The Southern Intersite Match.

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

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

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

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

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

How did my match go??????

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teams.........

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dave the Fish's 

Fur and Feather Fun Match.

22 hardy souls headed down to Harleylands in Kent yesterday to take part in a Xmas match organised by Dave the Fish from Maggotdrowning.com

I met up with a few of the lads at the Knoxbridge Cafe at around 7·30am to find it a tad busy, a party of shooters had obviously beaten us to it, meaning that the service was about as far removed from "Fast Food" as you could imagine.
By the time that Jess & Szabi and The Welsh Contingent (Dai, Neo, Geoff & Malc) arrived it had slowed even more, and as we left for the draw they were still waiting!

With the delays making the draw run late we decided that we would fish from 10·30 to 3·30pm so we all dipped in and made our way to our respective pegs.
I found myself on 22 with The Jinx for company on 23. Not only were our pegs in the shade but we had the wind howling into them and although there was no ice on the lake it was soon obvious that the only people that would be at home on them would be Eskimos. Looking across to the other bank it was bathed in sunlight with barely a ripple on the water!

I set up a pole and a feeder rod with a small maggot feeder, while Malc elected to fish the feeder all day to the island in front of him.

All in and I went out on the pole, and needless to say with both Malc and Dave standing behind me my first bite, a small very delicate affair, (don't believe Malc when he tells you "it speared the bottom" ) resulted in me missing it horribly and wrapping the rig round the tip.

I stuck it out on the pole for an hour for 4 small fish (1 Skimmer, 1 Roach, 1 Perch and a Gudgeon). In the meantime Malc had managed 3 Carp and Neo a few pegs down had managed a few small stockies. I could see Omega Mike (who I regard as something of a venue expert) pegged further round and bathed in sunlight starting to put a few together on the long pole.

Sven on peg8 (The Flyer) and Colin opposite me appeared to be catching regularly,
and with my hands starting to become numb with the cold the pole was replaced with the feeder rod.
Looking round it appeared that a Garden Gnome had turned blue with the cold , but it was only Malc staring at his tip willing it to go round..

Slowly i started to put a few small Carp together by dropping the feeder as close to the island as I dared.

Just after Noon the best part of the day arrived in the shape of Dave & Jean bearing Hot Pies & Pasties along with a bottle of Canadian Club. Truely Inspired and most welcome, even if Malc did complain that they weren't served on Daves usual Silver Tray.

Into the fading light, and a few missgivings were being aired about the wisdom of fishing to 3·30pm, it was getting that cold that I had a couple of feeders crack up where they had become so brittle in the cold.
With 5 mins to go I'm sure that I heard the ominous sound of breaking carbon from further down the bank followed by a softly muttered Welsh curse, though I could be wrong.

Finally the whistle sounded, and it transpired that Malc and I would have to perform Scales Duty. My 27lbs 2ozs started the ball rolling (and secured £1 from Malc ), Omega Mike came up just short with what was still a creditable bag as he'd fished the pole all day. Colin was soon in the box seat however with a 50lb+ bag, a worthy winner on the day. Sven & John on adjacent pegs had obviously had a close match, with Sven just having enough for 2nd on the day pushing John down to 3rd and me to 4th. A very good result for Sven as I'm sure he would admit that matchfishing isn't his thing. Nick Gilbert also managed 27lbs on the day.

Gathering up our kit Malc and I returned to find our nets frozen solid (told you it was cold ) so back to the car park for the prizes and farewells.
I have to say that given the conditions the lake fished well on the day, even though the fish were shoaled up in pockets.

A big thank you to Dave for organising the match and to all those that attended from near and far, making the day the success it was. We'll have to do it again, preferably in warmer conditions though.

The final results were :-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maggotdrowning.com

 Individual Championships 2005.

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

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

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

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

I had drawn peg 25 with Steve12 to my right,

and Simon(me) and MarkC to my left.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESULTS.

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Lake Match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Eastern Intersite Match.

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

Southern Intersite Match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ashley with Keith "Fishermans Blues" Arthur .

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

Dan with a specimen Perch...

And a Bream for me...

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

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fish-In.

Well I arrived around lunchtime and Les directed me to Maggotville and provided a welcoming cuppa. I decided to get my bivvie up post haste as the heavens were threatening to open, Dave the Fish providing a handy mallet to help with the pegs .

After a stroll round to meet and greet faces old and new I decided that I had enough time for an afternoon dabble, so getting my gear I eased into a swim on pond B, next to Dai, his good lady Anne and son Daniel .

A hand full of pellets to the pads on my left and an expander on the hook was soon producing a mix of bream, barbel and roach with a few carp thrown in for good measure and much to Dai's delight a GOLDEN TENCH. At least having had a good look at one, Dai shouldn't have any trouble identifying one if and when he eventually catches one of his own . Perhaps Dai and The Hat should have a session at Monk lakes down near me? one of them's bound to catch one there.

Just as I was packing up Anne managed to catch her 1st ever Tench  .......

A quick wash and brush up and off to the pub for a meal and a couple of pints was merely a prelude to the cabaret round at Dai's bivvy as Ady kept us all entertained as only he can .

Saturday morning arrived sometime around 9am and again I found myself on pond B, but this time between Ady and Teepee. Pole across to the island found all of 9" of water and a succession of chub and barbel, all in super condition and thriving in their natural environment............................WATER .

Ady to my left decided to try and choke a few carp with a selection of improbably large hookbaits and appeared to be having some success, despite the attentions of Ghillie Geoff and 'evil' Amy........

Here's one of them that survived the ordeal  ............

While Red Leader was adding to Coshida's profits opposite me to tempt an eventual 10 carp. Dave the Fish and Colin were fishing either side of the bridge dividing pond B from A with them both putting fish regularly in the net.

Big Brian arrived and introduced himself, and it was obvious where he got the name from, but he was showing some class by being attired in a BURGUNDY MD's sweatshirt

I meanwhile elected to fish paste in the margin, to see if I could get a carp. I soon hooked a good common, but after a fair old fight it slipped the hook.At this point I'd like to say that all those that witnessed this commiserated with me over my misfortune,
I'D LIKE TO, but true to form the p**s taking was mercy-less, B******S!!!! 

Stu was fishing my peg from the previous day with a pole that he makes look like a whip and was happily getting amongst a few.....

While Dave assumed the Ghillies duties as Teresa managed to catch her 1st carp ..............

Simon R was managing to catch a few carp from under a bush on pond A when he wasn't foulhooking errant free swimming topkits  .......

Reading this you could be forgiven for thinking that the place was fishing it's head off, but some were struggling and I'm sure I heard snoring coming from Teepee's direction on more than one occasion .
Michelle seemed to be taking great delight, strolling around and announcing that Nick was being battered by her in no uncertain terms .


Superb skill and ability  finally yielded a reward for me though in the shape of a nice 11½lb Mirror, despite certain allegations of 'Mugging' from some quarters that should know better  .....

Just prior to packing up for the day, I decided to feed a margin swim on the other bank that I fancied fishing Sunday AM. Unfortunately Red Leader decided this was a cue for a catapult war, and was only persuaded to desist as a result of a direct hit with a 14mm halibut pellet, though how I managed to hit so small a target at that range is a bit of a mystery .

Back to the pub for a meal and liquid sustenance led to another cabaret session round Dai's bivvy, though Ady did seem a little subdued as he was issued with a charity challenge . Should he choose to accept, both Dave and I have pledged £50 to a charity of Ady's choice, should he furnish proof of completing the challenge.
Will he succeed? Frankly I think that our money is as safe as houses .

Sunday morning and for some strange reason I was up at 6am to be greeted by blue sky and sunshine, the 1st since arrival, so decided to grab a couple of ours before packing up for the journey home.
Popping down to the ponds I found only Colin and Haydn had beaten me to it, with only Haydn putting a couple of carp in the net during the quiet of the early morning .

9am saw Stu and I invited to partake of a cup coffee on the veranda of Red Leader's IKEA bivvy prior to breakfast and after that it was time for me to pack away ready for the 200+ miles down the motorway to home.

All packed away it was time for a last stroll round to say my farewells. Despite the warmth of the day, the fishing remained slow.
Nick was still getting battered by Michelle, this time with his own pole  .........

Ady however was grinning as an 8½lb mirror grabbed a bit of flake to reward his efforts and happily posed for a photo despite doing his best to juggle it back into the water 1st .

Scouse was found hiding in the bushes with only 1 bream having fallen for his paste, and bemoaning a distinct lack of hubcaps, now that most cars have alloys and locknut's .

While the final site was of Red Leader standing back in admiration of the ease with which Teresa handled 11mtrs of his pole  ....................

So that was my Blyton Fish-In, Good laughs, Great company and a few fish as well, not a bad way of spending a weekend . 

Maggotdrowning.com

 Southern Fish-in.

Well I arrived at Sumners Ponds at around 10·30am on Friday to find a few of the participants already ensconced for the weekend ahead .

Already in situ were Geoff and his grandaughter Amy, Dai and Daniel, Ady (BigLadWigan) , Sven C (with Gemma to follow on Saturday), Alex(Fish-Fingers), Dave(Scouse) with Neil(bluenose), Larry, Terry(Wily Coyote) and Jess & Szabi (Jackcatcher & Tincabelle)

I decided to drop into the swim next to Scouse and Neil so that I could keep an eye on my hubcaps, and as I was setting up my bivvy Dave(theFish) and Colin (thePike) arrived, and the usual round of greetings and abuse ensued .

Strange things these bivvies and bedchairs, No drawers for your tackle and only available in a rather drab green or heaven forbid CAMO!!!!!! You could lose them on the bankside.
I set up my 2 carp rods and baitrunners with method feeders and placed them on my pod, not quite a PUPSS but it would have to do .

What! No Burgundy????

So time to start fishing? Well not quite, a quick tour round the pond to meet and great everyone, and try out the new camera consumed another hour before i was settled in, with Sven obliging with a well timed bream as a subject ........

Pineapple & Tutti antbait softee's on both rigs gently lobbed to midway were greeted after a while by a couple of respectable Bream, both around the 4lb mark, so off the mark and cause for a celebratory beer.

Wind and squally showers were doing their best to put a damper on the day, and Jason (NoFinPhish) arrived late on and managed to slide into a swim between Geoff & Dai.
Neil finally managed a carp on his pole between phonecalls and texts as can be seen in the pic below......

Unfortunately, not being fishery members we weren't allowed to nightfish (apart from Sven who's a member) so most adjourned to the local hostelry (The Queens Head) to sample a few pints, before the evening soiree round Geoffs bivvy.

Saturday, weatherwise brought more of the same, with the odd fish for most and Jason probably winning the numbers game with a good run of fish in the morning and Szabi showing up Jess, who in his defence spent a fair bit of time showing Fish-Fingers the ins and outs of various rigs. The morning only provided a single bream for me almost identical to the pair from friday.

With the day moving on Jess, Szabi and Wily departed citing other engagements for the Sunday, while a few of the lads were tempted by the lure of the small pond, which appears to have a higher stocking level than the main lake. Daniel brimming with confidence went for a £1 side bet with Jason on who would have the largest carp of the day .

3pm and I had a screamer on the rod I had cast close to the marginal tree on my right, and I thought I was winning the tug of war till the fish turned 180° and buried intself into the roots.
Having to rerig I could resist no longer and set up a waggler to see if I could mug anything in the margins. Sure enough after a few small skimmers and roach an unsuspecting tench obliged, not big at a couple of pounds, but most welcome none the less..

Once more the pub won the battle of the early evening, but after a curry and a couple of pints I sneaked off to return for a last hour before dusk. No action I'm afraid but we ended with a small gathering at my peg over a coffee before decending on Dai for the evening entertainment. Biglad was in his usual superb form, if a tad restrained by the presence of young Amy while Jason thoughtfully checked out the depth of Dai's Margin and Dan waved farewell to his £1.
June it may be, but Flaming it certainly wasn't and with a cold dew forming the party was curtailed earlier than it could have, though probably much to the relief of those in the mobile homes and campers on the other bank .

We had been warned that a real gail was expected overnight, but thankfully it never materialised. A few of us decided to take a quick trip up to look at the new match lake that's just been opened on the site. It's still very new with construction still in progress, but plenty of planting has taken place, I can't say that it inspired me to make a visit, but who knows, maybe in a couple of years when it's more established .

With it still being grey and overcast and very few fish showing, most were thinking of getting bivvies packed away ready for the trip home.
I was just starting to pull my bivvy pegs when a steady run developed on my rod baited with 4 bits of hair rigged corn and after a short but spirited fight I was rewarded with a plump common weighing in at 14lbs, a lovely end to the weekend .

Having packed all my kit up, it was time for farewells, and is always the case at these sort of meetings that tends to take a couple of hours in itself . Dai had managed to bag a carp as I passed  ......

Dave and Colin were packing away his bivvy, while the final site as I headed to the carpark was of Geoff and BigLad trying for a final fish before departing as Amy looked on......

The end of another MD's weekend away in good company, some great laughs and a few fish caught by everyone. Well done to Dave the Fish for organising it all .

The only Mystery?
Where was Beebs? Comatose under a Duvet somewhere no doubt .

Maria had to work today, and wanted a lift as she had to start at 6am, so I arranged with a pal of mine Dave Collier to pop down to Hartleylands today for a session on the Reservoir .

The drive down was wet but uneventfull and I arrived at 7am to find there was a small match booked on the Reservoir, but as only pegs 7-17 were being used a phonecall was made to Dave who was about half an hour behind me, and we decided to go for it.

I settled for peg 30 and on his arrival Dave settled into peg 28.
As we tackled up the sun was starting to break through and things were looking promising, even though some of the carp were still spawning .

Baitwise for me it was just what was in my carryall, some 3 & 6mm expanders, corn and meat. Dave had brought some cockles with him as he finds that these are ignored by the silvers that are present.

I fed a margin swim and another at around 8mtrs, and sure enough pellet whether it was 6mm or 3mm produced roach, skimmers and hybrids, while Dave had a swift couple of carp with his first two put ins at around 4mtrs.

A change to corn finally produced a couple of carp for me but the weather was threatening a turn for the worse as the sky was darkening to our left and the wind was getting up .

A better carp from my margin swim on corn gave a good account of itself, and as I was playing it Dave was into one himself that was only marginally smaller .

All to soon thunder was rumbling and lightning flashing in the distance and I shot off to the farm shop to get us a couple of hot beef pasties for lunch.

With the pasties eaten the rain arrived with a vengence, and it was a question of just sitting it out under the brollies and leaving the poles well alone as lightning flashed across the reservoir and thunder crashed over our heads.
After about half an hour it stopped, the sky cleared and once again the sun was shining .
Dave had made a discovery that his Gortex overtrousers weren't as waterproof as they once were, probably due to all the fish slime, mud etc that had accumulated over time and decided to dry off in his car.

The fish were still feeding and another couple of carp and yet more silvers came my way, but over to my left I could see grey skys building again and decided to quit while the going was good.
Dave emerged from his car, dry oncemore and declared that he was going to fish on for a while.

Thankfully we weren't far from the car park and as I loaded the last of my tackle, the rain started again .
A quick farewell to Dave with the assurance that I would see him next Friday at Sumners for a 3 day Fish-In with some people from MD's and I was on my way.

How did Dave fare? Well he phoned me when he got home to tell me what a wimp I was and that after I left the rain stopped, the sky cleared, the sun came out and it was glorious for a while.
A bit later it got really dark again, chucked it down and then finished off with hailstones .

He ended up with 15 carp and a load of silvers for about 80lb in total.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fun Match.

Well at 8am I pulled into the car park to be greeted by a sign saying WELCOME MAGGOTDROWNERS that had been posted by the fishery staff, and as I got out of the car I could see Darren strolling towards me across the carpark After a brief chat we decided to go and have a stroll so I could show him a few of the lakes on the complex.
On our return we bumped into Ginger and Sven and adjourned for a spot of Brekkie as the others arrived . Looking out of the window I could see Malc "The Jinx" arrive wearing a polo shirt and sunglasses, a sure sign that the weather would deteriorate in the not to distant future .

With half an hour to go before the draw Vince and I set off to peg the Bank that had been reserved for the match accompanied by Ginger and Big Sedge. It was the bank alongside the river and with a wind that was starting to freshen and blow straight into the bank it promised to be a tad exposed .
As we walked back just to confirm that "The Jinx" had arrived in Kent it started to drizzle.
Onto the draw and with 15 actually in attendance and with Simon (the owner) kindly only charging us a £6 peg fee, a £4 optional pool was added to keep the cost to a round £10 for most.

Vince and I drew last and attracted a few comments when it was realised that we had both end pegs between us. Luckily the fishery staff allowed us to drive down to drop our tackle, which was just as well, as by now the rain was lashing down.

With an 11am all in everyone had time to set up, though I'm sure that it won't have been long enough for Malc  It never is.

All-In, and the wind and rain meant that fishing the pole beyond 8mtrs was out of the question for me, and later as the wind increased that would be reduced to 6mtrs.
With shallow margins the wind was blowing my Carp net out of the water, and my silvers net was only kept in place by putting a spare landing net handle inside it!!!  

The actual fishing was for me at least, pretty simple, feeding a mix of 3mm pellet and red maggot, with a single red on the hook kept a pretty steady flow of small Chub, Skimmers, Barbel, Tench (both Green & Gold) + a couple of small Carp coming throughout the match.

So despite the conditions a nice steady match for me, resulting in a net weighing 41lbs 2ozs and 1st place .

Back to the carpark for a welcome cuppa and plenty of banter and we found out that Simon had kindly donated 3 bottles for prizes in his absence, so a handy £24 and a bottle of Champagne came my way . 

All in all a cracking day despite the weather doing it's best to wreck things, and as usual with these sort of gatherings, plenty of banter before, during and after. Special mention has to be made at this point of young Lee's performance, who handed out a good battering to his Uncle Malc from the next peg .