Faye's Match.

Organised by Maggotdrowning.com
With all proceeds going to support

Back in December last year a young lady contacted the Maggotdrowning.com website with the following appeal...................

Dear whoever is reading this letter.

My name is Faye and I’m 19. I have been seriously ill for 7 years and am bedridden, in a wheelchair and fed by a tube. My doctors have told me that I don’t have long left now and that this will more than likely be my last Christmas. I am trying to make it special for my family so we have great memories. If you would like to find out more about my illnesses you can look at this site http://www.lovequiltsuk.com/FayeT.html . I don’t have any money to buy any nice presents for them so I was wondering if you could help out at all. If there was anything you could send me to give to my Dad who loves fishing and fish, it would mean so much to me and I would never forget your kindness. I do understand completely if you are unable to help me though.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter, I know you must be very busy.

Faye.

Needless to say the members of the forum rallied round, and you can read about the results of their efforts HERE.

Anyway Faye remarked that she would love to meet up with as many of us as possible, so Bill arranged this light hearted match down at Monks, where Faye could come down and meet us, and as a bonus we could raise a few bob for an organisation that is close to Faye's heart Post Pals . Which is why we are down at Monk's today.

Well Dave(Webbo)Webster had stopped overnight at my place, having travelled down from Leeds the day before to fish this match, so there were 2 loads of kit to load up as we set off around 7am in bright sunshine, and good trip down saw us pulling into the car park at Monks at around 8am . Most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with a few new faces who had travelled from further afield to support the day and the reason behind it. Various combinations of rolls and sandwiches were soon consumed by the assembled company and around 8·30 Bill got the draw underway aided and abetted by Matt .

Vince walked past having drawn peg 54, so of course being a polite sort of chap I was duty bound to draw peg 55 and did . It would give the day a little extra edge as Vince had previously suggested that the loser of todays Golden Nugget would add an extra £5 to the charity pot and he was feeling confident having done a bit of "homework" on the venue and sorted his tactics ahead of time .

Thankfully "The Management" allowed us to park up by the lake today, so our kit was quickly in place and setting up commenced. Peg 55 is a corner peg, but not one that I was particularly chuffed to have drawn, as it never seems to produce like the others . Setting up was pretty easy. I'd earmarked 2 pole lines, the 1st at around 7mtrs and the other down the left hand margin. The rigs were actually the 2 that I'd used previously at Mansfield's, a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook, and a smaller 4X12 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook. I also set up a 3AAA waggler on my Shakespeare 11ft Micro. Bait was red maggot, pellets and meat with pellet for feed.

Tony(spamwham) had remarked on my arrival, that he couldn't believe that the lake was flat calm without a ripple on it. He should have known better, because as 10am approached I could feel the wind starting to get up and a few grey clouds coming into view. Both aerators were running that I felt would generate a tow as well.......

As we waited a look down the bank to my right revealed Vince taking a photo of me (Surely this would be used in his Blog when he related how he'd battered me and finally taken the Nugget today )

So 10AM and with the breeze making things feel noticably cooler I slipped on my fleece just in time before Bill called the All-In. I potted a large cup of maggot and pellet onto the 7mtr line and a handfull of pellet into the margins..........

.........while Vince fed 5 balls of groundbait onto his pole line . I shipped out 2 maggots to 7mtrs, while Vince started off on the pellet waggler.

The float soon slid away and the 1st fish of my day, a small Ide was soon residing in the keepnet , a couple of small skimmers soon arrived to keep it company followed by a humble Gudgeon, but alas nothing substantial.

Looking across the lake Al appeared to be into a fish every time I looked.............

and Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick opposite on peg 66 seemed to be trying to find out just how far his elastic would stretch as he was into a regular run of fish ..........

NB: I must give a mention at this point to Jon(Mutley)Reed who while not fishing himself, spent the day strolling round taking photos and gave me permission to use as many as I liked for this report. Nice one Jon .

In general though, the fishing wasn't as good as everyone was hoping for , though most were putting one or two in their nets. Although I couldn't see from my peg, rumour had it that the far side of the causeway was proving just as hard. MD's answer to Jan Porter, Matt Love having a bit of a grueller on a water that he knows well .........

It can't have been that bad though as I could see that Mike(Omega Mike) Jameson was still at his peg, which meant that he must have been catching something .............

Tony(spamwham)Roberts was reported as having his own "Mugger Moment©" (payback for him taking the micky when I'd had a mare in a recent club match ) and was having a real struggle to find anything to add to his net.......

while Kevin(the catch)Loveland under the watchful eye of partner Jean was having a most enjoyable session, netting a regular succession of fish .........

For some of the watching audience though, the excitement of the day was proving to be just too much ................

Simon Elsey was having fun on his end peg next to Al, and while not able to keep up with his catch rate was still sticking a few decent fish in his net ............

Over on peg 46 Mick the Chippy was having a fine old day , having drawn between Trevor(MT Net)Little and Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard, he was simply fishing the feeder and regularly popping fish in the net...........

In fact poor Clive was having one of those days when no matter where he looked, it seemed that everyone appeared to be catching more than him ........

with Steve(jessebobs)Burgess in his pink sweatshirt to his left enjoying his first visit to Monks and finding the fish in his swim in a particularly obliging mood............

Which is more than could be said for Vince and I . I had managed to add a solitary small Barbel from my margin swim...........

while Vince converted his waggler rod over to the feeder in an attempt to put something in the net ..........

Indeed with the feeder seeming to produce for so many, I took mine out of it's ready sleeve and rigged it with a maggot feeder as the pole was proving hard work for little reward, but I'd noticed that Colin on the peg to Vince's right was starting to get a few on his feeder rod.........

Further up my bank could be found Linda(mermaid)Billington, who despite claiming little or no knowledge of match fishing had turned up with a fully equipped Rive seatbox along with a sherpa in the form of hubby Chris to transport it all ..................

Jay over on the causeway appeared to be making hay with a good run of fish and appeared to be giving Al a run for his money...........

while Roger(upyah)Harris had started to get the odd one or two from peg 49............

The feeder seemed to have the desired effect for Vince as he put a run of 3 Carp together, threatening me with the loss of a Golden Nugget , but by dropping a maggot feeder up against the marginal rushes to my left, I managed to keep enough Barbel coming to stay ahead ...........

Around about 2pm Dave T arrived with wife Liz and the young lady the day was in aid of ..... Faye , and they spent the last hour of the match touring the lake with Bill meeting the anglers.

3pm and the All-Out was called, and with Faye taking the weights down and Bill and Kevin performing the weighing duties it was soon apparent that although the weights hadn't matched the expectations a few scalps had been taken on the day and Golden Nuggets exchanged, with Al taking the honours with a final weight of 94¾lbs for a fine win .

The final 2 to weigh were Vince and I, and for Vince it was an all too familiar story with his 13½lbs not matching my 25¼lbs meaning he waved farewell to yet another Golden Nugget .

Back to the car park for the results, and a number of the days winners generously returned their winnings to the pot , Then the fun really started with Bill removing his beard for the cause (and a few bob in the pot), only to reveal that he was actually "Razor"Ruddock in disguise !!!!!!!!!!!

More good news followed when it was announced that Monk Lakes owner Guy Harrison was returning £5 from every £8 peg fee to add to the pot, and that the fishery staff had been round the rest of the fishery with a bucket raising over £100 on the condition that Fishery Bailiff Andy sacrificed his curls to the cause which duly happened .........

To round things off Faye got stuck in and drew the raffle, which went down a treat with plenty of banter flying around as some improbable prizes found new homes. Bill announced that the total raised on the day was £580 and with more to come as a result of a tackle auction, a very decent effort .

Dave T made a little speech of Thanks on behalf of Faye and her whole family, and very moving it was, I'm sure I saw a tear in the corner of a few rough, tough fishermen's eyes .
A team photo of the day to bring proceedings to a close  .......

......... before farewells were made, and we departed for homes far and wide.

A few Thank You's are in order at this point .......

Bill G who organised the whole thing and didn't even fish, spending the day walking the banks offering help and encouragement, as well as taking the pee on the day. Well Done fella, a great effort .

Matt, Kevin, Vince and Paul for helping Bill at various points during the day, and to Jean (Kevin's partner) for doing the business flogging the raffle tickets .

Guy Harrison, the owner of Monk Lakes and his staff at the fishery for all their help and support on the day .

Finally, all the members of Maggotdrowning.com and the anglers who attended on the day, as well as those who supported the day from afar, a very big Thank You as we couldn't do it without your support. The day was a real success, we may just have to do it again next year .

 May Madness at Mansfield's.

Well it was back to Mansfield's Lake again today, for another MD's Knock Up organised by Mick(The Chippy)Pearson with the help of "The Committee", and with the promise of loads of banter, a few fish and a ready supply of bread pudding and cakes in the offing, it looked like it would be fun .
Now it's a bit of a trot for me (65 miles) but a nice sunny morning and a surprisingly clear A2/M2 saw me arrive just after 8am to find to find a number of reprobates fine upstanding members of the community already in situ and devouring humongous "Breakfast Rolls" courtesy of Paul and his Burger Van . As always these Knock ups are more of a social event than a serious match and the banter was soon flowing and the side bets made, with Vince and I having our usual £1 coin on the outcome . Anyway with full bellies, and the chat being about how well it might fish as some decent weights had come out recently we assembled for the draw. Hand into the bag and I found peg 17 on the North bank would be my home for the match.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed as I fancied one of the pegs on the South bank as they all had beds of lilies or rushes offering features to fish to. However I had nobody in the pegs to my left and Ryan to my right for company. Opposite I had Mike, with Richard(DHLman) to his right and Vince to his left, so at least I would be able to keep a check on the destination of the £1.
With a overhanging tree I was a bit limited, but set up 3 top kits. The 1st was for around 7mtrs where the old stream bed was and I had around 6½ft of water and that consisted of a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook, the 2nd for the left hand margin that shelved off into around 3ft of water towards the empty peg 16 was a smaller 4X12 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook while the third consisted of a Malman MTD2 dibber on 0·14 direct to a size 18 Drennan Maggot hook for tight into the right hand margin where there were a load of small roach apparently spawning in the weeds.
Bait for the day was a mix of pellets, punched meat, corn and hemp.

So at 10am Colin gave a blast on his whistle to signal the All-in and we were off . I potted a mix of pellet, hemp and a few grains of corn onto the 7mtr line and the left hand margin and just flicked some hemp into the right hand margin. Out with a pellet to 7mtrs, the rig settled and stayed there. An hour later and the float tip was still dry as a bone . Vince however had nicked an early Carp that looked around 3lbs on the waggler while he let his pole lines settle.......

and Mike had had a couple of small tench on paste tight to the lilies. Sport in general was very slow though with just the odd fish showing, and most of those appeared to be coming from the opposite end of the lake where the deeper water was. Ryan was getting the occasional tiny roach while Pete next to him was biteless like me.

Two hours in and Mike had added a small Carp, Richard had had a couple of small Roach and I still hadn't had a bite, it was starting to look grim . After another half an hour I decided to take a stroll and see what was happening elsewhere (and get some maggots off Mick ). Standing on the empty end peg (peg14) and looking down the lake it looked lovely....

and I could see a couple of tail patterns in the water, perhaps the fish had backed off into the quieter parts of the lake? Mike however wasn't happy with the lack of action , he's one of those anglers that likes to keep busy......

Vince was looking quietly confident as there were obviously fish in his swim (could this be the day he finally prized a Golden Nugget from my grasp?) Kev obviously had a shed load of fish in the reeds in his left hand margin, but could he solve the problem of interesting them in his bait? Mick had taken what he hoped was a first Crucian of many and kindly let me have some maggots and casters . Dean aka Marvin Waggler had accounted for a couple of Carp and Tony was determinedly trying to feed off the small roach. Meanwhile Mutley had extracted 3 Carp from the lilies next to his platform . Keith (Ryan's Dad) had snared a solitary Carp while Mick(Old Carper) was having a bit of a struggle (and dreaming of Manor House cake and Country Slices ).......

and at the same time having to watch Al opposite get amongst a few Carp, Indeed by the time that I got round to Al he was playing his 6th Carp of the day and already looking good to take the win ..........

Bill had had just 2 bites all morning, but at least had 2 Bream in the net..................

..........and Mick's brother Geoff was consentrating hard in an effort to get one over on his brother for once.............

.............. while Colin had a couple of Carp and missed an absolute sail away on the paste as I watched and Dave had just a solitary carp to show for his efforts.......

As I walked back I noticed Vince playing what looked to be another Carp, and as he netted it and popped it into the keepnet I'm sure I saw a little smile of satisfaction on his face .........

Settling back in at my peg, another look at 7mtrs produced nothing with a similar result in the left hand margin . Remembering the tail patterns I'd seen earlier I kept feeding the left hand margin heavily, in the hope that some fish might wander down late on and dropped a maggot on the dibber rig into the right hand margin in an effort to avoid the dreaded DNW. It did the job and in the next half hour I stuck around 25 tiny roach into the net that might have weighed a total of 8 ozs if I was lucky. Mike opposite had decided on a similar approach to keep himself busy but had been unfortunate enough to have hooked a couple of Carp that broke him in the lilies and when it happened to him for a third time around 2pm it was the final straw and he decided to pack up and head for home as he wasn't enjoying himself .

This however opened up an option for me, so I quickly got my feeder rod out of it's ready sleeve and changed the cage feeder that it was rigged with for a ½oz bomb with a hair rigged piece of punched meat. The overhanging branches were a bit of a problem but with a sideways flick I could drop it onto the edge of the pads opposite, now I just needed an inquisitive Carp to co-operate to be in with a chance of salvaging my £1 coin from Vince , and more importantly avoid the inevitable stick that would come my way on the forum should Vince take it off me in the assembled company . An hour later and I hadn't had a touch , Richard had managed to extract a couple from his patch of lilies and a few more fish had been caught further down the lake, most notably by Dean (Marvin Waggler), Geoff who was looking to put one over on his brothers Mick and Richard, while Colin had tempted a couple more from down his margin .

With 45 minutes to go it was looking as though Vince was going to mug "Mugger" when I noticed a tail pattern in the left hand margin that I'd kept feeding heavily. Having had no joy with punched meat on the feeder I tied up another hair rig to take 4 bits of corn hoping that a highly visible bait might do the trick and dropped it in and waited.
10 minutes later and the tip wrapped round and after a couple of anxious minutes a Common Carp of just over 3lbs was safely in the net . Could I get another? Dave walked up and as we chatted another fish topped, but the tip stayed still. I could hear Mick saying that the All-out was imminent when I remarked to Ryan that I could see a Ghostie hovering over where my bait was, but refusing to go down on the bait when the rod was almost wrenched out of my grasp , almost instantly the whistle blew for the All-out and I shouted "Fish On". From various parts of the lake I could hear shouts of disbelief or was it encouragement and I have to say that I was one very relieved angler when I slid the net under a Common Carp that looked to be just over 4lbs .

Looking across to the opposite bank Vince's face said it all, had he had his moment of triumph snatched away from him in the final seconds by "Mugger" ???????? As we packed away there was a lot of banter flowing back and forth. Ryan reckoned that I'd hooked the fish 8 seconds from the end of the match, now it would be all down to the scales.

As the scales made their way round Dean in his 1st ever match had taken the early lead with 26lbs 10ozs edging out Mutley by 4lbs, but I was taking my gear back to the car when Vince's fish were weighed and nobody would tell me what he had weighed as it came to my turn. As I tipped my fish into the net there were various mutterings and when the weight of 8lbs 10ozs was called Vince's face gave the game away , The Mugger had struck again and yet another Golden Nugget was coming my way .
Al was last to weigh and took the honours on the day putting a very creditable 44½lbs on the scales on what had proved to be a very hard day .

A quick mention should also be made of the fact that Mick (the chippy one ) is for the most part a confirmed rod & line man when it comes to his fishing, but Bill has taken Mick under his wing so to speak, in an effort to impart some of the dark arts of match fishing and the use of the pole. Well today the pupil beat his teacher and he fished the pole all match . Does this mean that Mick has graduated or will the teacher be putting him in his place next time out? We'll see .

Back to the car park and Mick (Old carper aka Mr Kipling ) had set the table for tea and cakes.......................

 while the Pearson brothers Mum had supplied Bread Pudding for all, as had Vince's Mum in Law . All in all a very civilised way of ending the match.
Vince somehow managed to raise a smile when he manfully posed for a photo as he handed over another Nugget ...............

While Mick had to part with a Golden Nugget to Geoff in the battle of the brothers ............

Al took home a nice tankard complete with a few beer tokens for 1st on the day .................

While Dean(Marvin Waggler) fishing what was his first ever match took more coin for his second place than he reckoned he'd spent on his rod .

A little bonus for me was that the assembled company reckoned that my last minute Carp, was best fish on the day, due to the amount of entertainment that it had provided for everyone at the end of the match, so £10 came my way .

Finally Vince presented The Chippy One with a little something to show our thanks for his efforts .............

evidently it's part of Mick's autobiography ......

Thanks to Mick and "The Committee" for organising the day, and to all that attended, making for a good day despite the fishing being a little harder than we would have liked .

Obviously you'll be able to read a report on the day here . 

Back in mid-February Paul(paulvis69)Slater put the following post up on the Maggotdrowning forum "I'm trying to arrange a match on Saturday 28th March at Luck's Lane Paddock Wood."

Which is how despite some misgivings due to the weather forecast and previous experience of the venue in the winter months, I found myself loading up the car and heading down there today to give it a go . Keith (Disco) Driscoll had remarked that he would be stopping at the Oakdene Café, and I met him and Greg Andrews there at around 7·15am for breakfast before we made our way down to the fishery. As soon as I got out of the car in the fishery car park it was obvious just how cold and windy it was , and this was reinforced when I had a walk round for a look at the pegs. I hadn't fished there since 2004 and thankfully the platforms have been improved since then. I fancied either peg 11 or 12 as they are either side of the only tree that overhangs the water.

Chatting to a few of the lads prior to the draw, hopes were high as some good weights had come out recently. Paul called the draw and after handing over my money I dipped my hand in and was rewarded with peg 12 with Mick for company next door on peg 13.

Settling in it was obvious that the tree wasn't going to be providing any shelter so decided to keep things relatively simple setting up just a couple of top kits. Both of these were rigged with KC 4x14 Carpa 2's on 0·16 to 0·14 bottoms with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hooks. The 1st to fish on the deck at around 8mtrs where I had around 3½ft and a distance I felt would be comfortable to fish at given the wind, while the second was set at around 2½ ft to fish to the edge of overhanging tree branches. Bait wise it was pellet all the way with hard 6mm's for feed and GOT 6mm expanders for hookers along with some hard 8mm's to fish banded as a change bait.

It was soon obvious that everyone had set up pretty quickly as nearly everyone was walking around and having a chat with half an hour to go, either that or they were just trying to keep warm .

Anyway Paul called the All-in early giving us an extra 15 minutes. I potted out a large pot of 6mm pellet at 8 mtrs (the wind was to strong to throw them) and fed a big handfull by the tree branches. 1st put in at 8 mtrs and after a couple of lift and drops of the rig, the float dipped and I connected with a small Carp of around 8ozs that was swiftly netted to get me off the mark . Really it was a case of steady away from there. The bites were pretty shy though meaning I had to dot the tip as far down as the conditions allowed and hit every dip. It didn't help matters that the rain soon arrived to heap more misery on us and the wind seemed to keep changing direction . After around 1½hrs I had 30 fish in the net but the bites started to dry up on the 8mtr line so I had a 1st look down by the tree, and there were fish there . Colin arrived to see how I was getting on, he'd had half a dozen Carp on paste pretty quickly at the start................

........... but his bites had dried up and he was starting to feel the cold and was going back to the car park to get some warmer kit and I joined him as I'd left my fleece in the car.

Just up from Colin, was Keith who was catching steadily.............

......... but was going to endure yet more bad luck with his pole, the wind blowing it off the roller and breaking his no 6 section .

Mike (not a lover of having to scratch around for a few bites) was obviously not enjoying himself with very little in the way of fish coming his way.........

......... and had also suffered the bad luck to have his no6 section break on the strike which meant that with no spare section he was having to fish short ,  and would soon decide to call it quits and depart to the comfort of a warm fire and a glass of wine at home.

The fish that I was getting by the tree were a bit bigger than those from the open water swim, still silly little bites and I had to keep the feed going in to keep those coming and when I received a phone call from Dave the Fish at around 12·30pm I'd just netted my 52nd fish. The amount I'd had to feed to keep the bites coming had caught me out though and I quickly had to pop back to the car once more to get some more pellets. While I knew Keith, Gary and a couple of others were catching steadily I was feeling pretty good about framing as I was sure that I was ahead of those anglers that I could see.

Around 1·30 pm the rain stopped and sun finally appeared , and around 2pm Matt put in an appearance and you couldn't miss him, red Milo jacket and boots topped off with a red baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses !!!!!!!!
A very rare site as you seldom see Matt until the average temperature reaches 60°F . Living close by though, he'd ventured down to see how we were getting on and take a few photos.......

.......... but with dark grey sky's threatening again he bade us farewell and departed.

Well the rain and wind returned, this time with added hail as a bonus . My bites had slowed but I was still getting the odd better fish from down by the overhanging branches........

......... with a couple of 5lb'ers being the last of my 92 fish . Thankfully the sun came out oncemore and the wind dropped for the final 15 minutes of the match and allowed us to at least pack up and weigh in in the dry.

Greg set the early pace with a hard earned 57lbs but was soon overtaken by Keith putting 83lbs on the scales, including a 10lber and at that point I though that bonus fish might make the difference. However my 2 nets weighed a total of 88lbs to give me the win on the day and a nice few beer tokens . Thanks to Paul for organising the match and the rest of the lads for their company, it turned out to be quite enjoyable for me on the day .

As an aside, today was the 1st outing for my new PROTAK gear and I have to say that it coped superbly with everything that the elements threw at it keeping me warm and dry all day. Doubtless it will get another good test next Saturday when I'm at Monk Lakes for the 1st Marsh AC club match of the year. I'll keep you posted .

Maggotdrowning.com Knock Up.

 

Well it was back to the scene of the MD's Southern Fur & Feather match today for yet another Knock up organised by Mark(Moleman)Hathaway and Trevor(MT Net)Little through the forum. As I loaded the car up for the drive down it appeared that the weather gods were smiling on us for once with the promise of some decent weather for a change, and hopefully a good few fish would find their way into everyones nets today . Pulling into the fishery car park around 8am a few of the lads were already there and the food hut was soon doing a brisk trade in breakfast rolls and cups of tea and coffee.

By 9am it was time for the draw and it was literally a draw for pegs as Moleman had a bag of numbered cloths pegs . I came out with peg 15 on the day, which was the same peg as I had for the Fur & Feather match previously. Having struggled to get set up comfortably last time, I had my platform with me this time and set it up so that i could use it as a seat, I'd been told by Trevor, who knows the water like the back of his hand that the line to fish was towards a bush on the opposite bank, so that was my plan of attack, I had Bill for company to my right today and Roger(Up Yah)Harris to my left, on the other side of the bridge. The rigs I set up consisted of Malman 4x14 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 18 hook, one for the margin swim to my right by some weeds where I had a couple of feet of depth. The others were for out into open water at 7mtrs and 10mtrs where I had around 3ft. Bait was maggots and various pellets with some corn for a change bait and some groundbait as well.

While we set up there was a bit of commotion on the opposite bank. Poor Keith(Disco)Driscoll had got his pole out of his holdall, only to watch the whole lot slide down the bank and into the lake !!!!!!!!! Of course he had to go in for it and thankfully he managed to get the whole lot back. Of course we were all full of sympathy for his plight (Thanks to Vince for capturing it on film )

So 10·30am and the All-in and I fed some maggots and pellets into the margin swim and cupped 5 balls of groundbait in at 10mtrs. I followed out with the rig baited with double maggot. The float settled and just slid away and the culprit, a small skimmer of 2-3 ozs was soon in the net . Bill was in straight away too, but his skimmer was around 1lb !!!! I was soon into a run of skimmers, but they were all the same sort of stamp (2-3ozs) despite switching to 3 maggots on the hook as suggested by Bill, while he continued to bag up with decent 1lb+ examples, and the only reason appeared to be that Bill had a good 4½ft of depth at a comfortable 5mtrs.

Anyway head down and keep going, at least I was catching regularly, even if Bill was battering me , Indeed after a couple of hours I reckoned that I had around 10-12lbs while Bill must have had 40lbs+ and was going to need a second net, Trev meanwhile on the peg to Bill's right was steadily putting a decent run of fish together alternating between the pole and waggler. Bill was having one of those days though, and soon had loads of Grey Hydro streaming out of his top kit, the culprit being a decent Carp, putting me even further behind.........

Having already mentally waved farewell to the £1 I'd had with Bill , I was relying on my customary £1 with Vince to offset it , but my view of Vince was obscured by the island so I just got on with it. The bites kept coming but despite trying various things I just couldn't up the size of fish I was getting . Very occasionally I would get a better skimmer, but they were always followed by more of their smaller brethren. I seemed to be keeping up with Roger to my left, but even his fish appeared to be of a slightly larger stamp .

Around 2pm Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff put in an appearance, he couldn't fish today, but being local had popped down to see how things were going just as my bites started to tail off , but I don't think it was down to Terry as it didn't seem to matter where you looked as sport seemed to have slowed down for everyone, even Bill .

Vince came round just after 2·30 pm to ask Terry to weigh his fish as he had to get away early as his son was in his first amateur drama production of "The Wind in the Willows", and of course like any proud parent he wanted to be there . His fish weighed 18lbs 13ozs and he left the £1 with Terry for safe keeping .

With the All-out about to be called Keith's day unfortunately went from bad to worse . Getting off his box he slipped and the sound of splintering carbon was heard by all across the lake, resulting in a catalogue of carnage (no7 section broken in two, no4 section in 4 pieces and a top 2 pulla kit snapped )
So with the match ending on that unhappy note it was time for the weigh-in. Moleman's 35lbs 10ozs set the early pace till he was edged out of the frame by Omega Mike's 37lbs 9ozs from the road bank. Trevor put a fine 50lbs 6ozs on the scales, but it was Bill who took a fine win on the day with 74lbs 2ozs .
My weight of 32lbs 4ozs was only good enough for seventh place on the day, but at least meant that another £1 from Vince had come my way .
All in all a good day in good company as always seems to be the case when the MD's get together. Here's to the next one .

Maggotdrowning.com Knock Up.

 

It was a small Knock-up amongst a few members of the Maggotdrowning.com forum down at Buxted Oast today, but it didn't get off to the best of starts for me, as I went down to load the car and found that some scrote had tried to break into the car overnight . However I managed to fix the damage pretty quickly and was soon loaded up and on my way. Overcast but nice and mild, it promised to be a decent day and I even had time to stop off in East Grinstead for a spot of breakfast, arriving at the fishery car park around 8·45am .
The MD's knock-ups are always fun and today promised to be no different, Bill had already pegged out, so it was monies paid and into the draw bag, with peg 4 being my home for the match.

Settling in I had Trevor for company on peg 3 with Pete to his right on peg 2, while peg 5 to my left wasn't drawn. Bill had recommended fishing a comfortable 8-10 mtrs straight out where there was about 2½-3 ft and not to ignore the margins so that was the basic approach. I just set up two top kits and both of these were rigged with Malman 4x12 Snake 1's on 0·14 to an 0·12 bottom with a size 18 Drennan Match Carp hook and I also set up the pellet waggler rod as I could see a few Carp already cruising around the top. Bait for the day was Corn, GOT 6mm expanders and 6mm hard pellet, No maggots though as these tend to pull the Roach.

10am and Ryan called the All-in. I shipped out half a pot of mixed pellet and corn to 10mtrs and fed some pellet by hand into the margins and had a quick cast with the pellet waggler to see if I could "mug" and early fish , but with no interest shown that was quickly discarded in favour of the pole. Shipping out a 6mm expander to 10 mtrs the float had hardly settled when it disappeared down the hole and a nice Common of around 3lbs was soon safely in the net , next put in and another smaller fish around 1½lbs joined its friend, Happy days . Trevor had had a couple of quick Carp too, as had Pete .

Dave tucked away in the corner on peg 6 had got off to the best start however, fishing tight into the corner under the willow, taking 5 Carp and a Frog !!!!!!!!!!!! You just know that Dave the Fish's nickname will become Dave Le Frog after that little episode .

After that initial burst however sport seemed to grind to a halt for most , leaving people scratching their heads as to why they couldn't get amongst the fish, and Trev being bored looking at a stationary float reverted to a top 2 and maggot to get some action with the roach, soon lining them up and regretting the fact that he hadn't packed a whip today . Around 12·30 I re-fed my main line and another to my left and went for a stroll round.
Dave's sport has slowed but fish were moving round the tree, while Bill on peg 7 by the outfall just had a solitary Carp, but frustratingly, fish that he could see taking pellet in front of him .
Colin tucked away in fancied peg 8 was another with just a solitary carp to show for his efforts, but was now being plagued by small Roach attacking whatever he put on his hook .

Vince meanwhile was fishing down his right hand margin on peg 9 and had taken a couple of Carp despite it being "Snag Central" and costing him a few hooks, and he managed to slide a third Carp into the net as I watched . Would he be taking a £1 coin from me today  ?

Back to my peg and out to 10mtrs and the float shot strait under as I laid it in !!!! A foul hooker that tore around a bit, but was soon safely in the net, with the hook in a pectoral fin and a good 5lbs added to my weight . Pete dropped by for a chat as I shipped out to my left hand line for the 1st time, and an instant bite resulted in Carp no 4 making it's way to join the others in the net.

Trev was getting into a decent rhythm and building a weight of silvers when the inevitable happened and he hooked a Carp, and he was connected to it just long enough for it to trash his swim before it shed the hook, leaving him to have to build it up again .

Tony strolled round and informed me that both he and Paul had a couple of Carp each, while Mick on peg 1 breathed a sigh of relief as he finally managed to snare a Carp , having endured a frustrating time watching them cruise round in front of him, leaving just Ryan staring at a dry float tip as it steadfastly refused to go under .

With a couple of hours to go Dave started to catch regularly, having fed a few floaters under the tree, and was looking uncatchable, leading Bill on the next peg to change rigs to just a couple of feet of line and a hook and fish long to try and tempt the fish that were still cruising in front of him, and it soon started to produce for him.
With nothing showing on the top within pole range in my swim I stuck it out alternating between my 2 long lines, as nothing apart from Roach could be tempted from the margins, and I managed another 5 Carp before Ryan called the All-out at 4pm .

The Weigh-in told the story, Dave Le Frog had won comfortably, taking 27 Carp in total for 52¼lbs and a very comfortable win . Bill had a good last hour weighing a level 27lbs to bump my 25lbs 6ozs down to third.
Trevor put a very creditable 21lbs 3ozs on the scales for 5th and may well have taken second place if he'd remembered to pack his whip. Of course poor Vince had to hand over another £1 coin to yours truly, so it seems normal service has been resumed in 2009 .

My next planned outing is in a couple of weeks time, to Wylands for a "Silvers" match on House Lake which should be fun providing we don't get a repeat of the weather we had on our last visit there, though if we do at least the Tea Hut will do a roaring trade .

Well with Maria back at work today after the Christmas break, I'd accepted an Invitation from Bill G on the Maggotdrowning forum to join him and a few of the lads for an impromptu Knock-up at Buxted Oast, especially as it was a venue that I'd not fished previously . Having dropped Maria of at work around 6am I popped back home to load the car up, but with the outside temp readout showing -2°C I must admit to questioning my sanity as I pulled away from the flats .

An easy trip down saw me have enough time to stop for some breakfast in East Grinstead and still arrive by 8·30am, though by the time I pulled up the temp was down to -3°C. My 1st site of the Lake revealed over half of it was iced over , It was fed by a stream at one end with a 'monk' type outlet at the other, and it had space for around 17 pegs maximum, but with only eight of us fishing today we wouldn't be to cramped. While Bill pegged out the chat revolved around who would have to break the ice .

Draw time and Kev was 1st in for peg 2 and I followed with Peg 3, these are the pegs where the stream comes in and share a reed bed that Bill reckoned had Carp moving in them when he pegged out, but by the time I got my gear down there, they were nowhere to be seen (Must have seen Bill's face and buggered off ) However it was relatively ice free, with just a bit of cat ice and with the sun shining that would soon go .

A couple of pegs to my left was Mick with John, one of Bill's club mates next up. On the road bank were Ryan, Vince on the outlet and Mick's brother Geoff in the corner peg, which Bill reckoned was the 'Flyer', leaving Bill in the shade and ice bound on the final peg .

Bill, Geoff and Vince had some serious ice breaking to do 1st, while the rest of us had the luxury of setting up straight away . I was going with the pole and just set up a couple of identical top kits. Both of these were rigged with Malman 4x12 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 20 Drennan Match Carp hook, Feed was just micro and 4mm hard pellet, which would be fed through a kinder pot, while bait was simply 4mm expanders and corn.

10am and the All-in, and with an initial feed of a pinch of micro's and a couple of grains of corn potted in against the rushes I dropped the rig baited with a piece of corn full of anticipation .Kevin had a bit more trouble with the ice in his peg so started off targeting the other end of the reeds,

Mick was soon into small Roach fishing maggot with his trusty Tri-Cast and Mitchell 300 , but no amount of lifting, dropping and dragging the rig could induce a bite for me . with an hour gone Ryan had a small Carp, but most of us were struggling and Bill was already starting to freeze on his shaded peg, though he appeared to be getting the odd Carp.

A change to pellet on the hook made no difference apart from a few knocks that I was convinced were small roach shredding the pellet . However the bird life was a pleasant distraction, with a Kingfisher flitting back and forth across the pool between perching in the trees........

While a tiny Wren flitted around my peg on the lookout for a tasty morsel to come his way ..........

2 hours in and I went for a stroll. Mick was happily bashing the bits. John had had a few small Carp and silvers, while Ryan was now targeting the Roach in the absence of another Carp. Vince and Geoff were both struggling with just a few small Roach between them.

Bill however was getting a few Carp and landed a small one of around 6ozs while we chatted, however with no sun on it his peg was so cold that I soon left him to it.

Returning to my peg Kev was admitting to a solitary small Roach but my peg was still dead apart from a few more knocks on pellet. This was getting desperate and I was starting to think that I was going to end 2008 not just with a blank, but worse still losing a £1 to Vince .

Desperate measures were called for so I popped along to Mick and scrounged some maggots off him. Double maggot on the hook and straight away a small roach obliged saving me from the dreaded blank . Now it was just a case of getting my head down and catching as many as possible in the last couple of hours. If Vince managed to nick a Carp he would be firmly in the Pound seats, if not I was in with a chance .

A visit from Bill, who was trying to restore some circulation revealed Vince was targeting the Roach as well, but I was at least catching regularly, and that's the way it stayed until the all out was called at 3pm. Kevin's solitary roach had saved him the dreaded DNW, while 4lbs was the result of my bit bashing . Mick had around 7lbs for his efforts. John's 18½lbs was a very creditable effort on the day,, while Ryan's bonus Carp added to his Roach saw him weigh 4¼lbs, Vince had had a mare however with to many missed bites meaning that just 1lb 10ozs registered on the scales, so the final £1 of 2008 was mine . Geoff added 2lbs 10ozs of waggler caught Roach, but the star on the day was Bill with a very fine 37½lbs to take the honours on the day .

So that's it for 2008, I was hoping to get out one final time before New Year, but with the way the frosts are coming down at night, I think I'll wait till the New Year before venturing out again . What will 2009 bring? Well hopefully more £1 coins from Vince . I'm already booked in for another Jinx Series and more Marsh AC club matches, but above all I'm looking forward to more fun and enjoyment with all those I fish with in 2009.
Till then may I wish all that read this a Happy, Prosperous and Fish Filled New Year .

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Fur & Feather.

Well it was off down to Wylands, just outside Battle today for the Southern Fur & Feather match  on the fishery's House Lake, that's been organised for the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum by Trevor(MT Net)Little. Loading up the car it was cold, windy and pouring down with rain (the sort of morning that makes you question your sanity ) and it didn't get any better during the trip down . Pulling into the fishery and as I got out of the car I realised it was even windier than I thought. A quick bacon sarnie and a coffee while I caught up with the other 14 lunatics assembled proceeded the draw and it has to be said that nobody looked too enthusiastic to get started . In fact the conversation revolved around which were the closest pegs to the snack bar .

Anyway peg 14 by the footbridge stuck to my palm. A stroll down with the tackle revealed a pretty steep bank that would test the seat box legs out, all in all a little precarious. Mick to my right on 13 was in pretty much the same predicament while across the footbridge I had Jeff D and Al on 15 & 16 . Once I'd managed to level the box up I stuck the brolly up. With the wind swirling and the angle I was fishing at, it meant that I couldn't get right out of the rain but at least it offered a bit of shelter .

I just set up 2 pole rigs, both consisted of Malman 4x14 Snake 1's on 0·12 to an 0·10 bottom with a size 20 red Drennan carp maggot hook, one for under the bridge, but with only just a couple of feet of depth I wasn't expecting much from there. The other was for out into open water at 7mtrs where I had around 3½ft. Fishing any longer was out of the question really with the wind and driving rain , Bait was just red maggots with some corn for a change bait and some micro's for feed.

10am and Trevor called the All-in. A pinch of micro's and maggots followed by a maggot baited hook soon produced a small roach from the open water swim and set the pattern for the day. Looking round after about an hour though , very few were looking comfortable, though everyone appeared to be catching the odd fish. Now I've had my Preston Dri-Fish suit since they 1st came out and it's served me well, but despite regular NikWaxing after 4 seasons of abuse it's due for changing, and today the conditions found it out . I could feel the water starting to leak through, so decided to retreat to the snack bar for a warming coffee. I wasn't the only one either. Mick produced a bottle of Brandy and a shot was added to the coffee (strictly for medicinal purposes of course ) Sitting there certainly seemed a better idea than battling it out with the elements and offered a good view of the lake.

Nick Gilbert right in front of us seemed to be doing OK, alternating between waggler to the island and the pole line, as did Mark(MoleMan)Hathaway a couple of pegs along to the left of Nick. Tony(spamwham) pegged between them was having a bit of trouble however with his umbrella with the wind doing its best to wrap Tony up in it  .............

I returned to my peg for another go, but I have to say that my heart wasn't in it , despite the Roach still being there. I stuck it out till about 1pm, but I was cold damp and miserable, so gave it best, tipping back about 6lbs of Roach and hastily getting my gear back to the car. A session with the hand drier in the loo got some feeling back in my hands and I returned to the snack bar to watch the rest of the match, and by the time that Trevor called the All-out at 3pm there were half a dozen of us there .

The weigh-in didn't take long, Mark(Moleman) taking the honours on the day with 32lbs 15ozs from Nick's 30lbs 03ozs, though the real shock was Omega Mike sticking it out for the whole 5 hours for 19lbs 10ozs and 3rd place !

So a quick presentation saw Mark with a nice shiny trophy, while the rest of us all took home a little something from the prize table for Christmas. Thanks to Trevor for organising the day, we all agreed that it was a cracking venue and that we'd like another go at it in better weather. On a final note all the lads chipped in the pools money and Keith at Wylands chipped in £2 from each of our peg fees, meaning £75 was donated to the  Maggotdrowning Christmas Appeal  Nice one lads .

The DNW's aren't a reflection on the fishery as the 6 anglers all caught,
 but packed up early and tipped their fish back.

Ryan's Winter Knock Up.

It was definitely a day for the thermals today as I loaded the car ready for the trip down To Harleylands Farm for a friendly little Knock Up on Nick's Lake that Ryan (Zephyr) has organised through the MD's forum . By the time I arrived at the car park it was around 8am and it appeared that I was the last of 17 lunatics to arrive. Fortunately Mick had managed to arrange for the catering wagon that had been at Broad Oak to turn up, so breakfast was taken care of courtesy of a cuppa from Andy and half of one of the monster breakfast rolls from Trevor Thanks lads .
Nick unfortunately had a black out and cracked his head , but after we had got him into the back of a van and Kevin had administered a spot of first aid he thankfully recovered enough to fish, especially once he realised that peg 9 was left in the hat for him .

My draw had yielded peg 36, not a great area in winter, but with a nice short walk from the car and a bit of shelter looked like being a bonus today , and as only sections were being payed out today instead of the top 3 I still had something to fish for. For company today I had Andy(The Hat) to my right on peg 36, and to my left 3 of my fellow Marsh club members, in Kevin, Terry and Dave on pegs 2,4 and 6.

The peg was comfy enough with just a short chuck to the corner of the island, and with it being so cold I only set the feeder up. Bait was simply a couple of pints of reds and some groundbait. The one doubt in the back of my mind was the colour or rather lack of it in the water. The recent frosts appeared to have knocked the colour right out of it which is unusual on Nick's regardless of how cold it gets.

So 10am and the All-In is called, feeder to the point, tighten up and wait for the action to start ................and wait .............and wait ..................and wait . Thankfully Kevin's partner Jean broke the monotony by providing me with a hot cup of coffee , but apart from Dave getting a small Carp and receiving all our hearty congratulations......NOT  there didn't seem to be much happening, In fact the only person that appeared to be doing anything was Steve Allen on peg 8. Now Steve normally fishes with his two sons Pete and Nick, but it was obviously a little to cold for the poor things so he'd brought his mate, Terry with him for company. A quick chat with Andy revealed that at least he'd had 3 small fish, better than me at that point with his more "speccie" orientated approach........

Well with 1½ hours gone without as much as a nibbled maggot to show for it, I decided I should get the pole out, at least shipping in and out would keep me warm. The rig was a Malman 4x10 Snake1 to ·12 finished with an 18 Drennan maggot hook. I set this up to fish at around 6mtrs where I had around 3½ ft of water with soft set white hydro in the top kit. A pinch of maggot followed by the rig soon rewarded me with a small roach, at least I hadn't blanked .

Terry was alternating between the feeder and a pole approach but was struggling like the majority of us, nothing really seemed to bring him a run of fish...............

Dave meanwhile had managed to nick another small carp on the feeder, but was also sorting out a pole rig in an attempt to find a bit of action...........

Indeed regardless of where I looked it was hard to find anyone who was getting amongst the fish apart from Steve whose could be seen with a bend in his rod on a regular basis.

I managed to keep the small roach coming, not quickly enough to build any real weight, but fast enough to pass the time and keep me focused .

With about 10 minutes to go Kevin finally had a bite on the feeder and was rewarded with a small carp , however in his enthusiasm to get back out there his next cast ended on the island and the resulting break ended his day with 5 minutes to go . I chucked the feeder out just in case there was another in the area, but the tip remained stationary till the All-Out was called at 3pm.

At least it didn't take to long to pack up and get the gear back to the car, and a stroll round with the scales showed just how hard it had fished today . Steve had walked the match today putting 42lbs 12ozs on the scales for a comfortable win, in fact everyone else only managed single figures apart from Trevor whose 10lbs 4ozs of silvers won him his section. Steve's mate Terry Goulding realised he had tipped back a weight that would have won his section but Hey Ho........ Thats fishing, and of course we were all very sympathetic..........NOT .

Thanks to Ryan for organising the day (his 1st attempt at organising a match) . Next up is the Maggotdrowning Southern Fur & Feather match at Wylands next Saturday. How will that turn out? You can read about it here next weekend .

Mick the Chippy's Knock Up.

Out with the lads from Maggotdrowning.com today for a Knock up arranged by Mick the Chippy with the aid of his brother Geoff. Loading up the car it was obvious that it was going to be a cold one, so the thermals were getting their 1st outing of the year. A smooth drive down saw me arriving at the lake around 8·30am, however a displayed temperature of just 3°C had left a small seed of doubt in my mind as to whether the fishing would be up to much.

The good news though was that Mick had persuaded a local snack wagon to put in an appearance so that we could get some hot food and a cuppa prior to the start. While the others arrived I strolled down for a 1st look at the lake................

So with 13 lunatics of us assembled and everyone fed and watered we dived into the draw then made our way to our pegs . Having drawn 11 I opted for the far side that offered a bit of shelter from the wind and found myself settling into peg 20 with Dave and Vince on my left on 19 & 18 respectively, with one of the Allen brothers to my right and Colin next to him.

The set up was going to be pretty simple, and a quick plumb up revealed around 3ft on a top 2 line but with lots of twigs etc making for a bit of a snagpit, while adding a section gave me a decent 4½ft straight out in front that was relatively free of clutter. The feeder rod was also set up with a tiny cage feeder,while bait was simply red maggots with a bit of corn by way of a change bait .

10·30am saw Mick call the All-in, and it was soon pretty apparent that we might be looking at a bit of a grueller. I heard a muttering from my left and heard Mike questioning Vince, it turned out that Vince had had a wrap round almost straight away on the feeder but hadn't connected. For most of us however it was just a case of nicking some small roach (though Mick was positive they were Rudd )

Mike on the opposite side was fishing long into the teeth of the wind and after about an hour was rewarded with yards of elastic streaming from his pole. He'd obviously connected with a Carp, but with only No4 elastic in his top kit was having a few problems. Mick stepped in to provide a ghillie service however meaning that Mike romped into the lead when Mick netted a small Carp of around 2½lbs for him .

45 minutes later and Mick was rewarded with a small Carp of his own, which he gingerly played on a pound bottom, and I'm sure his heart was gladdened by all the calls of support that accompanied it's capture .

No such luck for the rest of us, though Colin was rumoured to have had a half decent Skimmer to boost his Roach, Bill had strolled down and reported that he was getting small Roach regularly from his peg up he top end where he had 9-10 ft of water close in.

With not much happening for me I took a quick stroll to see what was happening elsewhere . Bill was indeed catching pretty regularly by keeping the feed going in..............

.......... but everyone else seemed to be plodding along just nicking the odd small Roach here and there..........

Indeed unlike bill I was finding that feeding was the kiss of death, and it was only by stopping feeding that I could attract any bites. Dave was finding the same despite alternating between a maggot and likkie line.........

I'd had a couple of looks on the feeder, but it hadn't produced as much as a tremble on the tip. Meanwhile Colin had netted a cracking Roach of 1½lbs and Mike had landed another small Carp to put himself firmly into the pound seats . With around an hour to go the Allen brothers decided they'd had enough and packed up (Youngsters these days, No staying power  or perhaps more common sense than the rest of us )

As we moved into the last half hour Mick's brother Richard got himself a small Carp, while Vince was having one last look on the feeder in an attempt to get a £1 coin from me for a change .............

Thankfully Mick called the All-out at 3pm. A quick weigh-in ensued, and sure enough Mike had taken the honours on the day with 6lbs 14ozs  while Bill and Colin shared second place with 3lbs 8oz each . Vince put 2lbs 4ozs on the scales, and initially my fish were called at the same weight, however the scalesman finally called it at 2lbs 5ozs to give me another shiny £1 coin .

Back at the car park and Mick presented Mike with a trophy for the winner...........

and we were all very pleasantly surprised to find that Mick had got us all engraved medals as a momento of the day, a really nice gesture on Mick's behalf .

Well today promised to be a little different as Dawn, the owner of Dawns Vale had invited some of the lads from the Maggotdrowning.com forum down to her fishery for a small match. This had turned into a weekend event for some though, as anglers from as far afield as Scotland, Yorkshire and Wales had accepted Dawn's invitation . Having met up with Dave and Colin at Dave's house we made our way out to deepest Essex arriving at the fishery just after 9·30am.
Parking the cars up it was obvious that a couple of the lads had already arrived. Dai, who was staying for the whole weekend had already pitched his bivvy and Mick and Vince were already tucking into egg and bacon rolls and a cuppa that Dawn had cooked up in the little 2 berth caravan at the side of the pool . As Dave, Colin, Tony and I unloaded our tackle, Webbo (and his lunatic boxer dog Max) and Geoff pulled in, Geoff having traveled down from Scotland the previous day to meet up with Webbo in Leeds .

Dawn soon had us all fed and I took the opportunity to take a first look around. Dawns Vale as the fishery's called is a small natural pool (about an acre I'd estimate) that's fed by 7 springs set in woodland that's situated on the side of a hill. Thankfully the trees shelter it to a degree from the wind, which was starting to get a bit of a blow on.
They'd had their 1st frost of Autumn overnight and a heavy grey sky held the promise of rain at some point. Today we were going to have a friendly little 6 hour Knock-up between the nine of us, and Dawn had even gone out and got a Trophy to present to the Winner .........

Now the pool isn't a venue that is match fished, it's normally fished by carpers and pleasure anglers, and with only about 12 pegs we decided to draw and have a walk off picking our own swims . Most opted for the shortest walk possible, leaving Mick and I to stroll to the far side and I ended up opposite the caravan, allowing me to keep an eye on everyone except Mick .

Settling into the swim I was happy to realise that I was pretty sheltered and would have the wind off my back. Dave has fished the pool once before in the summer and had told me that the margins were deep at around 4-5 feet with depths up to 25 feet in parts of the pool. There were some decent Carp present, along with Crucians, Tench and thousands of small Rudd that would rob any bait they could. I'd already made my mind up based on what I'd heard to target the Carp, but the frost and conditions were making me wonder if I'd made the right choice. Plumbing up down the right hand margin there was 5 feet of water with a similar depth at 5mtrs straight out so I settled for those 2 lines with a simple rig incorporating a MW Diamond to 0·18 to size 16 Drennan Carp Match hook, and also set up the feeder as a back up. Bait wise it was going to be 6mm pellet for feed and 8 and 11mm hard banded pellet to deter the Rudd.

At 11·30am I called the All-in and dumped 2 big pots of pellet into both pole lines, then chucked the feeder with soaked 6mm pellets and a hair rigged banded 11mm on the hook. After 30 minutes without a flicker on the tip it was onto the pole but neither of the 2 lines produced a bite just tiny little knocks from Rudd attacking the pellet and from my vantage point I could see that nobody was doing any good apart from Geoff and Dai who were both happily taking a succession of small Rudd.

With 2 hours gone I re-fed the margin swim heavily and went for a stroll to see how everyone was doing. Webbo was on the pole trying to tempt a Carp with Max keeping a carefull eye on proceedings and probably glad that he wasn't relying on him to catch his dinner ..........

Tony was ruing parting company with a decent fish earlier on the method feeder and was sticking at it hoping for another bite at the cherry ..........

Geoff and Dai were still getting amongst the Rudd making the most of their foresight in bringing some maggots with them , It was good to see Geoff on the bankside and catching a few as he hadn't been out since May and was quite content just catching and not bothered about the size of fish .

Vince was fishless, but concentrating on the job in hand (not losing a £1 to me in our usual side bet )..........

Birthday boy Colin(66) was biteless but determined to stick at it and if possible sneak a Carp out on the paste, though with the wind howling into his chosen swim which was one of the shallower ones, it wasn't looking to hopefull .

Dave was happily settled into the swim he'd fished before, and was taking it easy as his arthritis was playing him up in the cold and was only owning up to a couple of liners but nothing in the way of fish ..........

Finally I came to Mick, yet another Birthday Boy (50) who was getting a few Rudd on the waggler to christen his new rod .........

................Yes there is a fish there, as a close up proves .........

Back to my peg and I opened a tin of corn that Geoff and kindly let me have, and slipping a grain onto the hook I shipped it out to the margin line. After about 10 minutes of lifting and dropping the rig the float finally slid under and a firm lift met with a pleasing resistance as the elastic stretched from the top-kit. The fish stayed down but didn't tear off (probably due to the depth of the venue?) but steady pressure soon saw me get the upper hand and a couple of minutes later a nice plump Mirror of around 6lbs was safely in the net .

15 minutes later my 2nd bite of the day produced a similar result, though this time the fish was a little smaller at around 4lbs .

With another half hour gone and no further action I re-fed the margin and looked up to see Webbo with yards of pink Drennan bungee pouring out of his pole , so I grabbed the camera and strolled down to watch the action ..................

........Webbo was getting nowhere fast with the fish and soon had quite a crowd watching and giving him helpfull advise and encouragement . I even phoned Malc and put him on the loudspeaker to see if The Jinx effect would work long distance . Finally after what seemed like 10 minutes the fish was on the top and safely heading for the net.............

and you could tell from the grin on Webbo's face that all the micky taking had been worth it in the shape of a cracking Mirror what tipped the scales at 12lbs 4ozs .

Back to my swim, and the sky was getting darker and the wind was increasing. Back out to the margin and a change to double corn produced a 3rd bite after half an hour and resulted in a 3rd Carp, smaller again this time, a mint little Common of no more than 2lbs . Shortly after that Webbo popped round as he took Max for a stroll and he was soon followed by Dave and Colin, with Dave taking a few grains of corn away with him in an effort to get himself off the mark. No more fish followed for me, but Dawn appeared with a freshly cooked double cheeseburger and a hot cup of coffee to lift my spirits . Obviously the corn had the desired effect for Dave, for not long after I looked over and just caught him netting a decent fish .......

With around 1½ hours to go I decided to go back onto the feeder as I had seen a couple of fish crash out to my right. After about 20 minutes I had a couple of tentative knocks followed by a 6 inch pull and the strike met with a firm resistance and I could feel the fish kite out into the centre and judging by the angle of the line to the water it had obviously sought the deeper part of the pool. A couple of minutes of steady pressure saw me gain the upper hand though and I soon had my best fish of the day, another Mirror around the 9lbs mark . I only had one further bit of action before the end of the match, and that was when Bill G phoned, we were chatting away as the rod tip wrapped violently round!!!!!!!!!  I wasn't connected for long however and the hook returned embedded in a scale .

So 5·30pm and I called the All-out just as the 1st drops of rain threatened to fall. A quick weigh-in confirmed just how hard it had been on the day. Dai was 1st to weigh and put plenty of the pools small Rudd on the scales which weighed in at 20lbs.........

....... and with Geoff weighing another 15lbs of them for 2nd and 3rd places respectively, they had kept themselves busy and warm, however bags of Rudd like that may be the last for sometime as Dawn told me that they're being netted out at the end of this month. They'll never get them all though, so it's just a matter of time till they return .

My 4 Carp weighed 21lbs 8ozs to take the honours on the day and another £1 from Vince , and receiving the Trophy from Dawn was a nice end to the day .

Soon the kit was loaded up and farewells said. I have to say that I didn't envy the lads that were staying on overnight (Webbo, Geoff, Dai and Mick) but it will be interesting to see how they did overnight and Sunday before heading home .

I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to Dawn for putting up with the Maggotdrowning Mob and making us feel welcome, I'm sure we'll be finding our way back sooner or later .

August Bank Holiday Monday and with Maria having to work I'd accepted an invitation from Bill to join him and a few of the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum down at Falkenville Mushroom Farm for a session on the new lake there. It was over 5 years ago that I last fished at Falkenville on the same lake as today when it 1st opened when it looked as it appears in the photo above. However in the intervening time it has been changed with 1 arm cut off and the rest widened, and now looks something like the image I've created below .

Pulling into the car park i was greeted by Pete, Ryan and Mick and after a brief chat Bill pulled into the car park to join us, that just left Al who was obviously running late . Rather than wait Bill got the gate key and we drove over to the lake. No draw today, just a fun day out so we just unloaded the gear and plonked ourselves in the nearest pegs.

Now on Saturday there had been some discussion about Bill being a JINX , and maybe there's something in it. When I had left home the sun was shining but as I got closer to the fishery the sun vanished to be replaced by grey clouds and by the time we had set up the wind had risen and there was the threat of rain .

Plumbing up I couldn't find much more than 3ft of water in front of me, so set up a paste rig comprising of a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match and a Malman 4x12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match to fish pellet on the deck. Starting off at around 6mtrs I soon had a bite that rewarded me with a nice plump Common of around 3lbs while most of the other lads were still setting up . A ringing on Bill's phone revealed a slightly lost Al needing to be talked in by Bill, and most of us were off the mark by the time that Al finally arrived to join us .

Well the wind increased and some rain arrived and soon it resembled early winter rather than late summer . By about 1pm I'd managed half a dozen Carp, Ryan had just the one but was determined to get a few more.............

Pete was getting a few by chucking the feeder across ...................

Bill was doing best of all and had been catching regularly fishing paste at around 5mtrs, but even his action had slowed...............

while Mick was struggling despite trying the pole and feeder..............

and Al had a few fishing out in front of him but just couldn't interest the fish that were obviously feeding in his margins  .............

By 1·30 I'd had enough of the struggle , I tipped back my fish and moved over to a swim at the end of the arm that had been cut off. Reed lined on both sides it offered a little bit of shelter from the conditions and just looked as if it was good for a few fish .

A few pellets down both sides and a lump of paste on the hook and I was into fish straight away  and from then on a regular succession of Carp provided great entertainment right up to the point when the lads came round with the scales at the end of the session, indeed I hooked a final fish as they arrived, but with a crack the rig vanished. It turned out the Black Hydro had snapped!!!  I can't really complain though, as it was 4 years old, so I've had my monies-worth out of it . 43½lbs of pristine Carp showed what an enjoyable afternoon I'd had, so with those I'd tipped back earlier I'd had a good 50lbs+ on a challenging day. Bill had 67½lbs for the bragging rights on the day and Pete managed 40lbs+ as well, indeed we'd all had a few .

All in all not a bad day given the conditions, Thanks to Bill for organising the day and to the lads for their company, it won't be 5 years before I visit again .

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship 2008.

Sunshine and a bit of a breeze greeted me today as I loaded up the car for the trip down To Hartleylands Farm for the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Individual Championship match.
First port of call was the Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast with a few of the lads that were fishing the match. The best part of the Maggotdrowning matches are that they're not taken to seriously and there's always some decent banter amongst the lads irrespective of whether the fishing proves to be good or not. So having fueled the inner man we made out way down to the fishery for the match .

Into the car park where 19 anglers assembled for the draw. The match this year had been organised by Nick Gilbert, and as usual with Nick's matches Matt Love gave him a hand conducting the draw. So money paid and into the bag and I find I've drawn peg 1, a decent peg normally and one that I had won the corresponding match from back in 2004 . However today I'd fancied a draw in the early teens as with the wind blowing into them I thought that's where the fish would be. Never mind though, at least it was a short walk from the car so no barrow needed.

Settling into the peg I noticed that the fishery staff had pruned the willow quite heavily making it easier to feed and fish under it, but would it produce without the wind blowing into it? I set up the pellet wag and feeder + 3 top kits for the pole. 1 for the margins. 1 for 5mtrs where I had 5ft of water and another for 7mtrs where I had 8ft of water, Bait for the day was pellet, both hard and expander, paste and sweetcorn and the feed was 4 & 6mm pellet and hemp.

11am and the all-in and I fed pellet and hemp into both margins and pellet onto the 5mtr line and followed it with the rig baited with pellet. Matt Love on peg 10 was into a Carp straight away on the waggler swiftly followed by another, as was Dean Lockwood to my left on peg 2 as he had an early look on his margin swim.........

Nick Gilbert had been into fish almost straight away, but had trouble landing them losing the first 4 Carp that he hooked. Me? I couldn't even buy a bite. 2½hrs in and I still didn't have a fish in the net, just a large scale on my sidetray where I'd lost a foul-hooker .

Trevor on peg 7 having heard of the Reservoir's large head of silvers had decided to target them as it's the sort of fishing he enjoys , however they didn't seem to want to play today............

Terry up on peg 13 however had had a fowl (alright a duck actually ) but had safely managed to catch and release it.

Finally I managed a fish, only a small Skimmer from my 7mtr line, but at least I would avoid a dreaded DNW , and more importantly kept me in with a chance of not having to part with £1 to Vince, who seemed to be struggling almost as badly as me though he had owned up to a couple of Skimmers earlier.

Looking straight across I could see Bill on peg 15..........

.......... he was having one of those days we all dream of , with the fish lined up at 4 mtrs and apparently ravenous for his paste bait, resulting in a bite every put in, and he was obviously going to take all the stopping.

Indeed poor Tony Roberts next to him on peg 16 was finding it hard to concentrate on his own fishing and seemed to have resigned himself to a next peg battering of epic proportions.........

......... steadily putting fish in the net, a good performance considering that he'd come straight from work the previous night.

For the rest of the match I struggled on, managing 6 Carp and a few more Skimmers, all from my 7mtr line which was the only place I could get a bite, and to be honest I was glad to hear the whistle blow at 4pm signal the all-out and put an end to my struggles .

So to the weigh-in and Paul soon took the lead putting 91lbs 7ozs onto the scales, but this was soon eclipsed when Bill put a match winning 156lbs on the scales which was also a new PB match weight. Well Done Bill .
Round to peg 10 and Matt Love put 105lbs 11ozs on the scales to seal 2nd place on the day .
My meager total scaled 23lbs, but was enough to take Vince's £1 coin , though Vince had been close till he lost an estimated 15lb'er near the end, unlucky Vince .

So that was it for the day. Congratulations to Bill G, The Maggotdrowning Southern Individual Champion 2008 .
Thanks to Nick for organising the day, and to all the anglers that attended. We'll have to do it all again next year .