enough to take the win on the day as Martin's net came up a little short at 103¾lb, but still good enough for 2nd . Clive had indeed been economical with the truth as his net came in at a level 89lbs for 3rd overall . Al managed 64½lbs while my fish weighed a total of 73lbs giving me the section and just edging out Keith's 71½lbs . Simon's 64½lbs allowed him to tie for 6th with Al . Round to peg 20 where Diane placed a level 48lbs on the scales to take the decision from Vic's 34½lbs, though of course we were all full of sympathy for him ................NOT

Back up the hill to the car park for the results and the section monies and that was it for another match . The next match is at Mill Barn Reservoir on June 11th where I'll be defending a narrow 1 point lead from Al and Clive with Keith just a point further back.

Marsh AC v  Morefax AC

Well I'm down at Hartleylands today for a small Knock Up on Nick's Lake. A couple of weeks ago Dave Collier posted the following on my club forum...... " Some of my son-in-laws mates have invited me and a few Marsh members for a little knock up on 23rd April. They normally fish as a small club with usually 8 or 10 of them. Between their organiser and myself we have booked the whole of Nicks lake for Saturday 23rd of April. So how many of you want to risk the wrath of SWMBO and come fishing on Easter Saturday"   Well after an invitation like that, it would be rude not to wouldn't it .

We had been hoping to have a Marsh club match around this time, but a combination of Easter, Royal Wedding and a lack of available bookings on suitable venues meant that the invitation from the Morefax lads offered a welcome opportunity for about a dozen of us to get out on the bank .

With plenty of time to set up before the All-In at 10am the pellet wag and feeder rod were taken out of their ready sleeves, though in all honesty I was only expecting to fish the pole. 3 rigs took care of my options, once again all Sackup CX 4x12 pencils on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's. pretty much the same rigs I'd used at Monks on the previous Marsh match ......

The first to fish at around 10mtrs where there was around 4ft of water and the other two to cover two margin lines. Bait for the day being a combination hard pellets and soft hookers.

 while second and third had come from adjacent pegs with Dave Collier's 90lbs from peg 21 giving him 2nd place ahead of Lee Rose (peg 20) whose 79lbs gave him 3rd overall .
Kevin on peg 24 had 64lbs to give him the section on the day while Nick Bondeau on peg 27 managed 59½lbs to take the final section and his first ever pick up in a match . All in all a good day, with everyone having some fish and I'm sure it won't be the last time that the Marsh and Morefax clubs get together for a friendly Knock Up .

Marsh AC club match.

Down to Monk Lakes today for the first Marsh AC club match of the year. It's always good to be back out with the lads and lasses who make up the club membership for these matches, they're nice light hearted affairs, more like a days pleasure fishing with a weigh-in at the end than a serious match. That's not to say that there aren't a few personal rivalries and scores to settle , but at the end it's all about a good day out with mates . The forecast for today was looking good and with the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee to wake me up the kit was soon loaded into the car I was off by 7am. It's around 40 miles down to Monk Lakes and a steady run down saw me pulling into the car park around 8am.

Most of the usual suspects were gathered round the food bar with tea's, coffee's and various breakfast concoctions being demolished ahead of the draw. A jumbo sausage stick took care of my needs as the banter flowed back and forth , Dave soon had the monies collected and with 19 of us in attendance the draw got under way. I quite fancied a peg in the 160's today as these pegs frequently produce good bags, however my drawing hand had other ideas and presented me with peg 142 when it emerged from the hat.

So off to our respective pegs and I found that I had Al for company to my left on peg 143 which is tailor made for his long up in the water approach against the reed lined island, while Mick Wright, Keiths guest and travelling companion had Peg 145. Peg 142 had a very shallow area at the end of the island which the lakes waterfowl, especially the geese love to occupy . Down to my right on peg 140 was Keith on the same peg as he had for last years match and yielded a 2nd place for him, so I was going to have my work cut out for a result today. Next to Keith was Kev on peg 139 and with Jean keeping him company I should be OK for a couple of cups of coffee throughout the match .

Settling into the peg it looked like the wind could make fishing long awkward so I decided on a line at 8 mtrs as the depth was pretty consistent all the way across and a couple of margin lines. I just set up 3 rigs, all Sackup CX 4x12 pencils on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's. I find that they're nice stable but sensitive floats and one was set to fish at dead depth at 8mtrs where I had around 4 feet of water while the other two were set for the margins where I had between 18 inches - 2 feet and could also cover if I needed to fish shallow. Bait for today would be a mix of maggot, corn and pellet, with feed taken care of by 6mm pellet.

With everything set a few of the lads were discussing the prospects for the day ahead...........

 While Paul East could be found wandering around, probably looking for tips as it's been 6 months since he last picked up his kit ...........

So at 10am Dave sounded the All-In and Marsh AC's season was underway. A pot of mixed pellet, maggot and corn was shipped out to 8mtrs while the left hand margin received a handful of maggots and the right hand one pellets. Out to 8 mtrs with double red maggot and the float soon buried, a 4oz Roach becoming the the first resident of the keepnet today. It was soon joined by a pair of small Tench, a small skimmer and a plump Gudgeon . Al had started with a feeder to the island, but soon reverted to the pole across which produced a Carp for him. Keith had got off the mark after around 10 minutes with a Carp as well, and soon seemed to be putting a few together. Kev had a couple to get him off the mark as well.............

Meanwhile Jean appeared with a welcome cup of coffee , but I was beginning to feel that I was getting left behind as Al started to get among the Carp. I managed just 3 small Carp in the hour, but didn't feel as if I was getting anywhere. A look in both margins produced just a solitary Orfe to my efforts.

I felt that Al was already over the hill and far away unless his swim dried up, but thankfully he wasn't in my section. It's funny how you can put yourself under pressure, it seemed that every time I looked Keith was playing a fish and I convinced myself he was walking the section . I decided to add another section and fish out past my fed area to see if the fish had backed off. Sure enough I started to get a few bites and started to get a few small Carp. With this change of fortune I started to feel a bit better but I was still struggling to put a run of fish together.

Dave appeared having a stroll and judging by his comments nobody was really taking the place apart. Jean had been kind enough to get me a cheeseburger from the food bar and as I consumed it I mulled over my next move. One of my fallbacks that's served me well when I've been struggling has been to fish what I feed so I decided for the rest of the session to fish banded 6mm hard pellet and just feed those as well. It seemed to have the desired effect as slowly but surely I started to put a run of fish together , mostly small Carp but they kept coming at a steady rate . Jean had supplied another welcome cup of coffee  while Kevin had gone out on the feeder with a couple of hours to go, a sure sign that he was struggling. Al was still catching and wasn't going to be caught . It was just a question of whether I could make up the deficit that I thought I had to Keith.

 Sport stayed strong for me and with 5 minutes to go I had my best fish of the day, a nice Common of around 8lbs (a definite Mugger moment©) and managed a further 3 Carp before Dave sounded the All-Out at 4pm. I felt sure that Al had close to the 'Ton' and wouldn't be caught, but Keith felt that I may have edged him. I really couldn't call it as I had been so focused on catching that I had no real idea as to what was in my nets .

The club has purchased a second set of scales this year and the Weigh-In for our part of the lake started from Al's peg. Two weighs and 94lbs was a fine effort by Al on a day where the wind hadn't made it easy to fish at 16mtrs. I was next to weigh and a figure of 71½lbs was to prove good enough for a section win as Keith's fish weighed 57½lbs, meaning that he had at least secured the bragging rights over his guest Mick today . So with the kit packed away everyone assembled back at the food bar for the full results.

Over a refreshing cuppa it soon became obvious once the weight sheets were totted up that the lake as a whole hadn't fished up to expectations.  Al's weight had indeed been good enough for 1st on the day  while I took 2nd place  and Keith finished 3rd . Clive had managed top weight on the roadside bank with 56¾lbs , while Paul finaly remembered how to catch a few fish after his lay off . The backing weights however weren't quite what we'd hoped for although everyone had a few fish and we're off and running for another year .

Marsh AC club match.

It's off down to Hartleylands fishery at Cranbrook in Kent for another club match today. We've booked the whole of Nick's Lake and invited a few guests so hopefully all will have a decent day . A dark damp picture greeted me as I looked out of the window this morning and as I loaded the car there was a definite chill in the air , Autumn had well and truly arrived .
By 7·15am I was sitting down in the Knox-Bridge Café for a 'Full English' and I was soon joined by Mick the Chippy who was my guest for the day while John, Martin & Zack were soon followed by Graham, Al, Keith and Pete Thompson, all in search of some pre-match sustenance . So with breakfast taken care of it was back to the cars and off to the fishery for the draw.

Most of the usual suspects were present and with the sun beaming down hopes were high for a decent days fishing, though a cool north easterly wind made sure that everyone was glad that they were well wrapped up . Into the draw bag and peg 4 revealed itself as my home for the day at head, a nice short walk once I'd moved my car and I would have the sun on me all day to take the edge off the chill . I had Martin for company on my right on peg 2, while to my left I had Dave Collier along with daughter Chrissy and her partner Nick on pegs 7, 8 & 9.

Set up for the day would be nice and simple. Feeder rod with a small method feeder to fish to the island and 3 pole rigs. the 3 pole rigs were all Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·16 Power Match with size 18 QM1 hooks set at various depths to cover from the margins where I had around 2ft out to 5mtrs were there was around 4ft. I wasn't planning to fish any further out on the pole as the wind would make it awkward. Bait today was my usual selection of GOT Baits soft hookers, expanders and 6mm hard pellets while feed would just be a mix of 4 & 6mm hard pellets and some groundbait for the method.

While I waited for the All-In I had a few misgivings in that I hadn't seen many fish showing on what is normally a very prolific venue and the water had what I can only describe as a cloudy look to it as the algae was starting to break down with the onset of the cooler weather. Anyway at 10am Dave blew the whistle for the All-In and I cupped 2 pots of pellets in on the 5mtr line and fed both margins before going out to the island with the method feeder. Ken seemed to be straight into a few fish on the waggler ......

....... while Dave, Chrissy and Nick all seemed to be into fish as well . Twenty minutes in and I hadn't had as much as a knock on the method which was very unusual , however I noticed a couple of bubbles on the 5mtr line and soon swapped over to the pole line.

A couple of lift and drops and the float slid away, the culprit being a mint little Common of around a pound to get me underway .
Now I wish I could say that this was the start of a major bagging session but if I did I would be telling porkies . I did start to put a few fish together but it was far from fast and furious despite Jean arriving with a welcome mug of coffee . Two hours in and I'd only managed 10 small Carp from the 5mtr line and despite another couple of looks across on the method, had still not had as much as a tap on it .

Going nowhere fast I re-fed both pole lines and went for a stroll with the camera to try and suss out how others were catching, if indeed they were. Dave was dropping a bait by the young willow in his left margin and was soon into a fish as I watched ......

Chris was a picture of concentration and while he was getting quite a few small silvers had only had 2 small carp to go with them and boost his catch .......

Keith was having a bit of a struggle, but being comfortably ahead in the points table was using the day to experiment fishing paste which was producing some very positive bites but little in the way of fish .......

....... while Clive wasn't fairing much better, and I'm sure I heard him telling his drawing hand that he'd be teaching it another sharp lesson after today .......

Carrying on round I came to Colin who I knew had been down a couple of times practising during the week along with Tony, Terry and Dave. He'd caught well on paste (no surprise there ) but the drop in temperature looked to have scuppered his plans as he was having a struggle today .......

...... on the next peg Kevin had been struggling too, but he was just in the process of landing a small Carp, so hopefully things would start to pick up for him ......

 Al was ticking along and owning up to around 15 Carp in the net and Pete was a little frustrated that his plans for a days skimmer bashing was being thwarted by the fact that the skimmers were to small and Carp kept muscling in on the act .......

Mick seemed happy enough with his lot and was getting a few fishing the method but felt that he was waiting just a little to long between bites to do any real damage .......

Terry was another of those anglers who was finding that the fishing today bore no resemblance to that which he'd experienced earlier on in the week ......

Ken's bright start had slowed somewhat though he was still picking up the odd fish on the waggler and Graham was another of those who was finding to many small silvers and not enough Carp in the mix ......

Back at my peg it was just a case of getting my head down and getting the most from my peg for the rest of the match ......

It was far from fast and furious but by working away at it, constantly lifting, dropping and dragging the rig I kept picking up the odd Carp nothing bigger than 2 pounds and mostly smaller. My feeder line just refused to produce a fish despite another couple of looks and neither margin line produced a bite either . Dave's fish had slowed right up on him as well, but he'd got off to such a good start that I knew he was out of my reach. John and Zack came round to collect Martin as they were leaving early and John took the honours in the 3 way car sweep with his 18½lbs . I managed a bit of a spurt with 10 Carp in the last hour and when Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm I'd managed 36 Carp.

So to the Weigh-In and my fish gave me a weight of 45¾lbs which would be good enough for a section win on the day . Chrissy's 35½lbs had beaten Nick's 27lbs, but Dave had won the family battle with a very decent 72¼lbs for 2nd overall . Keith had suffered his worst result of the series with just 12¾lbs to show for his efforts , while Clive's 45¾lbs tied my weight . Tony's 55½lbs secured 3rd on the day , but todays winner was Al with a fine 84½lbs . Pete ended with a creditable 53½lbs for 4th on his first ever visit to the fishery , while Mick managed 41¾lbs and Ken took the honours from the car park bank with 32½lbs .

So that's it for this years Marsh AC matches. Thanks to Dave for organising yet another enjoyable series of matches .
Well Done to Keith, Mr Consistent topping the points table . Thanks to all the members and guests who have fished, you're the ones who make it such an enjoyable day out each and every time .

Finally a special Thank You to Jean for those mugs of coffee during the matches, they were much appreciated .

The club doesn't operate a Championship as such but this year Dave's collated a table of the seasons results using a 30 point system. Guests results were not included in the table. As you can see Keith has been Mr Consistent over the course of the season coming out on top with 212 points  while Tony was Runner-Up with 204 points and Colin finished 3rd on 194 points .

(d.n.f. = Did not Fish.   30 pts = Match Winner.)

Kev the Catch's

 50th Birthday Bash

I'm off to Colemans Cottage Fishery in Essex today at the invitation of Kevin Loveland for a days fishing on Cottage Lake to celebrate his 50th Birthday . It will take the form of a small knock-up match, but the emphasis will be very firmly on enjoying the day and will no doubt finish off with tea and cakes in the clubhouse .

The alarm going off and a nudge in the ribs from Maria saw me rising just after 5·30am, our cats think an alarm clock ringing is a dinner bell, so having washed and dressed they were fed, while a large cup of coffee took care of my needs before loading up the car and setting off. A nice smooth trip down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·45am . First things first so it was straight into the clubhouse where I bumped into fellow Maggotdrowner Ron B who was here for a match with his club. One of Colemans excellent breakfasts was soon dispatched and the banter started to flow as todays participants assembled for the day ahead .

Keith, Terry and Pete set off to peg the lake while Dave collected the pools for the day, our only outlay as Kevin had kindly paid for the lake today . With the lads back from pegging out it was time for the draw. Peg7 proved to be mine for today so it was off to the car park to collect our kit and make our way over to the lake. As I made my way round to the riverside bank it was soon obvious that we were in for some fun today as some joker had placed my peg number on a culvert with half a forest in front of it, realising this was obviously a mistake I settled for the perfectly fishable peg a couple of paces further on . For company today I had Terry to my left on peg 6 and Colin to my right on peg 8.

Settling into the peg I recognised it as the one that Colin had won from when we fished the lake last October, while I could see Pete Thompson settling into the peg that I'd fished. Thankfully although the platform resembled a ski slope the adjustable legs on my box and footplate soon sorted that out. I had trees overhanging the water to the left and right which were the two obvious lines to fish so set up a couple of Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·20 Power Match with size 14 QM1 hooks to fish at 5mtrs to the trees on the deck and a MW HC margin again on 0·20 with size 14 Guru QM1 for the left hand margin, though it seemed to be a bit of a snag pit and might prove awkward to get a fish out of it. Bait for today was simply a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and 6mm hard pellets while feed would just be a mix of 4 & 6mm hard pellets. Keith put in an appearance prior to the off snapping a few photos for his blog and caught me setting up a top kit ........

So 10am and Dave blew the whistle for the All-In and I fed a couple of pots of mixed pellets into both swims and shipped a soft hooker out to the left hand swim. I was going to concentrate on this line as I had it to myself, and Colin would be fishing to the other side of the right hand one. A couple of lightning fast bites followed, both of which I missed, putting them down to silvers.
Rather than keep shipping back and forth I changed to a banded 6mm hard pellet, but before I could ship back out I could see Pete playing his first fish of the day ........

..... obviously a Carp it was giving a good account of itself, but Pete soon had it under control and safely in the net . So out with my rig with a pouch of pellet over the top and after lifting and dropping the rig a few times the float buried and a quick lift resulted in the elastic coming out, not a big fish but a small Mirror of around 2lbs that was soon in the net to getting me off the mark . Jean put in an appearance with a welcome cup of coffee and all was right with the world .

 A further 6 carp followed in the first hour which as far as I could make out was as good as anyone else. I'd seen plenty of elastic coming out on Keith and Dave's pegs, and the grapevine reckoned that Clive had a couple of lumps early doors, but sport seemed generally slow around the Lake. In fact Clive came for a stroll round to see how others were doing, a sure sign that it wasn't going well for him . handily though he was just in time to get an action shot of me landing what would prove to be my biggest fish of the day ......

Colin was struggling for a bite, and I'd not had any indications on the couple of occasions that I'd dropped into my right hand line, but I'd heard a bit of splashing coming from my left, so obviously Terry was getting a bit of action . I was getting little spurts of action, 1 or 2 fish then a gap before a bit more action, the vast majority of my fish were Carp with just the occasional silver, while Pete who seemed to be catching at a similar rate appeared to be getting a much larger percentage of silvers .

I've been having a bit of trouble with my right knee for a while and today it was really giving me grief so around half way through I decided to have a stroll as my knee felt like it was starting to seize up. Looking across I could see that Keith already had 3 nets in!!! was he bagging or just being prepared?........

Colin had at last got a couple in the net, but Martin was confessing to being behind his young son Harry in the catching stakes . Judy had moved to her inside line as the wind made things awkward on her longer line. I then arrived at the Birthday Boy himself, and I have to say that the mood was far from celebratory, probably due to the fact that he hadn't had as much as a bite at that point ......

Clive was wearing that well worn expression of his once more, he'd had a few early fish, but hadn't had a bite for a couple of hours and was beginning to wonder where the next one was coming from ........

A bit further round and Dave was admitting to having a few in his usual cagey way , while Keith was making light of the fact that he had those 3 nets in . I thought I'd better take a spare for myself while I was round there though just in case. Tony was having a bit of a mare with fish obviously in his peg but refusing to get their heads down and have a feed.......

 Pete was having a short stroll by then having been seen off by a rather sizable lump down his margin . Terry had the reasonably contented look of a man who was steadily putting a bag together from under the tree to his left .......

Back out to the edge of the tree at 5mtrs once more and it was just a question of steady away, Jean had provided another cup of coffee and slowly and surely I managed to keep the Carp coming in ones and twos for the remainder of the match.......

 By the time that Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out I had 30 Carp to show for my efforts and half a dozen silvers which hopefully would give me somewhere around 65lbs . We soon had our kit packed away and the weigh-in reached us quite quickly so obviously there hadn't been to many big weights. Pete's 36½lbs leading by the time they got to Terry. Terry had indeed been quietly been doing the business and put a fine 50½lbs on the scales that would be good enough for third place on the day . I was next up and my fish weighed in at an even 74lbs which as it transpired was enough for the win . Harry beat his dad by 4ozs - 0 while poor Kevin suffered a blank as well .

Clive's 38¼lbs was edged out by Dave's 38¾lbs while Keith was left to rue a biteless last hour when his fish weighed in at 64¾lbs to take 2nd place overall .

So with the weigh-in concluded it was back to the club house for the results where Kev and Jean had arranged for a buffet to be laid on.

Pride of place went to Kev's Birthday Cake ...........

..........and once the big fella had blown his candle out..............

................ and we'd sung a rousing chorus of   everyone tucked in .

I'd like to say A BIG THANK YOU to Kev and Jean for treating us all to the day out in celebration of his 50th , certainly a different way to celebrate a Birthday. Cheers Kev, and may you have many more to come .

Marsh AC club match.

 I'm off to Rockells Farm today for what is probably the most eagerly anticipated club match of the year. Last year Martin Hucker set a new club match record at 383lbs 4ozs  and a new club record total of 2911lbs 14ozs was put on the scales by the 19 anglers that fished the match. A lot can depend on the draw, but an awsome weight is on the cards if the draw bag is kind to you . 

As usual when visiting this venue in the depths of Essex I'd arranged to meet Dave at his place just after 6·30am and follow him and Colin down to the fishery . The weather looked good and a smooth run down saw us pulling up at the lake at around 8am to find Keith and his guest Troy along with Jean and Kev, Martin and John already in attendance. A quick look confirmed that the lake looked in good nick although the water level was a little down.

 Keith, Terry and I set off to peg out while the others arrived and I have to say that every peg looked like it was good for a few fish . Keith expressed a preference for a late peg in the high teens and the general consensus was that either the first 3 or the last 3 would be decent draws . So at 8·30am Dave called the draw, people seemed a little reluctant so I dived in early and found peg 19 to be my home for the day . Keith drew peg 3 and with Clive drawing peg 2 with Terry for company on peg 1 they would definitely be contesting the honours , I had Graham for company on 18 while peg 17 was Dave's for the day and was the one I felt we all had to beat. I had the peg last year and the willow that had been cut back then had re-grown and now offered some cover and would be tailor made for Dave's floater approach today .

So off to the pegs, and I have to say that I couldn't have any complaints with my own peg, with the boards to fish to on my left and some cover to my right, both of which had a depth of no more than 18 inches.

 My approach is pretty single minded in that I tend to ignore any long lines when I fish Rockells as shipping back and forth wastes to much time and look to catch on a top 2 from the off if at all possible. Rigs are Middy in-line paste floats made up on 0·20 power match with a size 12 owner barbless relying on the bait to cock the float. Bait is simply GOT Atomic paste with 4mm pellets (and plenty of them) for feed.

So with such a simple set up I had a bit of time before the All-in and had a stroll down to see Dave who was looking as happy as Larry despite not feeling quite 100%......

Dave had never recorded 300lbs in a match, but today he was definitely sitting on a peg that was more than capable of doing it if he could get off to a good start in the first 3 hour session . We fish two three hour sessions here with a mid point weigh-in as with the prospect of big weights it means that fish aren't retained in nets for to long and it gives the anglers a chance to have a breather as well .

So 10am and Dave blew the whistle for the All-in, a handful of pellet down both margins and in with my first piece of paste next to the boards, a couple of dinks and the float slid away resulting in a perfect little Common of around 8 ozs to get me off the mark and from then on in the bites kept coming regularly , unfortunately not all were connected with, I'd get 4 or 5 on the trot then miss a few or foul hook a couple, but I had 20 fish in the first hour. Peg 19 is pretty tucked away in a corner and you cant really see anyone else to judge how you're doing against them, though I could hear plenty of splashing coming from Graham and Dave's pegs so it was just a question off concentrating on my own peg. By the end of the second hour I had 39 fish, but they were mostly small. In the 3rd hour I upped the size of paste that I was fishing and although the bites slowed a bit I started to pick up a better stamp of fish. Judy popped round to see how I was doing, but it coincided with one of those frustrating periods of lots of missed bites and by the time that Dave blew the whistle to signal the end of the morning session I had 55 fish on the clicker and was hoping for somewhere around the ton.

The weigh-in started from my peg and I recorded exactly 100lbs . Graham had 84½lbs while Dave had a much better stamp of fish for 150½lbs and top weigh of the morning . Martin on peg 13 had also fished floaters for 101½lbs. Colin had also had a good morning on peg 8, making the most of the cover afforded from the overhanging willow on his peg and again fishing floaters for a fine 144¼lbs . The point pegs hadn't really produced as expected, lots of small fish, but not enough of the better stamp, with Keith's 89¾lbs being the best weight of the group . I'd fished Keith's peg 2 years ago though and expected it to fish much better in the second session. However 1095½lbs had been weighed in by the 18 anglers including four 'Tons', an average of just over 60lbs per angler so not too shabby .

By the time we all returned to our pegs and sorted ourselves out it was 2·15pm before Dave signalled the All-in for the second session. I'd fed a couple of pints of pellet into both of the margins prior to the end of the first session and was hopeful that it was enough to hold the fish during the break, and it seemed that it had been a success as I had a fish first put in .

Well the second session pretty much followed the pattern of the first, though I did manage to pick up a few more better fish, but nothing over 4lbs. Dave however was definitely getting a better stamp of fish and was looking good I felt for an overall win . Anyway after a further 3 hours Dave called the All-out for the second and final time today. I had 78 fish on the clicker this time and hoped they would be enough to take me to around 200lbs for the session if I had enough better sized fish, but I would have to wait and see as the weigh in would run in the opposite direction this time, starting from peg 1.

So with the gear back at the car park it was time to start the weigh in. Terry and Clive had both improved on their morning sessions with 128¼lbs and 123¼lbs respectively . Keith had had a standout session though, his 2 nets finally registering 219¼lbs for an overall weight of 309lbs which would prove to be good enough for 3rd on the day .

 John on peg five managed 101½lbs in the afternoon . Colin however had gone from strength to strength with 225lbs and a total of 369¼lbs to take the win on the day . Martin had another busy session putting 158¼lbs onto the scales . Dave had 3 nets in which gave him 193¾lbs, comfortably taking him past his own 300lb target for a total weight of 344¼lbs , a new PB match weigh giving him 2nd on the day . My own weight of 169¼ proved as I feared that I had to many small fish, but the total of 269¼lbs still gave me 4th on the day .

So back to the car park for the results. A total of 2878¾lbs had been weighed in on the day, just short of our record, still an incredible average of 159lbs per angler !!!!!!! with 3 'Triple Tons', 2 'Double Tons' and a further  6 'Tons' overall a phenomenal days fishing by any standards . Roll on next years match, looks like I may have to brush up on my floater fishing .

Maggotdrowning.com

Badpegpicker's Southern Pairs 2010.

 It was off down to a Private Lake in East Sussex today for me to fish the Southern Pairs Match organised by Steve Oswick aka badpegpicker through the Maggotdrowning.com forum. The weather looked pretty promising as I loaded up the car and after a stop in Bromley for a spot of breakfast I made good time and pulled into the fishery car park around 8·10am .

 There was a good turn out come draw time, but unfortunately we had one no show, not a problem normally, but with this being a Pairs match a bit of a problem . The solution decided on was that after the draw the angler short of a partner would be allowed to count his weight twice, and that angler turned out to be Keith(shallowman)Haynes .

 I had found myself with peg 3 on the dam wall. Keith(gandhi) had drawn peg 1, and I had Steve on peg 2...........

   and Keith(keith74)Powell on peg 4 in the corner for immediate company today..........

My Pairs partner for the day was Paul(nomorelongwalks)East who had drawn peg 13. Mark(moleman)Hathaway was tucked away behind the island on peg 11 which was effectively an end peg meaning that he and Keith would have to be in with a chance as they are both more than capable of making the most of decent draws .

Now I don't fish the lake that much, but I tend to treat it in a similar way to Rolfs as there's a decent head of Carp present that run into double figures though the average is probably around the 6lbs mark, and with only Carp and Tench counting in todays match I just set up 3 rigs. A Malman 4x12 Adam on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hook for the 5mtr line on the deck, an a similarly rigged Malman Paste float but with a size 12 Ashima hook for paste while a 0·2 MW HC margin again on 0·20 with a size 14 Guru QM1 was set up to fish the margins and double up as an up in the water rig if needed. Bait for today was a mix of hard pellets, corn and GOT Baits soft hookers and Atomic paste with 4mm pellets for feed.

With a bit of time to go before the All-In I took a quick stroll to see where others were drawn. Clive was ready for action on peg 16 and guaranteed at least one bite today .....

 Sven was trying to pick a few bits of local knowledge from Bill's brain, but unfortunately the strain appeared to be getting to Bill (it's not easy trying to hold a stomach that size in ).......

 I managed to get back just before Steve called the All-In. I shipped out a couple of pots of pellet and corn to 5mtrs and fed a couple of handfuls of pellet down the margins before shipping a grain of corn out to 5mtrs.............

Steve was into a fish first put in, but only briefly as it shed the hook however he was in again straight after, and soon had that one safely in the net . A couple of people had taken quick fish and it looked as if Jeff on peg 6 was in for a good match as he was soon into fish fishing the method out toward the island.

Fifteen minutes in and a change to banded 6mm pellet saw me into my first fish, a fighting fit Mirror of around 6lbs that was more than welcome to get me off the mark . However it was soon obvious that nobody was really taking it apart. It took me another twenty minutes before I got another bite, A Common this time, slightly smaller than the first fish but very welcome none the less. Jean strolled down with a very welcome cup of coffee and reported that things were slow all round. After around 1½hours I'd managed another couple of Carp when fellow Jinx Squad member Jon Hatch appeared, He was visiting relatives locally and had snuck down to the lake to see how we were all doing, it was a shame he couldn't fish, but family has to come first at times .

By 1·30pm I couldn't buy a bite so re-fed the 5mtr line quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera. Keith on peg 1 was having a frustrating time trying to work out just where in his swim his next bite would come from ......

 Dave on peg 18 was attached to what appeared to be a decent fish that was giving him a bit of a run around, but he was slowly gaining the upper hand .......

 Clive was plugging away but only had a couple of fish to show for his efforts at this stage and had that look that I've seen before (normally when he's on peg 32 at Rolfs ).........

 Bill was into a decent fish on the feeder and enjoying every minute of it, giving Clive a running commentary alluding to the final destination of the 'Golden Nugget' involved in their side bet ........

 Then I got to my Pairs partner Paul. I have to say that his news didn't inspire me when it came to our chances of framing in the match as he hadn't had a single fish apart from Perch which didn't count today . Kevin was admitting to 3 fish on peg 12 but was being handicapped by an aching shoulder meaning that he couldn't fish right across to the island........

 Fellow Chelsea supporter Hathers was into a fish as I arrived and certainly seemed to be going well for at least a section win, though he was a tad put out at having to return 5 chub weighing around a pound a piece as they didn't count today ........

 Richie(BME) seemed happy enough, this really isn't his normal type of fishing being more of a river man, but he had a Carp in the net that he was sure was a new PB so was well chuffed . Terry was sitting it out on the feeder at peg 7 and owning up to 4 in the net.......

 Jeff who I felt was well away for the section had been alternating between the method and the pellet waggler had it seemed had a bit of trouble keeping the fish on the hook and while he appeared to have been catching well, had lost a few to many for his liking before he could get them to the net ......

 Nick on peg 5 was having a bit of a grueller, he's just getting back into his match fishing having had a bit of a lay off and only had a single carp to show for his efforts . Keith on peg 4 as just slipping the net under a Carp as I arrived , so despite him being a Spurs supporter I did the decent thing and took a picture of it for him ......

 Back to my peg and there were a few bubbles showing at 5mtrs, and first put in produced a fifth Carp for me almost straight away, a better fish of around 8lbs , but try as I might I couldn't tempt another bite after a further 30 minutes. Time for a look in the margins. Lowering a grain of corn into the right hand margin the float cocked and disappeared. The fish gave a good account of itself.............

 .......... before finally slipping over the net, a really chunky Mirror of around 10lbs . Time to take a look down the left hand margin and once again an instant response saw another fish power off .......

 ...... unfortunately it totally trashed the margin swim in it's efforts to make good its escape, but thankfully it was unsuccessful and was soon safely in the net, another decent Mirror . That however was all the action from the margins as yet again the bites dried up.

Steve was trying everything and after going shallow finally managed his 3rd fish of the day, not before it had given him a bit of a run around though . I'd managed another couple of small carp from my 5mtr line, but with half an hour to go I was quite looking forward to the All-Out to put an end to a frustrating day. However at that point it all started to go right for me and in the final 30 minutes I managed to catch another 5 Carp before Steve called the All-Out. It just goes to show that you never can tell, it was just a pity that they didn't turn up a bit earlier .

So as we packed away the inquest started. Keith strolled round from peg 4 to hand me a 'Golden Nugget' that had been our side bet, all the sweeter coming from a Spurs fan , and though I feared that I would have to hand it onto Hathers I knew he would appreciate its origin . As we waited to start the weigh-in at peg 1 Paul strolled past with the news that he had nothing to weigh, so that was us out of the running before the weigh-in had begun .

Keith started the ball rolling with a hard earned 53¼lbs. My fish came in at a level 73lbs which surprisingly gave me the section win as Jeff put 68¾lbs on the scales. Richie had his big Carp weighed separately, and indeed it was a new PB for him at 15¾lbs and his smile said it all ........

 Hathers had topped the weight today with 95¼lbs and Kev had managed 42lbs despite his shoulder. Greg on peg 14 had obviously nicked all Paul's fish to record 57¼lbs . Bill had pipped Clive in the Battle of the Nuggets, While Keith was looking to double up having recorded 53¾lbs .

So back to the car park where Steve announced the results. and in first place on the day and the MD's Southern Pairs Winners 2010 were Keith Ashby & Mark Hathaway with 5 points . 2nd was Keith Haynes & Keith Haynes with 6 points , while Jeff Driscoll & Clive Pritchard took 3rd with 9 points .

All in all a hard days fishing, but fished in the right attitude by the anglers who made it a good day .
A Big Thank You to Steve for organising the match and Congratulations to all the Winners.
Same again next year?

Pairs Result

Individual Result

Marsh AC club match.

It's off to Essex for me today to Colemans Cottage to fish just my 4th club match of the year. Hopefully it'll be a decent day and everyone will catch a few . However I nearly didn't make it today having woken at 1·30am and been violently sick for no apparent reason . I finally got back to sleep around 3am, so only got about 3 hours sleep before the alarm went off. A grey drizzly day wasn't the greatest incentive, but I figured I would probably feel better on the bank out in the fresh air .

I arrived at the fishery just after 8am and decided a small breakfast was in order to check out the state of my stomach . Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw underway. Now normally the low numbers are the favourite pegs on Pathfield Lake, so you can imagine my delight at drawing peg 26 down on the shallow newer part of the lake. Dave of course had his usual low draw and I'm sure I detected a little smirk when he recorded my draw on the sheet .

So out to collect my nets and a stroll down to take a look at my peg, an end peg effectively as peg 25 was empty today and there seemed to be a few fish feeding, so back to the car park to collect my gear and stroll back down to the peg. I've got Kevin for company today on peg 28 so I should be good for a mid match cup of coffee courtesy of Jean .

 It's probably 13mtrs to the island, and the targets today are Carp, Mirrors and Commons + a decent head of recently stocked F1's along with silvers which include Barbel. Now I said it was shallow but even I was surprised when an initial plumb up revealed a maximum of 15 inches down the track at around 5mtrs and just 12 inches in the margins . Now given that there are some decent carp present and they tend to take off like bullets in such shallow water I set up a couple of modified Rolf's rigs, and these were Malman Adam 4x10's on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hooks adjusted to suit + a Malman MTD2 on 0·20 Power Match with a size 16 QM1 hook for shallow. I also set up a 4X12 Middy Paste Float, it's a really strong line through design made up on ·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with a Drennan size 12 Carp Method hook to fish paste in both margins. Bait was just 6 and 8mm hard pellet, 6mm GOT Baits Expanders and GOT Baits Atomic Paste .

So at 10am Dave signalled the All-In, a hand full of pellet onto the 5mtr line and a pinch into each margin. The plan was to concentrate on the 5mtr line and regularly flick pellet into the margins, but not to touch them till a tail pattern showed. Out to the 5mtr line which was already bubbling and fizzing with a 6mm expander produced an instant bite, a small F1 which was immediately followed by it's twin, not quite what I was hoping for, but I was off the mark . I swapped to a banded 8mm in the hope of attracting something slightly larger, but all I got for my trouble was a couple of foul hookers which tore off at a rate of knots before shedding the hook . A change to banded 6mm produced a series of frustrating little digs at the float until it finally buried and I connected with a feisty Common of around 3lbs which battled all the way to the net. This seemed to set the pattern for the next 3 hours, I wasn't setting the place alight with maybe 30lbs in the net, but nobody else was apparently from what I could see and gather from a couple of anglers that were strolling around, though Chris Newton on peg 23 reported having had around a dozen fish ........

...... and I'd noticed that Chris Withall had strolled down from peg 20 to collect a second carp net quite early on .

Around half way through I spotted a tail pattern in the left hand margin and soon had a couple of better Commons of around 5lbs a piece safely in the net . Clive appeared at this point and I had another of around 3lbs which he captured on camera before returning to his peg.......

  Unfortunately the next fish proved to be a foul hooker which absolutely trashed the margin before shedding the hook .
Rather than risk wrecking it further I decided to re-feed both margins with a couple of handfuls of pellet and take a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle.

Graham was on peg 30 which had plenty of marginal cover along with fish obviously feeding, but he was having a bit of a struggle trying to tempt them to take a bait ......

 Martin opposite seemed pretty quiet with what looked like a feeder rod set up to try and tempt a few.......

 Next was Keith on peg 33, who I noticed already had a second carp net in, he was pretty cagey about it though reckoning that it was empty at that point, but he's a damn good angler and I couldn't be sure that he wasn't telling porkies .......

 Tony on peg 36 hadn't broken any BeastMaster sections, but said that he was struggling to get to grips with things today......

 My last port of call was to Clive who was on peg 3 today. He had an overflow pipe trickling water into his left hand margin, and it was here that he was fishing, and judging by the tail patterns the fish were there too .......

 He said that he was being plagued by foul hookers though which was really frustrating him, but as I went to return to my peg he hooked and landed a lively pearl white Ghostie  ......

 As I made my way back down the bank I noticed Tony was also into a Ghostie himself, this one a lovely brassy flanked fish ......

 So it was starting to look that a few people were sandbagging with their tales of struggle, and with Keith also sliding a Carp over the landing net as I passed him, I knew that I was going to need a decent final couple of hours......

 Ever the optimist I grabbed a second carp net for myself as I returned to my peg and staked it out on my return. Jean supplied a welcome cup of coffee  as I made my mind up to ignore the 5mtr line and just fish paste in the margin for the remainder. It was slow at first with a few hesitant bites that I missed, but I soon got into a rhythm feeding and fishing both margins close to my nets......

........ taking a fish from either side before swapping over to avoid to much disturbance, the odd foul hooker disturbed this, but on the whole the last hour and a half saw my catch rate increase nicely .

By the time Dave called the all out at 4pm, I was confident that I had high double figures, but had lost track a bit having mislaid my clicker, but I was kicking myself a bit for not having fished the paste sooner and hoping that it hadn't cost me to badly.

With the gear back in the car, the inquests started, Keith was owning up to 60-70ish as was Clive, all would be revealed by the scales. Clive soon set the mark with 77½lbs which he seemed reasonably pleased with , but in general the low numbers hadn't fished as well as expected today with Dave Colliers's 66lbs being the next best. Indeed it wasn't till we got to peg 17 that we saw another weight to overtake Clive's, Ken Walker following up his 2nd place on the previous club match at Blasford Hill with a fine 80½lbs today , which would bring him a similar result . Chris Withall on peg 20 had a busy day, his 77½lbs equalling Clive's weight . Round to my peg and I was honestly surprised when my weight was called at a level 131lbs  which would prove to be the best of the day . The last weigh of note was Keith's at 78½lbs which gave him 3rd overall , just pipping Clive and Chris.

The nice bit about Colemans is going back to the clubhouse for the results and being able to get a cuppa and a bite to eat while Dave sorts the results and dishes out the section pools, before we bid our farewells .

The next club match is at Rockells Farm which is always one to look forward to, but before that I'm back at Rolfs Lake next Saturday for the final Jinx Match of the year.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's time for yet another Marsh AC club match today, and I'm off to Mill Barn Coarse Fishery, just outside the village of Great Wakering down in Essex it's a new venue for a lot of us and we're fishing The Reservoir that's been recommended to us by club member Graham Manning. The weather forcast promises that it's going to be a scorcher . Anyway with the gear loaded up it wasn't a bad trip down and I pulled up in the car park of The Anchor where breakfast had been arranged around 7·15am to find Kevin & Jean and Keith & Mick already there. The others soon arrived and Breakfast was promptly dispatched , after which we followed Graham in convoy up to the venue.

Once we had all assembled in the car park, Tony and Colin collected up the fees and got the draw under way. I found myself with peg 5 for my home from the day, a little tucked into the corner restricting my options, but after a chat with Tony & Colin I decided to make the most of it. It was rumoured to be something of a flyer with a sunken island out in front of it, but in reality, the island was really in front of Roger and Rod and I didn't want to risk casting over either of them ......

I set up 3 rigs for the pole, 2 for the margins where there was around 3ft tight in and another for around 6mtrs where I had around 7ft. I also set up my feeder rod with a running method feeder and the waggler as I'd heard that there was a good head of carp present and I expected them to come up in the water at some point today given the weather. Bait was to be corn and a variety of hard and soft pellets in various sizes, while the groundbait for the feeder was a 50/50 mix of Mojo and GOT Yellow Peril .

The All-In was called at 10am, I fed some pellets and corn into both margins and 1st cast I put the method feeder straight into the trees to my left, Not a good start!!!!! After re-rigging the feeder the next cast was a little better dropping just short of the tree line. It didn't take long for something to take an interest in the hair rigged corn with the tip pulling confidently round and the culprit, a small common of around 2½lbs was soon safely in the net.

It was already starting to get hot with the sun beaming down, though thankfully a decent breeze was putting a ripple on the water and keeping things bearable. A second carp of around the same stamp soon followed for me, and I could hear from remarks that a few fish were starting to come out further along the bank......

Over on the car park bank I could see that Roger had started on the float and while sport didn't appear to be fast and furious, it was surely only a matter of time before some fish would start to come his way.......

From my vantage point I could see that Kev had found a bit of early action with some carp and skimmers on the feeder, and I have to say that Kev's set up certainly makes for a comfortable and relaxed approach compared to the usual seatbox set up you see most people using ......

Colin, to my right was having a look down the margins, and while it was producing a few for him, he was having a bit of trouble from fish shedding the hook, while a couple just snapped rigs like cotton!!!!!  ......

For my part, the initial good start had come to a grinding halt with just a couple of skimmers added to those 2 initial carp. A look down both margins with the pole producing just another skimmer and a couple of roach, so after re feeding all pole lines I decided to take a stroll and see how others were fairing ......

Mick who had travelled down from Milton Keynes as Keith's guest was fishing with his usual laid back approach , though he was missing being able to use his beloved meat, a bait he sets great store in ......

Meanwhile Keith on the next peg was starting to get amongst a few from the margins, targeting an area by an inflow pipe. However the fish weren't letting him have it his own way, sorting out more than a few rigs with one even stripping the red hydro from a top kit  showing the fighting qualities of the fish in the reservoir .......

Terry wasn't experiencing anything like as much action, though he felt he was at least on his way to a better weight than he'd recorded recently, having suffered some poor days with his last 3 visits to Rolf's in The Jinx Series......

Al had a frustrating start to the day, trying to get the fish going on the Pellet Waggler, he'd spent the first hour trying to steer clear of ducks that were snaffling his pellets every time he fed, but as the match wore on the ducks moved away and he steadily started to put a run of fish together.......

Zack was having a bit of a quiet time, but had the satisfaction of landing a double figure Carp which was almost certainly a new PB ......

I stopped off to see how Tony was doing and found that he was suffering too, as the fish were testing his gear to and in some cases beyond its limits, meanwhile on the peg next door I was quite surprised to find Clive with something other than a pole in his hand  Indeed he was having a go with the pellet waggler, Indeed he was having a few, though it was also noticeable that he had a spanking new set of Trambucco keepnets that were floating well, so there obviously wasn't to much in them at that stage  ......

On the end peg though Graham, who had put the venue forward seemed to be putting his experience of the fishery to good use on the end peg and was having a fair old struggle with what was obviously a decent fish ......

.....Indeed it proved to be a bit of a rarity, in the shape of a fine Grass Carp that must have been very close to double figures and well worthy of a photo for its happy captor ......

So back to my peg, another look where I'd fed with the pole failed to produce anything other than a couple of small skimmers, while Colin was still nicking the odd decent carp from his margin lines. I went back to the feeder and as Roger was still fishing close in I gave it a chuck to the sunken island. While this produced a few fish for me I still couldn't get them lined up and I felt that I was falling behind as Colin was getting larger fish at the same rate as me. I just couldn't find a bonus fish.

In desperation I had a plumb up with the waggler at around 12mtrs where I could comfortably feed 8mm hard pellets and found around 8ft, and it was this line that I decided to concentrate on for the last couple of hours. This line eventually started to produce with some regularity. Nothing big (the largest was probably no more than 5lbs) but fast powerful fish that took line off the clutch on the strike and fought every inch of the way to the net.

By the time that the All-Out was called at 4pm I felt that I had around 60lbs in the net and had thoroughly enjoyed the day . With the gear packed away and back in the car I caught up with the Weigh-In. Graham had kicked things off with a fine 66¼lbs getting the better of Clive's 59½lbs though they were both pipped by Tony's 69¼lbs. Al however had the weight of the day with a fine 92½lbs to ensure the win on the day . Zack's solitary carp at 10¼lbs did prove to be a new PB for him  ...... 

....... but John took the car pool from Zack and Martin with 40½lbs. Keith put a level 74 lbs on the scales for 3rd on the day  and the bragging right from Mick on the way home in the car to Milton Keynes . Colin weighed 77lbs for second on the day , while my 69¼lbs gave me a share of 4th with Tony . All in all a good day out with the club, with everyone in agreement that the venue is worthy of a return next season.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's the second Marsh match of the year today. There's a slight change of plan however as we were supposed to be fishing the Top Lake, but with only 22 pegs on there after some recent changes, and with 20 anglers booked in for todays match the decision was made to change to the Bottom Lake. I have to say that the last couple of matches that the club has had on there haven't really been resounding successes so hopefully it will fish a bit better for us today . 

I'd arranged to meet up with Dave at his house at 7am, and it's a good job I did. As I got out of the car I saw that I hadn't put my pellets in the car, Luckily Dave always has loads so I blagged some from him . Cars loaded and a quick trip through the Dartford Tunnel into darkest Essex saw us pulling into the fishery car park at Battlesbridge just before 8am .

It promised to be a glorious day weather wise with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky, but the first order of the day was breakfast  in the café cooked by Tony Runnalls (the Fishery Manager) while everyone caught up with the latest gossip. It was Dave's Birthday  today and his good lady Gladys had come with him on what has become her annual outing with the club. There's a bit of history here as on her first visit here in October 2007 she had beaten Dave off the next peg, while on our last visit in July 2008, I was the one being beaten, so the pressure was on to avoid being "Gladys'd" so avoiding frightful amounts of stick in the future .

Into the draw and I found peg 2 sticking to my hand, a nice short walk from the car park but not the best of draws as it's always struggled to produce in our matches on the lake. The peg itself looks glorious......

.......with the corner of an island that can be reached at around 20mtrs. For company today I had Keith on peg 1 ......

...... so the competition would be stiff, but at least the banter would be good   while peg 3 wasn't drawn.
I decided to be positive in my approach today targeting the larger fish that are present in the lake. I set up a couple of Shakespeare 11 ft pellet waggler rods and a feeder rod with a small method feeder to attack the point of the island, while I just set up 1 pole rig for a late look down the margin as a back up. Bait for the day was simply 6mm hard pellet and some corn, while the groundbait for the feeder was the new GOT 'Yellow Peril' with some added Atomic micros.
There's a huge head of smaller fish that can be caught fishing maggot, but the matches always seem to go to those who get amongst the better specimens, especially the Carp and Bream, so they were my targets for today.

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and we were underway, the method feeder being dispatched to the corner of the island with a banded pellet on the hook, while I pinged a few pellets over in preparation for the waggler later. Keith started on the lead to the island and was soon off the mark with a small Tench . I stuck at the method for 45 minutes before I was rewarded with my first fish, a small F1 that promptly dived at the keepnet and transfered the hook to it before I had the chance to net it. Carp 1-0 , Was it going to be one of those days?

Out with the waggler and i was finally rewarded with an Ide of around 1lb+ to get me off the mark . Dave was on an early stroll round and informed me that Gladys was catching well and already had 35 fish to crank the pressure up. Gladys always fishes maggot on a top 2 for whatever swims and while I knew most of her fish would be small there was always the chance of the odd bonus and she would probably put 10lbs+ on the scales at the end, so no pressure there then .

A Bream was my next fish and at around 2½lbs more than welcome, this was swiftly followed another, unfortunately this one was nearer 2½ozs. Keith however was reporting rather a lot of black Hydro being pulled from his topkit!!!!!!!!  The culprit proved to be a decent Common that was soon residing in the bottom of Keith's landing net.........

I was then briefly attached to something that decided to vanish at a rate of knots round the back of the island before shedding the hook and killing sport in the process. Carp 2-0 . I took a look down the margin that I'd been feeding regularly from the off with a grain of corn on the hook but without an indication to give me any encouragement after 15 minutes I decided to have a stroll with the camera. Tony on peg 25 was getting amongst some decent Ide down on peg 25, but the chap that seemed to be doing the best on that bank was Clive fishing meat long he'd picked up some decent Bream and a couple of Carp, but had lost a Bream that he reckoned was bigger than his landing net!!!!! ........

Gladys had slowed down a bit (Thank heavens for small mercies ) while Dave fishing his customary 4 sections had the contented look of a man who felt he had the measure of his wife ........

Over on the far side the wind was putting a nice ripple onto the water and Jim could be found steadily putting a net of small fish together, but was a little frustrated that he couldn't find any bonus fish  ......

....... Colin was having a bit of a struggle and had reverted to fishing the maggot, but Al was fishing hemp & tares up in the water and was finding a few Ide and bream. Tony (Wily Coyote) was tucked away in peg 5 but was having better luck catching the sun than getting the fish to co-operate  .......

Back at my peg and the waggler still failed to produce so I decided to fish the method for the remainder of the match in the hope that I could find a decent Carp to get me out of Jail. Tony meanwhile had hooked a decent Carp, a right lump in fact and was gingerly playing it on his new pole, and getting plenty of encouragement to give it a bit of teddy ........

....... needless to say the hook pulled, but at least he got plenty of Sympathy ........NOT!!!!!!!!

....... Well retribution for taking the micky out of Tony was swift as everything went slack, a pigtailed line showing that a knot had failed at the swivel ........

....... Mugger had been well and truly mugged. Carp 3-0 .

So a couple of hours to go and it looked like I needed snookers. I tied a new rig up, paying special attention to the knots this time and set up a hair rig to take 3 grains of sweetcorn, sh*t or bust time. Time ticked on, Keith managed another a smaller Carp from his margin, but not so much as a rattle on my tip .
3·55pm and just 5 minutes to go, time for one last cast before the inevitable stick that I just knew would be coming my way. 3 fresh grains of corn on the rig and back out accompanied with a little prayer................ Well the tip had barely settled when it steadily pulled round and just kept going . I just had to lift the rod and as soon as I felt it I knew this was the fish that I needed. A nervous couple of minutes followed, not helped by various shouts of encouragement (or was it disbelief ) from around the lake, before I slid it safely over the net accompanied by a shout of relief that could be heard around the lake, a definite double, I slipped it safely into the keepnet just as Dave called the All-Out .

As I packed my kit away I have to say that I felt pretty relieved, though I'm sure I could hear "Two Minutes  Two bloody Minutes " coming from Dave's direction. Keith and I were on the scales today and as we set off round the lake Tony on peg 25 took an early lead with a level 20lbs. Clive on peg 20 soon overtook that however with 45lbs . Gladys set the target of 12½lbs to avoid humiliation, which Dave sailed past with 22½lbs . Jim put 17lbs on the scales, but the main man on the day was Keith's guest Mick who comfortably took the win with 63¼lbs of mainly Bream . Al's 23lbs was to prove good enough for 3rd overall. My moment of truth arrived and that late Carp weighed just over 11lbs and boosted my total weight to 16¼lbs, so no 'Gladysing' for me . Keith rounded things off with a hard earnt 17¾lbs .

Back to the car park for the results, and most seemed to think that it hadn't fished that badly, and after a chorus of  for Dave we said our farewells  .  

My next trip should be down to Monk Lakes for the Faye Match in support of http://www.postpals.co.uk which should hopefully raise a good few quid for a very good cause. A full report of the day will appear here in due course .

  Marsh AC club match.

Well after what seems like forever I'm finally getting back out on the bank . A combination of atrocious weather and pressure of work has seen me having my own private close season since Christmas ,  but today sees the 1st Marsh AC club match of the year down at Monk Lakes on Match Lake 4, so it's time to blow the cobwebs away and see if I can remember how to catch a few fish .

So with the alarm going off at 5·30am I soon had the cats fed and my coffee made and drunk before loading up the car and setting off for Monks . I pulled up in the car park around 7·45am with the sun shining to find a few of the lads already in attendance and tucking into breakfast in various forms. A bacon & egg baguette washed down with a tea took care of things for me as the rest arrived. Dave took care of collecting in the subs and peg fees while Tony and I strolled up to lake 4 to check out the pegging . The lake was almost flat calm with barely a hint of breeze, though as this is Monk Lakes the odds were that the wind would get up as soon as we settled into our pegs . Only peg 157 needed to be left out as it's tight in a corner.
Keith, Clive and Al who have been regular guests for quite a while had accepted invites to join the club this year , while Bill G was guesting as was Pete Thompson who had travelled down from Milton Keynes with Keith, and Kevin & Jean were also back with us having had to cancel their plans to move to The Bahamas.

So into the draw bag and with none of us having any real experience of this lake, nobody seemed to worried about what peg they would draw. Peg 136 ended up in my hand, at least I would be able to park pretty close to it. Getting the kit out of the car I could feel the wind starting to get up and by the time I'd set up it was blowing quite briskly onto my back . For company I had Bill G on 137 who had the end of the island in front and had set up a waggler to fish it and he would alternate between this and the pole all match to keep some fish coming. At least we would have a bit of banter regardless of the outcome . My peg looked OK with a comfortable 14½ mtrs to the island. With the depth being a pretty constant 3½ft all over I just set up a couple of rigs, both 4X12 Malman Champers on 0·16 power match to 0·14 with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Bait for today would be a selection of GOT 6mm soft hookers and some sweetcorn with GOT micros for feed.

10·00am saw Dave call the All-in, and Bill was in straight away with a Carp of around 3lbs on the pole at 13 mtrs . My start wasn't so good with lots of rubbish on the bottom of my chosen line against the island I had to come back about a meter from the island to find a clear patch. Bill probably had 7 or 8 fish before I managed my 1st, a small Carp of around a pound and while Bill appeared to be ticking along nicely I was just getting the odd Gudgeon and small Tench......

Around 11am Vince arrived to see how we were getting on and brought me a welcome cuppa . By this time the wind had got up to a decent blow making things more awkward and I sent Vince off with my camera to take a few photos and see what others were doing . Bill was still catching though he was suffering from a few bumped fish and a snag on his waggler line seemed to be costing him a few hook lengths, but he was still on course to take our £1 side bet.

On Vince's return his report was that although everyone seemed to be catching, nobody was taking it apart, though most seemed to be fishing maggot, so I asked Vince to pop down to the site shop and get me ½pint of reds and he duly obliged. 1st put in with double red on the hook I landed a small but scale perfect Golden Rudd which Vince photographed before saying farewell and heading for home.

Young Zack had a bit of a shock when his double maggot was taken by a 5lb+ Pike (I had no idea there were any present) which he weighed and returned. All the time it was getting colder and with the sky getting darker it was obvious that we were due some rain at some point.
At least the red maggots were starting to pick up a few more fish for me, not enough to do any damage, but in all honesty I was just enjoying being out on the bank again after a 3 month layoff. Jean as always appeared with a welcome cup of tea and even went and got a burger for Bill and I . After the burger I fed a load of micro's with some corn and a few reds at 7mtrs and went for a stroll of my own with the camera to allow it to settle.

Keith was fishing a top 3 and right on cue caught a decent skimmer for the camera .........

While Colin was doing his best 'Bankside Bush' impression in his camo gear, and as usual was keeping how he was doing pretty close to his chest, although admitting to having a few ........

Tony was looking remarkably cheerful , despite having the no9 section of his 401 fall apart in his hands earlier in the day (Tony has had no luck with this pole since he brought it secondhand, with countless sections breaking ) .........

Further round Pete Thompson was struggling to hit his bites, and felt that he was falling behind Clive on the next peg.........

Clive was looking like someone out of an advert, sitting on his shiny new Space Station and using a shiny new pole , which seemed to be doing the business for him .......

Indeed he landed a decent Carp while I was chatting to him leading me to believe that he was doing better than he was letting on......

By the time I got round to Dave the wind was blowing full on into his peg and causing his joints to suffer, though he'd managed a few, admitting to around 10 different species in his nets ......

Kevin was just glad to be out fishing, having had the misfortune to suffer a couple of strokes in recent months, but with Jean keeping a careful eye on him to make sure he didn't overdo things, he'd had a succession of small Carp to his feeder tactics and was obviously enjoying himself ......

Back at my peg the feed appeared to have done the job as there were a few bites to be had, very few Carp though, but a mixture of small skimmers, Ide, Gudgeon, Tench and Roach kept me interested as squalls of rain made things uncomfortable for everyone.

With about an hour to go Bill lost yet another hook to the snag on his waggler line and decided he'd have a stroll, while I kept plugging away picking up the odd fish including a solitary small Carp of around 2lbs that I managed to nick from my left hand margin before Dave called the All-out at 4pm.

Thankfully it didn't take to long to pack up and get the gear back to the car as it was only parked about 10 yards away.

The weigh-in started at my peg where my net weighed a level 21 lbs which was more than I thought I had. Bill's 26lbs safely secured the £1 side bet between the two of us. Colin's mixed bag weighed in at a level 33lbs.  Next up was Keith who put a fine 50¾lbs onthe scales that would eventually net him 2nd place . Hot on Keith's heels was Tony who despite the disaster with his pole weighed 45¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for 3rd place  . The winner however proved to be Clive round on peg 152 who used his new kit to good effect putting a level 54lbs on the scales to take the win on the day .

So that's it, the 1st trip of the year done and dusted and hopefully a few cobwebs blown away. Where next? who knows, but the report will appear here from wherever it is .

Marsh AC club match.

So it was off to the Top Lake at Rayne Lodge just outside Braintree in Essex today for what should be the last Marsh AC club match of the year (Though we might manage to sneak another one in somewhere ). It promised to feel a little strange as Dave Collier would be missing his first club match in nearly twenty years but I felt sure that we'd manage to muddle through without him .

The initial look through the bedroom curtains held the promise of a decent day ahead, and it was pleasantly mild as I loaded the kit into the car and set off for deepest Essex . An easy trouble free run down saw me pulling into the Top Lake car park just after 8am, where I found a few of the lads already sorting their kit and ferrying it down the hill to the lake. There were 16 of us today including two of our regular guests, Keith and Mick who had trekked down from Milton Keynes .

Now the Top Lake at Rayne Lodge is one of those picture book little lakes with trees trailing into the lake offering plenty of cover and features to fish to. Well it was !!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately someone appears to have acquired a chainsaw and has yet to discover the OFF switch .
To say that the pruning in some swims has been extensive would be an understatement. Brutal bordering on vandalism would be more accurate in my opinion . By way of example the following photo shows the view from peg 16 last May......

While the following photo shows the view from the same peg now  ......

Anyway rant over and back to the business of the day. With Dave absent, Colin and Tony had taken care of the pegging and collection of the cash and it was soon time for the draw. Into the draw-bag and I find myself holding Peg 14a . Last year I would have run to it, but I wasn't so enthusiastic today as it's right at the heart of the recent 'Pruning'. It's one of Dave's favourite swims, but in a way I'm glad he's not here today as he would probably have cried to see it as it is now .

Well it was my swim for the next 6 hours so it was a question of making the most of it. For company today I had Keith over to my left on Peg 16, a quality angler and if he's on a few fish, more than capable of doing the necessary . To my right there was Judy on peg 13 and Colin next to her on Peg 12. Tony has drawn peg 1 and there were a stack of fish in the corner to his right as we were drawing, and with Peg 22 drawn for Al (who hadn't made it as it turned out) he's got that corner to himself .

Time to set up and today I was going with a pellet and paste attack. The lake's level was about a foot down from its normal level and I was going to fish one line straight out at around 7mts where there was around 3ft of depth, and down both margins where there was around a foot. Rigs were my favourite Malman 4X12 Adam on 0·18 Power Match with size 16 Drennan Carp hook to fish pellet as well as a small Malman SC Paste float on 0·18 Power Match with a size 12 Ashima Barbless hook for paste on the 7mtr line with a couple of Malman MTD1 dibbers rigged up on 0·18 Power Match, one with a 16 Drennan for pellet and the other with a size 12 Ashima for paste. I had my feeder rod rigged up in it's ready sleeve but didn't really want to go down that route unless I was struggling. Bait for the day was simply a selection of various pellets and paste, while feed was taken care of with 6mm Skrettings pellets while a bag of groundbait was in the carryall if I needed it later .

So down to business as Colin signalled the All-In at 10am. Out with a pot of pellet at 7mtrs and some more by hand down the margins. A banded 8mm to start was shipped out to 7mtrs. A few little dinks, probably silvers pecking at the pellet. A few lift and drops, float dipped, missed it. Now something I noticed on a previous visit is how bad the condition a lot of the fishes mouths are  and I'm sure that's the reason for a lot of missed bites here, as it must be hard to get a hook-hold with the state of some of their mouths. Keith had landed his 1st fish "That's the blank saved" he remarked . I was in almost straight after and soon had a Common of around 2lbs safely in the net. I noticed that the fish was very slimy and hard to get hold of and made a mental note not to try lifting any into the keepnet. Another couple of fish followed for both Keith and myself, but sport was slow to say the least .

After a couple of hours I'd got 7 Carp and a couple of silvers, so out came the feeder rod and I knocked up a bit of groundbait, I'd banded an 8mm pellet and out went the method feeder to the corner of the island. An almost instant response in the form of a Mirror around the 2½lb mark didn't lead to better things however . Colin strolled up with his sandwiches. He'd been having a torrid time of it with just 3 Carp to show for his efforts . Keith meanwhile has suffered from 'slippery fish' syndrome and deposited a Carp safely back into the lake rather than his keepnet . With just 2 Carp to show for 45 minutes on the feeder I decided to cup in some loose groundbait and pellets on my 7mtr line and take a quick stroll with my camera to allow it to settle .

I took a stroll down to see Mick (Keith's travelling partner) on 11a. Tony had this swim on our visit last year and took a good bag from the left hand tree. It's not there any more, just a stump but Mick was nicking a few from the left hand margin ......

I could see Eddie over on Peg 5 with what appeared to be a nice patch of lilies on his right to fish to, so hopefully he would be picking up a few ......

Making my way back, I stopped off at Colin, but things weren't showing any signs of improving for him I'm afraid and he was at a loss as to what he could do to improve things  ......

while Judy was in pretty much the same boat as Colin, but was plugging away and at least keeping up with him ......

Back to my peg and I noticed a couple of bubbles coming up on the 7mtr line. Keith was a bit exasperated by the number of fish he'd had shed the hook and had managed to release yet another 'slippery fish' but he now appeared to be concentrating on his margin line ......

Bites for me were still finicky so I decided to fish the 6mm Skrettings I was feeding banded on the hook as they were really quite small compared with some other 6mm pellets.
That seemed to make all the difference for me, and while Keith started to put together a run of fish I felt that I was managing to match him and maybe even ease ahead a little bit . In fact it was all going pretty well apart from a couple of foul hookers, one of which trashed my pellet rig with 15 minutes to go . However swapping to my paste rig still kept the bites coming and I managed another 4 Carp before Colin called the All-Out at 4pm.

Packing away I couldn't help feeling a little frustrated at the way my match had gone , mostly due to the fact that the swim had been altered so drastically from the one I'd been expecting when I drew it, but on the plus side I felt confident that I'd beaten Keith and those around me . The Weigh-In was in full swing by the time that Keith and I caught up with it. Tony leading with a fine 79½lbs that would ultimately take his section and the honours on the day . Ron and Jim had managed a tie from adjacent pegs (3 & 4) with 28lbs each while Eddie had winkled out 21½lbs from peg 5 . Martin had managed a very creditable 63½lbs from Peg 7 only to be pipped by 1lb from the next peg when Terry placed 64½lbs on the scales.

Poor Zack had struggled and could only manage a meagre 11½lbs from peg 10 while John put a level 73lbs on the scales that would give him the section and 2nd overall on the day, but most importantly the bragging rights over Martin & Zack in the car on the way home .
Ken recorded 13½lbs from Peg 11, but it was Mick on Peg 11a with 42½lbs who took the section spoils after Colin and Judy tied from their adjacent pegs with a level 18lbs each .

Round to my peg and my 25 Carp along with a few silvers took the scales round to 67¼lbs for a section win and 3rd overall . Keith's 53½lbs at least saw him with the bragging rights over Mick on the way home . Roger round on Peg 20 weighed in 32½lbs but once again suffered the agony of losing a PB carp at the venue as he'd done last year, While Rod was the last to weigh with a level 14lbs.

All that just left us with just the slog back up the hill to the car park. Thank Heavens that Dave wasn't there to waltz up the hill with his powered trolley and take the mickey out of us all . So with the sections paid out the farewells were done, That's it officially for the Marsh AC club matches this year, though we hope to fit one final outing in next month as Kevin is coming back to visit from the Bahamas, so we'll try to sort out a day with him .
In the meantime it's been a most enjoyable series of matches oncemore, and I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Dave for organising the matches as always and another BIG THANK YOU to all that have fished the matches, both members and guests who've made them great fun to fish as always . Here's to more of the same next year .

Marsh AC club match.

Today It's down to Colemans Cottage with Marsh AC for a club match on Pathfield Lake . It's the second time this year that the club have visited the fishery for a club match, and there should be 16 of us fishing, including guests today. I missed the seasons first club match here in May due to work, though as it transpired it fished quite hard then , so I didn't really miss much . Hopefully we'll have a better day today, though it wasn't the best of starts, as some idiot had crashed his Merc at the top of my road this morning, meaning that I left a bit late for the trip down. It was pretty overcast as I drove into the car park just after 8·15am and a fair old breeze blowing, which can effect the lake as it's quite shallow for the most part . However we had the whole lake booked and that should allow everyone a bit of space to draw a few fish .
Anyway first things first and into the fishery lodge for breakfast. Most were already tucking in. Keith Ashby was a guest again and today he'd brought fellow GOT Baits angler, Pete Thompson with him. It was great to see Pete, as he's a class angler with a particularly dry sense of humour . All to soon Dave was after our money and the draw was underway just as my breakfast arrived. Anyway into the hat and it's peg 6 for me today (much to Dave's disgust as it's a favourite peg of his )

Breakfast finished and it's back to the car park to collect my gear and the fishery supplied nets then off to my peg. It seems Clive is on peg 2 and Pete Thompson is on peg 4, while Martin and Graham were right in the bay to my left on pegs 7 and 8 with Colin opposite on peg 9.

Looking at the peg, the obvious feature is the point of the island opposite, but with the wind gusting from right to left it would be awkward to say the least so rig wise it was decision time ......

I settled on a 4X12 Malman Adam on 0·16 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook and a duplicate rig but with a 4X16 Adam should the wind require it. I also set up a rig with one of the new Malman Slappers, again on 0·16 Power Match with a size 16 Drennan carp match hook for up in the water, that could also double up for the margins, though with so much vegetation on both sides, both my margin swims were very limited. Indeed I decided that my main line of attack would be at 8mtrs down the track where I had around 2½ft of water. Everyone I'd spoken to about Pathfields had told me that it was pellet & corn, so that was the plan of attack today.

So with everything set Clive arrived complete with camera for a chat and Pete put in an appearance as well. Soon it was 10am and a blast on the whistle from Dave signalled the All-In . With a large pot of pellet and corn down the track and some pellet into both margins I picked up the 4X12 rig, hooked on a kernel of corn and shipped out to 8mtrs. There were already signs of fish with a few bubbles appearing over the fed area. 10 minutes later and the anticipation had faded a little, there were a few Carp cruising around but they appeared quite uninterested and I'd only had a couple of sharp taps on the float that I couldn't connect with . Banded pellet, expanders and corn were all alternated, but at the end of the first hour all I had to show for my efforts were 3 small Barbel and a couple of Roach that might have scraped 1lb in total. I'd heard Pete take a couple of fish (and curse the fishery landing nets ) but from what little I could see nobody was bagging up. The wind wasn't helping but at least it had blown the clouds away and bright sunshine was warming things up nicely, but after another 15 minutes biteless I dumped another 2 large pots of pellet and corn on the 8mtr line to try and kick start things and took a stroll with the camera . Pete was fishing corn down his left hand margin and was admitting to around 15lbs in the net......

Clive was taking a similar approach and it had already produced a few Carp for him, and he was hoping that things would improve as the match wore on ........

and I could see Terry on the next peg, and while he was fishing down the margins as well he looked as if he was having a bit of trouble with his presentation due to the wind......

Anyway, with others catching I decided to get back and see if I could improve on my performance so far. As I made my way back someone called out my name and it turned out it was Scott(scottymatch) who follows this Blog on Xanga and his partner who had come down to introduce themselves, and it was a nice surprise to meet them both . After a brief chat they left and I settled back in to get on with things. Second put in with corn and the float slid slowly away and a couple of feet of elastic indicated something with a bit of weight at last. A small Mirror of around 2lbs, and very welcome . It proved to be a bit of a false dawn however as just a solitary tiny Barbel followed with nearly 2 hours of the match gone.

I'd noticed that Colin was starting to pick up a few fish, while Martin and Graham were fairing no better than me, despite being on what looked like a couple of pegs to die for, especially with the wind blowing into them. Martin had managed to nick a couple of fish on the feeder, but Graham appeared to be having a real grueller and was struggling to even get a bite.......

Dave strolled round and stopped to see how I was doing and reckoned that although most were catching a few, nobody was really going well where he was, though Tony had been catching steadily. I then noticed what I was sure was a tail pattern just past the end of my keepnets. Decision Time!!! I had some GOT Atomic paste in my carryall, and decided to make it up. With that done I selected a small Malman SC Paste float and rigged it up on 0·18 Power Match with a size 12 Ashima Barbless. Plumbing up I found 2 ft at 3mtrs, so with the rig set I flicked a few pellets out and potted the 1st bit of paste in. The rig settled and 30 seconds later a couple of dips were followed by the float sliding steadily away and a nice Common of around 3lbs was soon in the net . That was the start of the improvement for me, nothing spectacular, but at last I started to put fish in the net on a regular basis .

Unfortunately I started having a bit of trouble with foul hooked fish . Now I wasn't feeding heavily, just the odd pinch of pellets that were pretty well spread as I didn't want to concentrate to many fish in to small an area, but it was stopping me from finding any sort of rhythm, and with just around 1½ hours remaining I was looking for a decent finish to the match. Checking on my clicker I realised that I'd missed a few fish off and didn't really know just what I had in the net. Now Colemans operates a weight limit (70lbs per net) and I was hopeful that I'd exceed that by the end of the match so I decided to go and get a 2nd carp net and put it in to be on the safe side. I was pretty careful putting it in, conscious that I didn't want to disturb the paste line to much. Not to worry though , first put in after sorting the nets and a decent Mirror of around 5lbs obliged, so no harm done .

So with an hour to go I was set, but how to avoid the foul hookers? I added 3 inches of depth to the rig and fixed a no1 shot 3 inches from the hook in an attempt to get round the problem . Colin by now was catching well and I knew it would be close between us at the end......

The adjustment to the rig had the desired effect and I was soon putting a much better run of fish regularly in the net, In fact I only suffered 1 more foul hooker in the last hour, and the swim was getting stronger and stronger when Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm. I felt reasonably happy with my match at the end, it was just a shame that I hadn't sorted things out earlier. I felt that I'd probably got around 80lbs to show for my efforts, but couldn't help feeling that the peg would have been good for a 'Ton+' if I'd sorted it earlier .

So with the kit packed away and back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In. Now I have to say that Colemans probably has the most efficient system for weighing in that I've seen at a fishery in some time .

Basically as the picture above shows, they have quad bikes with trailers that drive round. On the back of the trailer is a bar that supports the scales, along with a weighing container and carp mat. It drives round to the pegs, fish are transfered to the container weighed and returned and the fishery nets collected in the trailer. Fast, efficient and with minimal strain for the fish. The chat suggested that Tony had had a decent day round on the other side of the lake, and Keith was keeping things pretty close to his chest, hinting that he probably had 50lbs+. Clive kicked things off from peg 2 and put 53½lbs on the scales . Pete had obviously had a decent day on peg 4 and took the lead with a fine 95lbs. I was quite pleased and surprised to edge him out though when the scales recorded 96½lbs for my fish. That lead was short lived however as Colin put 97lbs on the scales to edge me out of it. Onward we went with the next weight of note being Tony's who finally put 86lbs on the scales.

We then arrived at Keith's peg!!! What can be said? somehow his 50lbs+ morphed into 142½lbs !!!!! An excellent weight given that his peg wasn't one of the most fancied (Be careful if you're standing besides Keith though, because if he turns round quickly he could have your eye out with his nose )

So with the Weigh-In completed it was back to the patio outside the fishery lodge where winnings were dispensed by Dave, and tea, coffee and bread pudding along with a load of banter brought yet another Marsh club match to a close . Another excellent day out at a decent fishery in good company, it doesn't get much better really .

Next Saturday I'm down at Monk Lakes for the Southern Intersite match where I'm fishing for the Maggotdrowning.com team. Vince is our Captain and I'll be looking to mug him and get one of my Golden Nuggets back. Will I manage it? you can find out here .

Marsh AC club match.

Today it's another Marsh AC club match and we're on Nick's Lake at Hartleylands Farm. There's a few guests joining us today as is usual and with the whole lake booked hopefully it will throw up a few decent weights . Loading up the car the weather looked set fair and it was a smooth run down to the Knox Bridge Café for breakfast where I'd arranged to meet up with Keith and his pal Mick who were travelling down from Milton Keynes. Stomachs filled it was a short run down to the fishery and we pulled into the car park around 8·20am .
Along with Keith and Mick there were 2 other guests fishing with us today. Clive, who's rapidly becoming a fixture and Dave Talbot (Faye's Dad) who'd been able to accept the invite to join us .

With 17 anglers and 37 pegs on the lake there would be plenty of space for everyone today, and Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. Soon it was my turn and when peg 23 came to hand I was happy enough and pretty sure it would provide a decent days fishing . You can see where we all ended up on the pegging plan below .............

I soon had my kit in situ and found that I had Tony on peg 21 and Jim on peg 25 for company today, while I could see Clive opposite on peg 12. Now Nick's is one of those lakes that responds to a variety of methods, and with a bit of space the pole fished shallow is normally the way to go at this time of the year, but I really fancied fishing the waggler today, as I don't do it often enough and while it probably wouldn't win, I was sure it would provide me with a decent days fishing , the only fly in the ointment being the wind blowing from my left to right straight up into pegs 17 & 18. So the Shakespeare 11ft Micro was set up with a Shimano Stradic spooled up with 4lb Maxima, the business end was a Dave Brittain pellet waggler while the hook was a size 14 Drennan Match Carp with a hair rigged pellet band. With and hour and a quarter to set up I did get the feeder rod out as a back up, but didn't really plan on using it and I also set up one top kit with a margin rig as It's possible to nick a couple of lumps late on down the margins if needed. Bait was 6 & 8mm pellet with a bit of hemp and sweetcorn for the margins.

Jim and John came up for a chat while we were waiting for the off, Jim remarking that with so long to set up he could have had another half hour in bed . Tony had said that he was going to go for it shallow on the pole as he had plenty of water to go at, and it's a method he enjoys. Looking across I could Clive see sitting at his peg and looking quite serene, obviously happy that he'd got his drawing hand back under control and looking forward to the day ahead on a water that I just knew would be more to his liking after his recent grueller of a session at Drayton Reservoir ............

So at 10am Dave blew for the All-in and I fed a couple of pints of hemp and pellet into the margins before starting on the feeder to the corner of the island, to allow me to catapult some pellet out to the front of the island to prime it for the waggler. Lot's of little taps on the feeder resulted in a couple of small Carp in the 1st 10 minutes, but as I could already see signs of fish coming for the feed in front of the island I soon had the waggler out and was into a Carp 1st put in . The wind was making things tricky however, as well as some Ducks and Moorhens that were doing their best to mop up any loose pellets . I could hear by the splashing coming from my right that Tony was getting amongst a few, and from what I could see around the lake he appeared to be out catching everyone............

My problem was that I had to drop the float within 18 inches of the island to get a bite, any further away and I couldn't buy a bite, and feeding a bit further away had no effect. Then a couple of disasters befell me . firstly the float adaptor split, so I had to re-rig, however this time I went with a Drake 3AAA peacock waggler that I felt I could control better, then first cast out a Moorhen dashed out to the splash of the float landing and tangled with the rig. Thankfully I managed to retrieve the rig complete with Moorhen which I netted and the bird was released none the worse for it's experience, before I could once more get down to the task in hand.

Dave had come round for a stroll and confessed that he was experiencing his own "Mugger Moments©" as were a few of those pegged down to my left where it was much more sheltered, though I could see Simon down on peg 31 putting fish in the net on a regular basis, and Dave was soon followed by Colin, who reckoned that he'd only got 7 small carp to show for his first 2 hours of effort. Judy up on peg 16 appeared to be concentrating on a margin swim to put a few fish together ........

I managed to get back into some sort of rhythm and started to put a run of fish together, but a couple of times the wind got up making presentation awkward and on those occasions I took the opportunity to take a look down the margins and while this produced a couple of small Carp I soon got back out on the waggler when the wind eased . Just past halfway Tony strolled down as he took a break to have a bite to eat and was admitting to 60+ fish.

Round the other parts of the lake people were having their own private battles. Keith on peg 6 was trying to get to grips with a venue that was new to him, and with the wind blowing straight into him had come shorter allowing himself to feed comfortably and was starting to put a few fish together ...........

While his friend Mick was having quite an enjoyable day, having drawn peg 9 (one of the noted pegs) he was happily putting together a good net of fish on the pole ............

while Chris on peg 8 to his right looked to be doing OK from what I could see as he did battle with one of the lakes resident Carp.........

With time marching on, I kept plugging away on the waggler and apart from Tony who was catching really well, I felt that I was holding my own against everyone else from what I could see . Clive was fishing his right hand margin, and while he was putting fish in the net, he seemed to be suffering a few blank periods in between...........

Colin however was experiencing a really good end to the match and in the last 2 hours was absolutely flying, taking decent fish regularly from the margin over on peg 14 ............

Jim was having a bit of a struggle and confessed to a bit of frustration as he felt he wasn't getting the best from his swim as it seemed that wherever he looked others were doing better than him ......

with 20 minutes to go the wind got up again so I took a final look down the margin with the pole, but only managed 2 more fish, they were however better fish and probably added about 15lbs to my net before Dave blew the All-out at 4pm.

So with the kit packed up and back in the car it was time for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off from peg 1 with 44¼lbs and was immediately overtaken by Dave with 48lbs. Keith had finally sorted things out to record 76¼lbs , but his mate Mick was to take the bragging rights on the trip home to Milton Keynes with a fine 101lbs . Clive had 78lbs to show for his efforts while Colin had a final 2 hours "To die for" as he put it weighing 112¼lbs . Dave T declared he'd really enjoyed his day and the 60¼lbs he put on the scales . Tony's nets rather gave the game away as they were lifted out, and when his catch was totalled up 176¼lbs was always going to be enough for the win . My own fish came to 106lbs which would prove to be good enough for 4th on the day . While Simon was last to weigh and put a fine 129lbs on the scales for 2nd on the day .

So 5 Ton weights in a total of 1155½lbs weighed in resulting in an average of 68lbs per angler made for another good day out for the members of Marsh AC and their guests, and I think shows just what a good venue Hartleylands Farm is . Thanks to all that made it another enjoyable day out . The next Marsh club match is at Colemans Cottage next month, while my next outing is to Rolf's Lake for the 4th match in The Jinx Series next Saturday.