Marsh AC club match.

Well, it's out with the members of Marsh AC today for a club match on The Reservoir at Harleylands Farm, Cranbrook, Kent.
A quick look out of the window reveals a dull grey day with the rain falling, so after a spot of breakfast it's time to load the car up, not forgetting the waterproofs as it looks like being a wet old day. Harleylands is about 40 miles away from home and a relaxed run down takes about an hour meaning that I arrived just after 8am as it stopped raining, in plenty of time for the 8·30am draw.

Holidays, weather and a number of other factors mean that there are only 12 of us present for this match, meaning that there is plenty of room for us as we have the whole of the Reservoir booked. Into the hat and I find that I've drawn peg 25, not a draw that particularly excites me, but as with most pegs on the water it should be good for a few fish.

Today is really going to be a day for me to try a few things out. I've become more and more disenchanted with the Hydrolastic that I've been using over the past 18 months/2years. I really don't feel that it gives me the control especially when it comes to decent sized carp. With this in mind I've stripped the red hydro out of the power kits of my main pole and my margin pole. I've replace these with solid yellow Vespe (22+) in 2 of the kits for my main pole and solid orange Vespe (25+) in the margin pole kits, all set as soft as possible.
I also had a bucket of unbranded feed pellets that my local tackle dealer had asked me to try out and give him my thoughts on. They're green 4mm with a strong fishmeal smell, lighter than swimstim ones though and when they're dampened the colour doesn't leach out of them. Bait was to be paste made up with bait-tech Special G Green groundbait, though I did have some Dedra's with me as a back up.

Setting up didn't take long with just 3 top kits, a margin rig, another for 4mtrs in front and another for 7mtrs.
Looking across I could see Colin and Terry discussing their prospects for the day ahead.......


.............. and Dave making sure he had everything with him as he settled into peg 17, which had set a new fishery record of 288lbs the month before................


Tony, my partner on the recent MD's pairs weekend was just up from me on peg 21, while Paul, my guest on the day settled into peg 29 close to the car park.

10am and the all in and I fed 3 large handfulls of pellets into both margins along with a handfull at 4 and 7 mtrs. Straight out to 7mtrs with a large knob of paste and after a minute the float buries and after a short but spirited scrap the 1st fish of the day is in the net, a scale perfect Common of around 4lbs. Straight back out with the paste and a few pellets over the top and a minute later I'm in again resulting in a similar sized Mirror resting safely in the net. Back out and within a minute the elastic streams out and a 5lb Mirror slides over the net, Happy Days!!!!!

At this point the day takes a turn for the worst, the bites just stopped!!!! Despite rotating through all the lines nothing!!!!
I can see that others are still managing the occasional fish. Just after 11·30 I get a bite down my left hand margin and after a spirited fight manage to put the net under a nice mirror around the 8lb mark, but then things go quiet for me again. Just after 12noon Vince puts in an appearance, he had hoped to be fishing today but family commitments scuppered that , however he found the time to pop down for a brief chat just as Dave came round with a hot steak slice from the farm shop, always very civilised affairs the matches Dave runs.

A change to double Dedra's on the hook resulted in a couple of bites to which I was only briefly connected, hard to imagine that the worms had covered the hook point to prevent a proper hook up, so maybe they were foul hookers? However I did manage to land a couple of smaller Carp before Vince left, but felt I was dropping behind in the match as I could see Tony further up still sneaking a few out from the margins though a couple of better fish had managed to get the better of him as revealed by his comments.

Young Zack, the club Junior was nicking the odd fish on the feeder.......

and Chris on the opposite side to me was starting to put together a run of decent fish.

With an hour to go I decided to concentrate on the 4mtr line but all it produced was a couple of Skimmers while Tony appeared to be getting a fish a chuck now. Finally with 10 minutes to go I got another Carp, another decent Mirror around the 8lb mark swiftly followed by another of a similar stamp just before the all out.

Weigh in time and all was revealed, Colin, Terry, Dave and Chris had all been amongst the fish with Chris's good late run earning him 2nd on the day with 88lbs 8ozs. Graham Manning on peg 15 managed 81lbs 8ozs for 3rd on the day, but everyone was eclipsed by Tony's level 116lbs for a fine win on the day.

1st	Tony Roberts	116lbs 00ozs
2nd	Chris Withall	88lbs 08ozs
3rd	Graham Manning	81lbs 08ozs
4th	Terry Goff	69lbs 12ozs
5th	Dave Collier	69lbs 08ozs
6th	Colin Sharrard	54lbs 08ozs
7th	Peter Morton	43lbs 00ozs
8th	Jim Boase	33lbs 12ozs
9th	Zack Johnson	28lbs 08ozs
10th	Paul East	28lbs 00ozs
11th	Kevin Loveland	24lbs 04ozs
12th	Martin Hucker	17lbs 00ozs

So to sum up, a decent days fishing in good company as it always is with the gang from Marsh AC. Maybe not the best of days for me personally, but far from the worst. Nice to get out and catch a few fish after my nightmare at Stockton the previous week, and it didn't rain at all until I got into the car to start the drive home.

Where to next? Well it's back to Rolf's in 2 weeks time for the last round of the Jinx Series, unless of course I manage to get out over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

 

Marsh AC club match.

Well my 1st outing of 2007 saw me loading up the car at 6·30 am, and things weren't looking to promising, the sky was starting to lighten but it was looking ominously grey and the wind was gusting strongly. Driving down the M20 things showed no improvement and as I arrived at the fishery the 1st drops of rain were starting to fall.

A sausage bagette and a cuppa seemed like a good idea as opposed to a walk round the lake we were fishing, especially as I knew it would be windswept anyway. Soon the rest of the lads and lass (Judy ) who make up the membership of Marsh AC were arriving. I've fished with them as a guest on a few occaisions over the last few seasons, always enjoying the days out, and for this season have been invited to join up.

Once the breakfasts were over Dave collected the seasons subs' and the day's fees and the draw was made.
Tony had the numbers in the hat and passed it round and peg 45 stuck to my hand (a noted flyer) only for a false start to be called as a couple of pairs had to draw 1st. Back in and 48 came out this time, still a nice short walk from the car park and a real bonus as the copse of trees behind it offered some shelter from the wind that was blowing onto our backs, others on the causeway weren't so fortunate, fishing into the teeth of it, though I fancied them to do better as the carp normally follow the wind on this venue.

To my left on 49 I had John for company with young Zack next to him on 50, while to my left was Martin on 47 then a spare peg leaving Judy alone on 45. Dave(The Fish) was tucked down in the corner to my left (right out of the wind) with his former Boss for company, while Tony (spamwham) was opposite me on 58 on the causeway and Terry (Wily Coyote) was on 64 towards the end with just Jim on the end peg 66.

The wind had at least blown the clouds away, leaving a sunny and clear blue sky, but the wind was destined to stay with us for the whole day.
I had just set up my pole to fish at a comfortable 10mtrs into the 7ft of water with a second rig for the margins that could double up as a shallow rig on the main line. Bait for the day was going to be a selection of the new GOT hook pellets that had been sent to me to try, with the back up of some catmeat that had in the past produced fish for me at the venue.

At the all in a big pot of 4mm sinking pellet went in at 10mtrs and a handfull into both margins.
Initially there was a fair bit of tow on the water, but laying about 4" of line on the bottom soon cured this.
I spent the majority of the match aternating between the 3 different flavours of 6mm pellets (natural, Liver & Catmeat) and the most notable thing was that the F1's and a lone Ghostie fell to the naturals, Liver produced nothing but Tench while the catmeat accounted for Barbel, Chub and a few skimmers. It was so noticable that I could actually predict what I would catch dependant on what I put on the hook.

Sport was never fast and furious, but steady throughout the match, the only downside being that I couldn't really get them to have it in the margins, though John on the next peg caught the majority of his fish from the margins.

A trip down to see Dave mid match saw him catching a few, though he reckoned he'd been struggling to put a run of fish together.

The last hour was a bit of a struggle as a slight shift in the wind coupled with the sun dropping lower produced a dazzling ripple making things awkward, thankfully I had my Polaroids with me to save my eyesight.

The final whistle saw a pretty windswept collection of anglers packing up prior to the weigh-in.

Weigh-in time revealed that everyone had managed a few despite the conditions with my 53lbs 5ozs winning my section and putting me in with a chance of a frame place.
Tony was owning up to around the 50lb mark having fished into the teeth of the wind all day and wasn't far out putting 49lbs 8ozs on the scales. Last but one to weigh was Terry (Wily Coyote) ouncing me out with a level 54lbs and taking the honours on the day was Jim Boase with a fine net weighing 67lbs 4ozs from the end peg.

All in all a really enjoyable days fishing in great company, despite the conditions. Looking forward to doing it all again soon.

Total weighed in by 15 anglers was 518lb 6oz an average of 34lb 8oz

Marsh AC. Christmas Match.

Well after 10 weeks without wetting a line I had received an invitation to join Dave (TheFish) Collier and the members of Marsh AC on their Christmas match at Rockell's Farm. I had heard some good reports about the venue and duly arranged to meet Dave at the services at junction 8 on the M11 at 7·30am.

A heavy frost greeted me as I loaded the car, matching the 1st one of the year that had arrived on Saturday morning, and the drive up saw the temp refuse to rise above 0°C which didn't bode well .

Now Dave had only returned the previous day from a Caribbean Cruise so may have been disorientated, but even with his sat-nav managed to take the wrong turn out of the services and lead us back towards London .

Arriving nearer to 8·30 than the planned 8am welcomes were soon exchanged with familiar faces amongst the others that had been invited including 4 of the lads from the GOT Baits Squad (Gary, Keith, Vic & Madd) and Terry Goff aka Wily Coyote (a fellow MD'er) .
Therefore pegging was carried out in a bit of a rush prior to the draw, but a bit of misunderstanding ensued that put a spanner in the works, and although it was finally resolved, it did make things a bit rushed for the start of the match as peg numbers had to be shuffled.

I ended up pegged between Keith and Madd, and just set up a pole to fish at around 6mtrs into around 4ft of water and down the left bank around 2½ft deep.
Bait for the day was corn and pellet, though in hindsight i should have set up a bomb rod to fish to the island at around 30yds .

The heavy frost had started to knock the colour out of the water, and for me it never happened, not a single bite .
Keith and Madd however both managed to get among a few fish, Keith ending up in 1st place with 7 carp for 22½lbs  ...........................

.......................while Madd took 8 carp for 20¾lb and 2nd overall ........................

.......................leaving me like a bit of Cod (Battered both sides ).

A peg draw in the car park after the match saw everyone getting a prize and these were boosted by a generous donation of goodies from Trev and Gary of GOT Baits, ensuring that everyone went home with a prize .

So not the best of days for me, but still great just to be back out on the bank in good company after a bit of a lay-off.
Thanks again to the lads from Marsh AC, I look forward to fishing with you again, though hopefully I'll put a few fish in the net next time .

Marsh AC club match.

Well what a day!!!!!!!

I was at Hartleylands today on the reservoir to fish a match as a guest of Dave the Fish and his clubmates of Marsh AC. A glance round the car park revealed I wasn't the only one, as Jess & Szabi (jackcatcher & tinkerbelle), Terry (wily coyote) appeared, and a brief walk round revealed that the Carp's thoughts had turned to Lurrrrrrrrrrve as they thrashed around in the marginal reeds.

Draw time saw me get peg20 in the far corner where the inlet pipe comes in. The initial plan was to fish the baggin waggler as it had produced well for me on a previous visit to the venue with Terry the previous month, with the option of fishing paste in the margins later on.

At the all in, I immediately fed 3pints of hemp into each margin, then went out with the Baggin wag. An hour in and despite recasting every 60 seconds to get plenty of bait in I only had 3 small Carp to show for it. The wind was blowing from left to right and into my bank and I was having problems with the presentation, so decided to have a look at the margin.

Out with a bit of paste into the left hand margin, and almost straight away the float buried and a plump little Common of around 3lbs was soon in the net. I started to put a few together but was having trouble with liners, it seemed that there were to many fish in the swim despite me relying purely on struck off paste to do any feeding.

Jess wandered up to try and gather a few tips, but all i could advise was to stick at it, as trying to perfect paste fishing is hard enough, without the added complication of getting used to a pole for the 1st time in a match, which is what Jess was trying to do.

Dave arrived with a welcome hot pie from the farm shop at around 1pm, and shortly after disaster struck. I had latched into a very decent double that appeared jet propelled and it managed to bottom out Red Hydro . Something had to give and unfortunately it was the number 4 section with a BANG followed by a rather loud expletive . The reservoir is deep and all to soon the topkit and what was left of the number 4 was re-enacting The Titanic . Why is Malc never around when you need him????

With no spare number 4 with me it was out with the margin pole to resume once I had calmed down, and slowly started to get a few more by alternating between the left and right hand margins.

With an hour to go Dave wandered up from 2 pegs down to see how I was doing, and ponder whether he should stick with the paste for the last hour.
My swim was getting stronger & stronger and I took my empty silvers net out and replaced it with another carp net as I was pretty sure that there were a good few fish in the 1st one.

The last hour went well with fish coming from both margins, until with 5 mins to go, another lump took off and just kept going!!!!. Something had to give and this time it was the dual core that the kit was rigged up with , and that was it for the match.

Weigh in time and Paul the bailiff arrived to do the honours. John on peg 1 (the willow) got things started with a 50lbs+ net, Terry on peg 8 with another despite protesting that he'd struggled. Colin was well up with a 60lb+ net and the lad next to him just missed out on 50lbs by ounces.

I was next up and I pulled my 2nd net first, which weighed 45lbs, not bad for 55 minutes fishing . Pulling up the other net I realised that I would need a hand, and sure enough there was over 100lbs of fish in there!!!
My total weight came out at 152lbs 4ozs, and represents my best ever weight in a match. To top it off Paul (The Bailiff) told me it was the best weight of the Reservoir so far this year.

Tony, next peg down also manage a 100lb+ bag at 107lbs though he had taken most of his fish on corn whereas I had had all mine on paste bar the 3 i had on the Baggin Wag at the start.

Next up was Dave the Fish with a 70lb+ bag, a third of which came in the last hour as he stuck with the paste.

Finally we got to Jess & Szabi and while Jess managed a creditable 30lb bag in his 1st match with a pole, however Szabi inevitably beat him with a 40lb bag.

So there we are a smashing days fishing (in more ways than one) in excellent company.
Finally a BIG THANK YOU to Dave and the lads & lasses of Marsh AC for allowing me to join them, a pleasure as always and I look forward to doing it again if they'll allow me.

Today I had the pleasure of fishing as a guest with Dave (The Fish) Collier and his clubmates from Marsh AC at Newlands Hall just outside Chelmsford in Essex.

I had heard some good reports about the sport on offer from Dave in the past, and having guested with the club before knew that they are a good bunch to enjoy a days fishing with.

The draw saw me picking peg 20 which proved to be in the opposite corner from the car park.

I have to say that the lake appeared to be a little down on it's normal level, but my peg looked decent enough.

Setting up provided a bit of a shock however, as plumbing up revealed no more than 14 inches of water anywhere, not even at 13 mtrs!!!!! Indeed there was a whole extra inch in the left hand margin, but that was it.

Mud clouds everywhere betraying a silty bottom and fish moving on the top showed that there were obviously plenty of fish stocked, but with the promise of changeable weather, just how it would fish looked as if it would be in the lap of the gods.

10am and all in, and after 45 mins just a single fish to pellet wasn't the start i was looking for, John opposite me was catching fairly regularly as was Dave on Peg 30 in the corner by the carpark. A change to paste tempted another couple for me just as it started to rain. It let up at around noon and with a few fish showing on top I managed to sneak a few out on dapped dog biscuit.

1pm and a half time weigh in took place, Dave putting 70lbs+ plus on the scales, John opposite 50lbs+ and myself around 30lbs while others had struggled.
2pm and we were off for part 2, and a breeze from right to left was preventing me taking full advantage of fish coming to the surface as someone to my right was feeding floaters that kept dragging the fish away. Periodicaly they would come back as they chased the surplus, and when they did I could pick a few off. John opposite was still catching regularly, while Dave appeared to be either playing or netting a fish every time i glanced over there.

Weigh in time and John opposite was soon leading with 150lbs+ while I had managed about another 60lbs to leave me just short of The Ton overall. Dave had had a cracking afternoon with his total for the day coming just short of a Double Ton at 197lbs.

So an enjoyable day in good company finished with 3rd for me at another new venue (I seem to be fishing a lot of them this year) and after we all decamped to the pub for a well earned pint.
Thanks to Dave and the lads of Marsh AC for the day, it was a pleasure to fish with you all.

Well what a weekend!!!

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

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

Looking down over Finches....

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

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

Peg 4...

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

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

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

A shy winner on Peg 2...

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

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

Sunday, November 16, 2003.

Hawthorne AC club match.

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

Peg 30

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

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

Still Life...

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

 

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

Marsh AC club match.

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

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

Paste in the margin.......

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

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

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

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

The Weigh-in......

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

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

Hawthorne AC club match.

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

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

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

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

Mint little Ghostie....

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

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