Marsh AC club match.

It's Rockells Farm that is the venue for the latest Marsh AC match today. It normally throws up some phenomenal weights so hopes will be high for a good days fishing today among the club members . I'd arranged to meet at Dave's house and follow him to the venue, so with the cats fed and the car loaded I made my way over there arriving around 6·45am. Chris was strolling down the road, he was tagging along today as a spectator, his broken arm preventing him from fishing. Dave appeared and we were off and we made good time arriving at Rockells around 8am .

A few of the lads set off to peg out as the pegs aren't numbered and I soon had the kit loaded on the trolley, and that's where it all started to go pear shaped. There's a bit of a slope up from the car park to the lake, and halfway up the slope I felt a searing pain in my left calf that brought me to a halt! A couple of the lads came to my aid, but I was left hobbling around and feeling pretty uncomfortable, not the best of starts to my day .

Anyway Peg 13 came my way in the draw, a number that seems to follow me, and I hobbled off with my kit to set up for the day ahead. John had Peg 10 with Jim for company on Peg 11, while Peg 12 was empty. I arrived to find that I had Simon for company on Peg 14 today, Terry was through the gap on Peg 15 ( where Dave had 344lbs last year) Vic was on 16 with Clive on Peg 17 (my peg last year).

I have to say that my initial impression was that the swim looked spot on with an overhanging willow to the right and another to the left , but with my box set up I got a bit of a shock as I put my nets in, finding that the water barely covered them, and a closer look confirmed that the water level was at least a foot down, if not a bit more on the normal level when I've fished there previously ! It's not deep at the best of times and as I sorted out the rigs for the day ahead it became apparent just how little water I had in front of me.

 

I ended up with 3 rigs, all pretty much identical, being 0.2 NG Edger's on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG's, plus a 0·2 NG Margin paste on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Guru MWG that was set up on my margin pole, these were set between 6 and 18 inches deep as that was all the depth I could find regardless of where I plumbed up. Bait today was 8mm pellet and paste with 6mm pellet for feed. but I also had some 6mm floating pellet as these have proved deadly in the past for sorting out the better fish .

On previous visits I've caught well on a top 2 tight in to the margins, but that line was dry today, so I would be looking to fish a line at the end of my nets and across to the overhanging trees. With a bit of time before the off I had a hobble along to see how the others were. Pretty much in the same boat, but someone had been doing some gardening removing a lot of cover, most notably in Clive's swim where an overhanging bush had completely vanished and he was struggling to find any depth of water . Vic's platform was way off the water, but at least he'd managed to get set up in front of it at water level, but again all the bank side vegetation had been cut back. Thankfully Kevin had brought a cup of coffee round and I sat down to drink that as I contemplated the two 3 hour sessions ahead .

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and a handful of pellet to the end of my nets and to the edge of both trees was followed by a banded 8mm to the end of my nets, and I also flicked out a few floaters to the edge of the right hand willow. The float soon slid away and a scrappy little Mirror of no more than 8ozs got me off the mark. Simon was off the mark as well and I soon had another couple of similar sized fish to keep the first one company . Now Rockells isn't really about finesse normally, it's a question of keeping the feed going in and catching quick, but it was noticeable that with so little water, playing fish was making the rest back off, so I was alternating between the end of my nets and across to the willow, while feeding every put in to hold the fish. The floaters weren't drifting out of the swim, but nothing was touching them either .

Across on the other side I could see Keith who seemed to be picking up a few fish down his margin line ......

 

While Dave on the next peg looked like he'd set out his stall to fish his usual floater tactics that work well for him here ......

 

After about an hour I had about 12 fish, not enough by the usual standards so gave the paste rig a try, this is normally a banker for me here as it tends to produce a slightly better stamp of fish, but it wasn't having the desired effect today as I was having to wait to long between bites and the fish that it did produce were of a similar size to the pellet fish so after 30 minutes that was up the bank . Despite keeping a few floaters going in nothing had shown for them so I just had to keep picking off odd fish here and there and at the end of 3 hours when Dave called the All-Out for a half time Weigh-In I had around 35 fish, the biggest of which might have gone 2lbs if I was lucky.

With a set of scales on each side of the lake we soon had it underway. John had 51¼lbs and Jim 29lbs. I weighed 41lbs and Simon 46½lbs. Terry had 25¼lbs while Vic managed 40lbs and Clive could only muster 19¼lbs. Not the greatest weights and we could tell by the pace of the weigh-in across the lake that there had been some better weights over there. Martin appeared with another coffee from Jean and the news that Dave and Al had both had 80lbs +.

At 2pm Dave called the All-In for the second half and it was just a question of carrying on with my approach and hope that some better fish would put in an appearance, and I kept flicking out a few floaters hoping they would do the job, but the only thing they seemed to attract were 3 geese ......

 

The small fish were still there, but were once again coming in fits and starts and at around a pound a time weren't really large enough to build any sort of weight. I could see Dave across the lake was still taking fish at a steady rate and they appeared to be of a better stamp than the ones I was getting ......

 

Another look with the paste proved to be nothing but a waste of time, still yielding little fish, but at a slower rate than fishing pellet. The strange part was that Simon was catching on floaters in the next swim, whereas they were doing nothing for me. Meanwhile John down on Peg 10 was having a cracking session and steadily building a decent weight , as was Vic on Peg 16 who was finally finding some better fish on paste ......

 

I just plugged away amid rain showers to the end, and while I'd caught more in the 2nd session when Dave called the All-Out at 5pm I didn't expect my 55 fish to weigh more than 60lbs . Thankfully the showers had stopped as we packed away, and with a set of scales at Clive's peg we decided to get our part of the Weigh-In over and done with.

Poor Clive's day hadn't got any better with a meagre 16lbs to show for his efforts . Vic's second half had been a definite improvement with 100¾lbs . Terry had 41¼lbs and Simon once again beat me with 71½lbs to my 65¼lbs. Jim had added 38¼lbs to his morning total, but John had the best weight on our bank with a fine 128½lbs .

So with our gear returned to the car park we all assembled as Dave worked out the results and monies. Winner on the day was Mr Chairman Dave with a total of 196¾lbs closely followed by Al on 193¼lbs while John's total of 180¼lbs gave him 3rd on the day just ahead of Keith's 176lbs. Six more 'Ton+' totals followed including my own 106¼lbs so while it would be harsh to say that it had been anything other than a good days fishing , however such is the level of catches that Rockells can produce that it's safe to say that there were a few disappointed anglers that made their way home after the match.

Anyway the final club match of the season lies ahead at Hartleylands Farm on October 15th when we'll be fishing The Reservoir, however prior to that I'm at Rolfs Lake on Saturday for the final match of The Jinx Series.

Marsh AC club match.

It was off down to a Private Lake in East Sussex today for a Marsh AC club match and I was hopeful that it would be a decent day as the lake had been fishing well recently .
It was a bit dull and grey as I looked out of the window this morning, but a quick look on the web reassured me that we were in for a good day weather wise , and after feeding the cats and drinking a couple of cups of coffee to fire up the old grey matter, I soon had the car loaded and was off to East Sussex. With no café close to hand I stopped off at McD's in Bromley on the way where a couple of Sausage and Egg McMuffins were consumed before resuming the journey. It got a bit foggy on the A21, but not enough to delay things and I reached the fishery just after 8am.

There wasn't our usual turn out today due to a number of reasons, meaning there were just 12 club members and 3 guests to make up the numbers, but at least we should have a bit of room . Al went off to peg out while everyone got there nets dipped. Bill G was guesting today and as he's been running a match series there, people were quizzing him for some info. Dave had brought his daughter Chrissy to fish today, but rumour was that it was really to act as his carer . Anyway with the pegs sorted it was time for the draw, and Peg 2 on the dam wall was mine for the day, a short walk and a peg I seem to draw quite often on my visits there, and with Kevin on Peg 1, I should be good for a couple of cups of coffee . The pegs aren't numbered at the lake, so if you take a look below you'll see where we were all pegged ......

As you might guess, it didn't take long to get my gear to my peg, and having fished it before I had a fair idea of how I was going to approach it. Now when you hear 'dam wall' you tend to think deep water, however it's not the case here, apart from a small marginal shelf close in it just gently drops away to around 3ft which remains pretty constant.
I had planned to fish paste today so I set up 2 paste rigs, the first was a 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG for a line at about 5mtrs straight out. I also set up another 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG to fish pellet over this line if they didn't want paste. The Margin paste line was taken care of by a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG. Bait was GOT Atomic paste and a mix of 6 and 8mm pellets.

 

Jean spoilt me today as prior to the off I was treated not only to a cup of coffee, but also a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll . Sitting there waiting for the off, the fog from earlier had burnt off and a bright sunny day lay ahead. In fact I felt we could do with a bit more cloud as a bright sunny day could make for a hard days fishing.

Anyway the All-In was called at 10am so we would soon find out. A pot of pellet at 5mtrs and some down the margins, then I shipped a banded 8mm out onto the 5mtr line. My first bite proved to be a bit of a false dawn as a Carp shot off before rolling on top as the rig came flying back with a scale on the hook . Next came a Roach, but it was Carp or nothing for me today and I hadn't put a silvers net in, so it was popped back.

Clive had got off to a good start tucked awayon Peg 3 fishing to the willow and had taken 3 Carp almost straight away leaving everyone playing catch up already ......

 

In general though sport was far from hectic from what I could see and from my vantage point on the dam wall I had a good view of all those fishing the railway bank and on the meadow bank ......

 

I managed to get off the mark shortly after when my float slid away, and after a brief scrap a Mirror of around 4lbs was safely in the net . There's a good head of carp in the lake that average around 5lbs and it's generally reckoned that 20 of them will normally give you a ton, but there's also a good percentage that are considerably larger, and a few of them in the course of a session can really boost your weight. After that initial fish I changed to the paste rig, and after a few minutes the float buried and the culprit this time was a Common, again around the 4lbs mark but welcome none the less . I could see Simon over on the railway bank and although he'd had a couple of fish, he appeared to be struggling like me ......

 

It was becoming obvious already that Clive would take some stopping today, as although I couldn't really see him from where I was pegged, I could certainly hear the splashing as what seemed like a constant stream of fish were played and netted . I could see that Mick up on Peg on Peg 11 was starting to take the odd fish and knew that he might do some damage as well ......

 

My paste fish seemed to be an solitary one so I reverted to the pellet and over the course of the next 90 minutes or so managed to add another 3 Carp to my total, all of which seemed to be around the 4lb mark. The noticeable thing was that I needed a ripple on the water to get a bite, as soon as the ripple stopped so would any chance of a bite .
So with it flat calm in front of me by 1pm I re-fed and took a stroll with the camera......

 

Kev had just had his 1st fish of the day on the feeder, while Keith was admitting to 5 in the net. Vic in truth was looking a little tired, probably due to the fact he'd caught 400lbs at Alders the day before, only to finish second to a weight of 534lbs!!!!!! However he was still into a Carp as I looked on ......

 

John had managed a few as well, but Martin was having a bit of a grim time . Mick was indeed catching despite being plagued by small Perch. Bill was locked in a battle with the Carp in his peg and unfortunately the score was Carp 8 - 4 Bill at that point . He was fishing corn across to the island and as I looked on he was into another fish, a good photo opportunity, but before I could even remove the lens cap the score became 9 - 4. Al was having a bit of a moan up and insisting he was having a bad day so I left him to it . As I continued round I met Dave coming the other way who reckoned he had 4, but was struggling. Next up came Dave's daughter Chrissy, she'd lost a good fish first put in, and was now fishing her margins ......

 

Terry was having a bit of a struggle once more, but Paul was putting a few together on the method feeder to the edge of the island, it must have been solid out there as Paul had a fish take a bare hook as he cast to the island prior to the start of the match . It hadn't got any better for Simon either and he was hoping for an improvement in the latter stages. Clive however was sitting very much in the pound seats, his corner peg had the wind blowing into it and a willow providing plenty of cover to fish to ......

 

Back to my peg and Jean had another coffee waiting for me . I started back on the paste, but couldn't get a touch on it from any of my lines, so I was soon back to fishing the pellet and slowly started to pick up the odd fish, however they were all of the same stamp, around the 4lb mark without a hint of a better bonus fish. Keith however had started to alternate between his long line and his margin and was starting to put a run of fish together over on peg 15 ......

 

Try as I may I just couldn't get a run of fish going, it was just a case of nicking the odd fish as the chance arose, and even that was interrupted by a number of foul hookers as the afternoon wore on. Simon did manage another couple of fish late on but it was far from the improvement he'd been hoping for ......

 

I just stuck at it and had 14 fish in the net when the All-Out was called at 4pm. I felt that I had around 60lbs in the nets, and soon had my gear packed away and back in the car before the Weigh-In started from Peg 1. Kev kicked things off with just 17lbs and I was almost spot on when my fish registered 60½lbs. Clive had 25 fish and after 4 weighs recorded 149¼lbs which would prove to be unbeatable on the day . Simon had 38½lbs to show for his efforts, while Paul put 77½lbs on the scales. Terry had 42lbs and Dave 47¼lbs while Chrissy managed 20lbs. Al had been telling everyone what a bad day he'd had but still put 81¼lbs on the scales . Bill's score ended up 21 - 13 in favour of the Carp for 50¼lbs. Mick had kept going all afternoon for 124¼lbs and 2nd on the day . Martin managed just 18¼lbs while John had 46lbs including a new PB Carp to show for his efforts. Vic had 68½lbs while Keith was last to weigh, and his 103½lbs gave him 3rd overall .

So back to the car park where Dave sorted out the results and monies Next up for Marsh AC is a trip to Rockells Farm in 2 weeks time, a venue that I always look forward to .
Before that however I have a trip to Rolfs on Thursday for a match with the  TalkAngling  lads and then a return to The Private Lake on Saturday to fish one of Bill G's Matches.

Morefax AC club match.

Well I was awoken from my slumbers this morning when a car pulled up next to mine in the car park. Getting out of the car I found Kev strolling across the car park to enquire if I fancied a cup of coffee? Silly question really, and I soon had a steaming cuppa firing up the grey matter thanks to Jean . A few weeks ago Dave C had been asked by the Morefax club whether he could rustle up 10 members of Marsh AC to make up the numbers in their club match today, so a few members of The Jinx Squad were granted temporary membership to make up the numbers so they could fish today .

The Morefax lads had planned an early draw (8·30am) but with a few being delayed a 9·30am draw and fishing from 11am - 4pm was settled on. Soon those of us that had stopped over had packed away our overnight gear, bivvies etc and the discussions had started about where would be a favourable draw. The only thing most agreed on however was nobody wanted Pegs 19 or 20 . These however would be in the draw as there were 24 of us fishing today. No Minx or Jinx Jnr today though as they were off to Reading to visit their Gran .

Anyway Draw time soon rolled round and Peg 22 on the car park bank was mine for the day, a shortish walk and a bit to close to those unwanted pegs and Ady had struggled for 30lbs from there yesterday. Dai and Terry had drawn the short straws of Pegs 19 and 20 respectively , while down to my left I had Malc on 24 and Mat on 26.

I was just looking for a nice relaxing day today so decided that the rigs from yesterday would be used once more today as I hadn't stripped them off my top kits yesterday .
The 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG allowed me to cover an area at around 5mtrs straight out in front, while the 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG allowed me to fish the edge of the bush to my left and the NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG was fine for the right hand margin. No change to the bait today either, just my usual 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

At 11am John sounded the All-In and a pot of mixed pellet and corn was deposited on the 5mtr line along with a handful of pellets by the bush and down the margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to the 5mtr line. The float soon slid away but it turned out to be what is rapidly becoming my customary foul hooker , and of course as soon as Malc saw it it shed the hook .

However it wasn't to long before the float buried once more and this time the outcome was more satisfying as after a brief tussle a nice scale perfect common of around 8lbs slid over the net . Malc was romping away however with 4 carp in as many put ins, though of course just as he felt he had it sorted he suffered a run of foul hookers leaving him with little more than a collection of scales on his side tray and a rig in the trees behind him .

Jean had brought me a cup of coffee and the news that Kevin was struggling down on Peg 30. A couple of better Bream were next along for me in quick succession, and while I could see a few fish coming out around the Big Lake it didn't seem as if anyone was bagging up. Indeed nowhere was that truer than Pegs 19 and 20 where Dai and Terry were definitely suffering for their sport ......

 

However Dai did pull the rabbit out of the hat, finally connecting with a decent Carp, which despite giving him a bit of a run around finally found itself safely wrapped in Dai's landing net .

Malc was still getting the odd fish though and from the banter I could hear between him and Simps on Peg 28 so was Simps .

Around 2pm Dave C strolled round with news that Nick B on Peg 5 had landed a PB Carp of 19½lbs , and shortly after Kevin appeared with with a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll. With that taken care of it was back to the fishing, but my next two bites proved to be foul hookers that left me with nothing apart from scales on the hook. Next put in the float buried once more, I connected with what was obviously a decent fish which just plodded off as if it didn't realise it was hooked. At first I feared it was another foul hooked fish, but soon realised it wasn't. It was just a big fish that didn't want to get it's head up, every time I felt I was getting somewhere with it, it would just head off in another direction. After 6-7 minutes I had it in close but still hadn't seen it when it headed of toward the bush to my left. I piled on as much pressure as I dared to stop it and it suddenly popped up right by my nets, a big Common. Luckily I managed to net it first time, but it wasn't till I lifted it clear that I realised what a good fish it was.
On the scales it registered 19¼lbs, a pole caught PB for me , and fortunately Malc was on hand to do the honours with the camera ......

 

As I returned it Terry asked what it had weighed, and when I told him he said that he'd be happy with the ¼ at that point. Of course that was his cue for his float to dip and for him to find that the culprit was a small foul hooked Roach .

As the match wound down I managed another 4 carp and one more Bream before the All-Out was called at 4pm. I thought I had somewhere around 50lbs but wasn't unduly bothered as the big Common had made my day , and I soon had my kit packed up and back in the car before the start of the Weigh-In.

Three of the Morefax guys kicked off the weigh in with a best of 60½lbs from Peg 34. Nick W put 75lbs on the scales at Peg 40 to take an early lead . Next came Simon W with 30¼lbs and Dave C with 58½lbs. Nick B had a good day with 116lbs to take the lead and start a row of Morefax weights, the best of which were Tony Moore on peg 13 with 49lbs and Gary Smithers on Peg 14 with 72¾lbs . Dai managed 22¾lbs, but poor Terry could only muster 2 Roach for 4ozs . My weight was 51¾lbs, but Malc put 91lbs on the scales. Mat had 36¼ but Simps cracked a 'Ton' with 100½lbs . Kev managed a tie with Terry on 4ozs and Dave M was last to weigh with 68½lbs.

Back to the hut and Dave C sorted the results. Winner on the day was Nick Bondeau, taking his first ever match win with his first ever 'Ton' and a PB Carp . Second on the day was Simps with the days only other 'Ton' while Malc finished the day with 3rd place . Thanks to the lads of Morefax AC for the invite today, so an enjoyable couple of days at Rolfs came to an end, not the best of weekends in terms of weights caught, but if it was easy it wouldn't be such a challenge, still great fun all the same and a credit as always to John and Pauline .

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's off to Essex again for another Marsh AC club match, and the initial glance out of the curtains wasn't to promising with a cloudy grey sky and gently falling rain looking as if it could put a dampener on things today . The venue this time is Blasford Hill Fishery just outside of Chelmsford. The club fished here last year and some decent fish were caught. I soon had the car loaded and set off to meet up with Dave at his house to follow him down as this was my first visit having missed the club match there last year. I met up with Dave at around 7am and shortly after we found the road blocked off by the Police due to an accident (was this an omen of things to come?), a quick detour soon had us back on track and we arrived at the fishery shortly before 8am .

A few had arrived ahead of us and we took a walk down for a look at the lake. The first thing that struck me was that it was quite small, indeed there are only 22 pegs, so things would be quite tight today. There were a few fish showing on top, though doubtless they would vanish once we settled into our pegs.
Back at the car park Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. With the pegs not being numbered it was decided to use 10 pegs down each side, leaving out the 2 end pegs and I found peg 11 sticking to my hand. To see where we all ended up see the picture below ......

Making my way round with my kit I was happy to find one of the empty pegs to my left giving me a nice long margin to fish . Jim was on peg 10, the same peg he fished last year, while Clive was to my right on peg 12 with Tony next to him.

Settling into the peg I set up 3 top kits. one with a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for the 7mtr line where I found a nice level area with around 5ft of depth. The other rigs were a couple of 0.2 NG Edger's on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG's. One for the left hand margin where I had a constant 15inches no matter how far along it I plumbed, the other for the patch of reeds in the right hand margin where i had around 2ft hard against them. Clive would be fishing this from the other side though so I would probably be concentrating on the left hand margin. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with various soft hookers, corn, cat meat and some paste.

With a bit of time before the All-In Keith appeared for a quick chat and Jean arrived with a welcome cup of coffee . Looking across I could see Dave on peg 7 and what appeared to be his fan club in attendance ......

While Tony appeared to be happy enough with his lot prior to the off ......

10am and Dave called the All-In, a pot of mixed pellet and corn on my 7mtr line, with some pellet and corn in the left margin and some pellets into the right margin was my opening feeding gambit. I shipped a 6mm banded pellet out to 7mtrs and awaited developments. Al appeared to get 3 quick fish on the method, but all round things appeared to be slow. I'd been told that the fishery contained a decent head of Carp including quite a few doubles along with plenty of skimmers and Roach, but the singular lack of action already had me wondering just how accurate this info was .

Just to dampen things further we had a short shower, however this didn't last to long and having run through various baits I finally had a bite having returned to a banded 6mm pellet. Lifting into it I felt a Carp take off and was just drawing it toward the net when the rig came flying back with a scale embedded on the hook .

Clive had managed a Carp early on on the method, but with no further action had reverted to the pole and taken another couple. Tony hadn't had so much as a bite and was already voicing his displeasure, however rather than sympathy it just resulted in a volley of pee taking coming his way from all around the lake .

I finally managed a second bite, a 4oz Roach being the culprit, but most welcome as it at least meant a DNW would be avoided and that was followed by a skinner of around 8ozs . Jim had picked up a couple of fish from his margin, but a decent fish had snapped his elastic and he'd now reverted to his waggler rod.

After about 1½ hours a kernel of corn produced a bite!!!!!! This was a Carp that was played ever so carefully, not a big fish at around 3lbs, but very gratefully dispatched to the keepnet . A second similar sized one followed after around 15 minutes, and with Jean arriving with a refill of coffee , hopefully things were starting to pick up. A third arrived after another 20 minutes, but then the sun came out and the swim died. I'd looked at both margins, but there were no signs of life from either of them. Jim appeared to be into a decent fish on his rod, but was taking things carefully with it .

I decided to fill in the 7mtr line and take a stroll in search of some inspiration, and just as I set off Clive lifted into another Carp, not a large fish but it put up a spirited scrap before Clive slid the landing net under it ......

Tony was in a marginally better mood by now having finally taken a Carp of around 7lbs from his margin line, but it looked like it was a solitary fish as no matter what he tried he couldn't tempt another ......

Al's catch rate has slowed right down after his quick start to the match and he was now fishing his favourite long pole shallow style, but he did manage a decent stamp Roach as I watched him ......

Keith was frustrated, although he'd had a few fish, he couldn't work out why his margin that looked spot on for a few fish wasn't producing, while opposite him his travelling companion Mick had started to put a few together, and appeared to be in with a real chance of taking the bragging rights for the trip home to Milton Keynes . As if that wasn't enough on the next peg to Keith's right was Vic (a fellow GOT Baits sponsored angler) so there was a bit of friendly rivalry there as well . Vic however was also having a struggle so it remained to be seen who would come out on top ......

Eddie was having a 'mare' on peg 1 with lost fish and a smashed top kit to show for his efforts and stopping for a chat with Kev on peg 2 there were a raft of fish cruising the surface in front of him with no interest in feeding and causing him considerable frustration . Jim had finally got the better of the Carp he'd hooked on the waggler and had just weighed it as I got there ......

Back at my peg things got no better I'm sorry to say, just a single Carp foul hooked at 7mtrs that trashed the rig as it shot off heading for the other end of the lake. However sport picked up for those on the other side as the afternoon wore on, most notably for Dave on peg 7. It must have been solid with fish under the bush to his left, unfortunately a lot of the fish he hooked were foul hookers, which gave him a right run around before shedding the hook, but he was catching a fair few that were properly hooked , However this was even more exasperating for Terry next door on peg 6 as he couldn't tempt them round to his side ......

Time ticked on, but the only highlight was Jean arriving with a third cup of coffee . I managed just 1 more bite for the rest of the match which produced a Roach of around 6ozs, and I have to say that it was a blessed relief when Dave called the All-Out at 4pm .

I packed up pretty quickly and knew that I would struggle to put 10lbs on the scales, but was at a loss to work out where it had all gone wrong for me today, and Tony was feeling just the same as we mulled things over. With a set of scales on our side we started the Weigh-In at peg 20 where Martin put 24¼lbs on the scales. John had a level 10lbs and Rod 10½lbs. Vic managed a level 21lbs but Keith had 32½lbs to take the section , Al's 34½lbs proved to be the best weight on our side and took his section . Judy had managed some better fish late on for 25lbs, Tony tied with Rod on 10½lbs while Clive put a hard earned 33½lbs on the scales to eclipse my paltry 9¾lbs .

Back to the car park where Dave sorted the results and the winner today was Dave himself with 59¼lbs . Second was Jim with a level 55lbs and third overall was Mick (Keith's guest and travelling companion) with 52¾lbs meaning that he would be grinning all the way home to Milton Keynes. Graham finished as third club member with 42lbs .

So that was it for the day, and one to forget for me and I have to say I was glad to get in the car and make my way home, however the day had one more twist left, A hold up on the M25 meaning it took an hour to go 3 miles.

 Pretty much summed up my day!!!!!!!!!

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's off to Essex for me today and a club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake.
The view out of the window this morning promised a nice sunny day ahead and after a couple of cups of coffee and having fed the cats and loaded the car I was off and heading for Whitam in Essex, and a trouble free run down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·30am, where Kevin and Jean, along with Simon were already in attendance . Into the fishery lodge for a Large Breakfast , and we were soon joined by Terry Keith and Pete along with Lee, Dave and a couple of other Morefax lads who were joining us today along with a couple of guests, so it should be a good turn out . Soon the rest of the gang arrived and with breakfast taken care of I went outside to discuss the prospects for the day ahead.
The club normally fishes Pathfield Lake when we visit Colemans, so this is something new, at least for me as I've never fished Wood Lake before, but luckily for me Paul Law (justin case) has furnished me with a detailed peg by peg rundown on the lake so I wasn't not going into it totally blind . Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw up and running and after dipping into the bag I found myself with peg 14 for the day, which according to Paul's run down was just an average peg.

So collecting my tackle I made my way down to my peg. Terry was on peg 1, with peg 2 drawn for Paul who was running late due to a blow out on the way down . Keith was on peg 6 (one Paul had reckoned was worth running to ) with Pete Thompson on peg 8. Tony Roberts was on 10, Clive on 11 and Simon on 12 with 13 not drawn. To my left was Martin on peg 15 while I could see Dave in the corner on peg 18.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to tackle it. I had a gap between 2 islands out in front I elected to cover that with a waggler and got out a Shakespeare Micro that was already set up with a 2AA peacock insert waggler. I opted for 3 pole lines. Straight out at 6mtrs where I had 5ft of water with a Sackup CX 4x12 pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG, and 2 margin rigs, both NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin's on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's plus a paste rig of an NG 0·2 Margin paste float on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Fox series 2. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm hard pellet for feed with 6 and 8mm pellets for the hook along with some corn, a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and GOT Atomic Paste (green halibut).

Kevin had arrived while I was setting up with a cup of coffee and with a bit of time prior to the off I strolled back to the car to collect a bottle of water, only to find Paul arriving by Taxi (having changed his blown out tyre only to find the spare knackered as well !!!!!!!!!!! ) so helped him to his peg with his gear, then made my way back to mine. At 10am Dave signalled the All-In and we were off . 2 big pots of pellet at 6mtrs followed by a handful in each margin were then followed by a banded 8mm shipped out to the 6mm line. A couple of tentative digs then the float buried resulting in a Carp tearing off and the rig flying back with a scale on the hook , not quite the start I'd hoped for, but at least there were some fish about. Next put in the float buries and it's fish on again, a good solid surge and it didn't want to get it's head up, a bit more pressure and up it popped, not he expected Carp but a Barbel and at around 3lbs a nice way to get off the mark . A couple of Carp quickly followed this, not big fish, but really solid, giving a good account of themselves which I estimated at around 4lbs each.

Looking around I could see that Martin had a fish on the feeder that he was playing and most were starting to find a bit of sport, so it was looking like it should be a good day for most, in fact I looked down toward Dave and saw that he was engaged in what looked like a tug of war with plenty of red hydro streaming from his top kit ......

For the next couple of hours it was just a question of things ticking over, a couple of Carp, then a Barbel or two, still putting some weight in the net, but I couldn't seem to up my catch rate . I'd been using my clicker as there's a net limit at Colemans which I didn't want to fall foul of, and reckoned I had about 35lbs of carp by 12·30pm. I'd had a look down both margins, the right hand had produced hardly anything though despite the next peg being empty, so decided to concentrate on the left hand one. With this in mind I re fed it quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle and take my coffee mug back to Jean .

Looking down from my vantage point I saw that Clive was busy unhooking a fish that he'd just netted ......

While on the next peg along Tony was doing his best to get the landing net under a fish of his own ......

 Pete had left his peg, but I could see him sitting next to Keith and having a chat with him as he netted a small carp .......

 Terry was being a bit cagey as to what he had exactly, but didn't reckon he was setting the place on fire. Paul was having a frustrating time trying to tempt some action from his margins, but Rod seemed to be enjoying a bit of sport ......

 Kev was owning up to 3 fish and hoping things would pick up for him later in the day, and looking across I could see Lee and Judy on adjacent pegs ......

 Strolling back Keith reckoned he had around 35lbs but was adamant that Pete was doing better , and I couldn't help notice that he was fishing short just in front of his nets, and made me realise that last year I'd caught tight to my nets on Pathfield, perhaps that was the way to go today ......

 Pete was back on his peg and of course though that Keith was just edging him as he struck into a carp just as I moved on ......

 Indeed it was starting to become obvious that the fish were starting to get their heads down, and I could see Ken on the far bank getting ready to slide a small Carp over the net ......

 Tony was attached to yet another fish, that seemed to be giving a good account of itself with plenty of orange vespe coming out of his top kit .......

 and there was Clive just slipping the landing net under yet another fish that he'd taken on the method feeder ......

 Simon however wasn't feeling so positive, complaining that he'd never lost as many fish as he'd done today and considering that he'd lost a fair few on the last match at Mill Barn, you could safely say that he wasn't best pleased ......

 Back at my peg I dropped my 6mtr rig in on a top 3 at the end of my nets and found just a couple of inches less on the depth, so fed a handful of pellet there and stuck a 6mm pellet on the band. This soon produced a Barbel of around 3lbs and was swiftly followed by a couple more , then a small Carp as Dave arrived with another Mug of coffee from Jean . The next fish made me jump as an acrobatic skimmer did a passable impression of a Trout leaping clear of the water as I struck . Another couple of Barbel followed and I'd noticed Al on peg 22 collecting a second carp net so he was obviously going well and from what I could see was fishing the method. Dave was still catching well and he was next to go for a second net. Another small carp followed for me before a couple of foul hookers ran me ragged and seemed to kill the swim .

Time for a look in the margin with the paste rig, a couple of knocks and the float buried , the strike meeting with firm resistance as a good fish powered of into open water. The fish stayed deep not wanting to get its head up, but steady pressure finally told as a double figure Mirror slid into the waiting landing net . With that fish I reckoned I had about 55lbs in the net so went and got a second carp net for myself .
Back in with the paste and it was obvious that the fish were there as the float buried straight away, a barbel this time with a taste for paste, and I took another 7 carp before Paul came up to see how I was doing with 15 minutes to go. Unfortunately this coincided with a spate of iffy bites and I only managed one more Carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm while he played a final fish.

Packing my kit up and chatting to Martin I was convinced that I had around 80-90lbs, but I wasn't really sure as I'd got it somewhat wrong last year when we fished Pathfield but with the kit packed away in the car all would be revealed as I set off for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off with 63¼lbs from peg 1 , which Keith topped from Peg 6 with 86¾lbs just edging out Pete's level 86lbs to take the bragging rights on their trip home to Milton Keynes .

Tony on peg 10 put 70lbs+ on the scales with his first net, but thankfully Graham (The Owner) decreed that as long as it wasn't over 80lbs there would be no penalty. His final tally was 143¼lbs, a total that wouldn't be beaten ensuring he took the honours on the day . Clive managed 69½lbs and Simon just 40lbs.
Round to my peg and as soon as I lifted my 1st net I knew that I'd underestimated as well , thankfully it came in under 80lbs and my total of 141½lbs that would be good enough for 2nd today . Dave had a good day as well on peg 18 with 122¼lbs and Nick Bondeau recorded a new PB match weight of 71lbs .

Al was left regretting a slow last half hour when his weight came out at 131lbs but still ended up 3rd overall . Lee Rose on peg 34 took the best weight among the Morefax lads with a level 98lbs while Roger, Ken and Graham managed 50lb weights . So back to the fishery lodge for coffee and results.
Dave soon had the results and the sections sorted and payed out, 1700lbs + had been weighed in for an average of 62lbs+ per angler so it was fair to say a decent day had been had by most . Next up for Marsh AC is Blasford Hill on August 13th.

For me however the next stop is 3 days at Rolfs Lake next weekend for Dave's Friday Invitation match and the MD's Pairs weekend .

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.

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.)

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 .

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 .