Well with Maria working today and arranging to meet up with a friend after work I took the opportunity to pop down to Monk Lakes for a session today. I was thinking of having a session on Match Lake 4 providing I could get on there, to see if I could get amongst a few of the better Tench that have recently been stocked.

Arriving just after 8am I stopped off and had a chat with Ron the bailiff while I paid my day ticket. He informed me that apart from a club match on Lake 1 there was nothing on any of the remaining 3 match lakes. I drove up to the top car park and could see that there were a few people on Lake 4 but still plenty of swims left, however as I got out of the car I could see that apart from a solitary angler on Peg 47 there was no one else on Lake 2, and that meant that Peg 45 was free.

All thoughts of Lake 4 vanished, and my kit was soon occupying Peg 45. It's a corner peg which the prevailing wind normally blows into and usually provides a good days fishing.

A quick chat with the angler on Peg 47 (Mick) revealed that he'd looked in on the Maggotdrowning.com forums for some information on the lakes before his visit, and he was already catching well on the pole.

With it being a mild overcast day and the surface of the lake being smooth as glass I decided to set up a 2ssg styro pellet waggler from Malman Floats so that I could give my Shakespeare Mach 3, 11ft Micro Pellet Waggler Rod a work out later on with the prolific stock of F1's that are in the venue. I also set up a couple of top 2's for the pole to tackle the margins as it's normally possible to catch well close in especially on a day like today when there's very little pressure on the venue.

Bait for the day was pretty simple, just a combination of  GOT Baits  4mm pellets for feed that I could also fish banded on the pellet wag and a pint of red maggots.

So a handfull of pellet fed at my feet and straight in with a top 2 rig and as soon as the float settled it slid away and a minute later a fin perfect Tench of about 1lb slid over the net. The fish were just lined up and hungry for the bait and soon it was one a chuck from a variety of Chub, Barbel, Carp and Tench, both green & golden with even a few Gudgeon sneaking in amongst them.

Around 10·30am a car pulled up behind and a chap got out with his son. He came over for a chat and it turned out that his son was just getting into fishing and he'd brought him down to try his luck here. They strolled over to Lake 4 to set up, but seeing them take a couple of uncut loaves over for bait, I did wonder in the back of my mind whether they might struggle.

Anyway back to the fishing and out with the pellet wag. 2 good pouches of pellet at around 25 yds followed by the float soon produced a plump F1 around the 2lb mark and by regularly feeding around 10 pellets a time these were soon coming regularly with the odd better Mirror muscling in on the action when they could beat the F1's to the bait.

About 1pm I decided to have a stroll over to lake 4 to see how the father and son (Stuart & Jack) who had spoken to me earlier had got on. Dad had a carp rod and baitrunner set up with a small float set a couple of feet deep, while Jack has a small 4 mtr whip with the same set up but way too much line. A brief chat revealed that they were struggling with just a couple of small stockies to show for their mornings efforts.
With his Dads permission I spent 5 mins sorting out Jack's kit, showing him how to plumb the depth etc and shortening the rig down to a more manageable set up. Apart from the bread they had some corn, so I showed him how to bury the hook into a kernal and as he settled down we fed a few grains round the float.
Soon his float shot under and he was into a small Mirror of about 1lb, netted by his dad and layed on the unhooking mat for hook removal and a picture. A couple more followed then a Golden Tench much to Jack's delight so I left them to it with Stuarts Thanks.

Back to my peg and Mick came along for a chat, He was a little taken aback by the number of fish he'd caught, telling me that after 30 years angling he mostly fished rivers and natural lakes these days, and he couldn't get over the condition of the Barbel he was catching as he'd always been led to believe that they didn't florish in lakes!!!!
By now the wind had got up blowing straight into me and while there were still fish to be caught on the pellet wag, feeding and presentation were proving problematical. Jack appeared holding his whip explaining that the float seemed to be behaving strangely, and a quick look revealed the shot weren't locking the float properly, and with the wind getting up he was having trouble so I changed it over to a Drennan blue from my box and reshotted it and he was soon back in action.

After this I went back onto the top 2 feeding maggot with double red on the hook. Soon it was obvious that the Barbel had moved in with a vengance. Most of these were in the 1-2lb mark and all super fit, giving the Black Hydro a good work out.

3pm soon rolled round and Stuart and Jack stopped by as they were leaving to thank me for my help. Jack watching me land another Barbel remarked that he would love to catch one, so sitting him down on my box I handed him the top2 and told him to hang on, Soon the float slid away and he was in, the look of surprise as the elastic shot out was priceless, but he soon had it under control and I netted it for him,

with both maggots still on the hook I told him to drop it in again and sure enough another Barbel obliged. Stuart managed to capture the moment on his camera phone, hopefully to provide treasured memories to a confirmed angler in years to come. I think Jack's fishing could cost Stuart a few bob in the years ahead.

That seemed to be a good point to call a halt to proceedings, Soon the kit was packed away, leaving me to reflect on what had proved to be a most enjoyable day both in terms of fish caught and helping Stuart and Jack with a few pointers in the right direction.

Just a quick visit.

Well today promised to be a bit of fun as I was taking Dave, the owner of Maggotdrowning.com down to Monk Lakes for a few hours. Nothing strange in that you might say except for the fact that Dave lives in Leeds!!!!!

He'd actually brought his Wife and eldest daughter down to London as they had tickets to the Prince concert at the O2 arena, so we thought we would make the most of  the opportunity to sneak a few hours fishing while he was down. Word had got out however and it seemed like there may be a few more members of Maggotdrowning making the trip down to Monk Lakes to meet up with him.

So Dave finally rocked up at my place at around 12·30 and by the time we arrived at Monks it was close to 2pm. We went up to match lake 4 to find Vince, Dave Collier and Bill Gibbins already ensconced. Welcomes over Dave and I settled in, with Dave opting for the pole while I had travelled relatively light with just my new Shakespeare Pellet Waggler rod, a chair and a box of bits chucked into my carryall.

The others had been there since around noon and had built their swims up so that they were all catching well, mostly small stockie Carp and Tench, though a few of the better Tench had shown up including a near 5lb'er for Vince who had managed a decent bag from the lake a few days previously.

While Bill contented himself with taking the stockies at the rate of 1 a chuck.........

I however was soon caught out as having made a schoolboy error .  Playing my 1st fish of the session, a small Carp, things didn't feel quite right and a quick look soon revealed that I had missed out one of the eyes on the rod when I threaded the line through them while setting up , not that the lads got any pleasure from taking the mickey out of my mistake.

Dave Collier was getting a few, but soon went into "Butler" mode popping down to the snack wagon and returning with the burgers and the teas  so a halt was called as those were consumed. Behind us on match lake 1 a match had recently finished and I could see a few fish moving in the margins where the departing anglers had disposed of their unused bait. As I was finding sport slow in my own swim I took the decision to move over onto the closest swim to see what I could manage from the margins.

Dave meanwhile was sticking at it, even though he took a bit of convincing that his normal "Yorkie" frugal feeding regime needed stepping up now that he was down south where the fish are hungry and need a decent feed, not pidgeons portions .

I'm sure he could be heard sobbing quietly to himself as he stepped up the feed from 1 pellet every 10 minutes to a hand full every couple of minutes, but it soon started to reap rewards as he found some better fish including a nice Tench...............

Meanwhile I had settled in and with the margins appearing to resemble fish soup I just needed to keep the pellet going in and  using either a GOT Baits  6mm expander or corn on the hook resulted on a fish  virtually every put in, a mixture of Carp, Tench and Barbel with even the occaisional Skimmer thrown in for good measure.

Chatting to Bill earlier he had mentioned that he had only ever caught 1 Barbel and that had only weighed a couple of ounces, and with the Barbel in Monks now going around the 2lb mark I invited him over to see if he could get one as I had had a dozen already. Well Bill sat there for a good ½hr with me feeding the swim for him, but try as he may all he could manage was a succession of Carp and Tench with me performing the Ghillies duties. It did at least give him a chance to try my rod out with which he was suitably impressed, but of course you don't need me to tell you that as soon as he passed the rod back to me the 2nd fish I caught was.............. A Barbel.

Just to rub Bill's nose in it Vince wandered over and dropped into a peg next to me and promptly had a Barbel as well.

With home time fast approaching Dave came over to try his hand with my gear.........

............ and was soon into a fish, not the hoped for Barbel but the first of a few Carp that came in a hectic few minutes, topped off with a nice chunky little Mirror Carp...................

So that was it, session over, short and sweet but a real fun session in good company and more than a few fish thrown into the mix as well, It would be greedy to ask for anything more really.

Disabled Angler.co.uk
Charities Championship Match.

Well today was the day for the 2nd qualifying match for the Disabled Angler.Co.Uk Charities Championship.
A nice smooth run down to Monk Lakes saw me pulling into the car park around 7·45am soon to be followed by Paul East (NoMoreLongWalks) A quick look at the lakes confirmed it would be windy as usual and with nothing more to be learnt we adjourned for breakfast .

After a while the usual suspects started to arrive, Vince armed with the reams of paperwork that accompany him when he organises a match. Dirk and Craig who he'd dragged along for company. Wayne Panting with his helper Rob Panding, who would also be fishing today. Young Sven for his annual outing onto the match circuit and Clive seeking some respite from his recent gruellers at Rolf's. Dirk and Craig then set about parting the assembled anglers from a few more with the offer of raffle tickets and a chance in the quess the weight competition .

Draw time saw 39 anglers booked in, mostly lads hoping to get an insight on the venue before next weeks Fishomania qualifier, meaning every other peg was left out on the 2 lakes. Myself(peg24), Dirk(peg22), Paul (peg20)and Vince(peg16) drawn almost together on the causeway of Lake 1 with Sven opposite me on the far bank leading to a £1 side bet mini-match being hastily agreed.

Setting up I opted for the pole, finding a comfy 5ft at 11mtrs and a couple of feet in the margin on either side.
I'd taken a waggler rod with the intention of fishing the pellet waggler, but the wind from left to right made it a non starter IMO, though the angler on the peg to my right went with it, so i would be able to judge whether I had made the right decision .

11am and all-in with 2 large pots of GOT 4mm sinking pellet and a few grains of corn going in at 11mtrs and a big handfull going into both margins. Bait for the day was GOT 6mm expanders and their 6mm soft hookers in both catmeat and liver flavour.

A small Tench and an F1 in the 1st couple of put ins was a nice start but the wind was making presentation hard.
I stuck at it for about 30mins before having a look on the inside with a top2 which produced a Skimmer straight away .

Paul behind me was bemoaning the fact that he couldn't catch up in the water regardless of what he tried, but it was probably due to the fact that he had come straight from a night shift and was cream crackered .

Dirk was enjoying himself as usual putting more than a few fish into the net and so he should have been, seeing as I had drawn his peg for him, his usual flyer of an end peg right next to the airators .

Over on the other side Sven seemed happy enough even though from what I could see sport appeared to be pretty slow .....................

............. he wasn't alone in this however as from what I could see nobody was exactly taking the place apart.

Vince appeared to be struggling with trying to decide which was his best line to fish, though he did have me worried for a while when he came over with a ball of paste for me to try, saying that he was starting to bag a few carp on it ( you have to have fished with Vince to know that "bagging" is a relative term where he's concerned )

Around 1·30 Dave (The Fish) Collier put in an appearance and very kindly got the teas in for us allowing us to go through to the end at 4pm. I'd had a steady match catching pretty regularly with a real mixture of fish... F1's, Carp, Barbel, Ide, Tench (both green and golden), Skimmers and even a solitary Perch making up my net that I guessed went over 50lbs but which I new wasn't going to be good enough.

Packing up while we waited for the scales was when disaster struck!!!!!!  Leaning across my box to lift up the footplate the box tipped and three of my drawers went flying into the swim. Much hilarity ensued as my fellow anglers offered their symathy as I delved around up to my armpits retrieving spools of line, disgorgers and all the various bit's and bobs that hade come to inhabit those draws over the years .

Scales time and Vince managed a mid thirties weight, while Paul tipped back for a DNW. Dirk took the coin with 72lbs with me only managing 66lbs and Sven a meagre 10lbs, not that he was gloating or anything when he got his hands on our coins .........

Finally just a word of Thanks to Vince for the bulk of the organisation, and a further word of thanks to all the Anglers that supported the day allowing us to add a further £391 to the total for the year .

Looking forward to next year already .

The full result is as below

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

Off down to Monk Lakes today to meet up with a few lads from the Maggotdrowning site. Overcast skies but a really mild 10°C on the way down held the promise of a few fish to be had.
8·45 in the car park and Nick and Tony had arrived, shortly followed by Dave(TheFish) and Colin. Vince had already told me that he would be arriving late and a quick chat with Ron the bailiff had ensured we could use keepnets for what was to be a light hearted knock up.

Making our way over to Lake 2 we passed the heavy plant that is in the process of re-excavating the old catfish lake to a deeper depth.
Parking up we decided to fish the closest pegs which included the corner flyer, peg 45. We had an impromptu draw to ensure fairness and Colin ended up with the flyer, then Nick, myself, Dave and Tony. We decided Vince could tag onto the end as penance for late arrival .

A leisurely tackle up session interrupted only by Nick moaning that the cold wind was blowing towards him and why couldn't he fish the opposite bank so the wind was off his back and there were fish topping over there, finally came to an end when Nick swung in a gudgeon that had hung itself on his hook that was already baited .

Most of us has settled for the pole, though Nick had set up a waggler as well. Colin was soon into a fish......

....... as was Nick, while the rest of us we a little slower off the mark .

15 minutes in and Vince arrived and was soon set up and fishing.....

.....Tony has started to get a few but was having to chop and change baits in an effort to keep the bites coming.

I was having a bit of a struggle, having wasted a bit to much time trying to catch close in, before moving out to 9mtrs and alternating baits to start catching with any regularity.
Dave's arthritis was giving him a bit of jip in the cool conditions, but by fishing short and sticking at it, he was still managing to put a few together .
The beauty of the match lakes at Monk is the wide variety of fish that are stocked, Carp, F1's, Barbel, Chub, Ide, Orfe, Tench(Green & Golden) Bream and Perch amongst the species on offer.

Colin and Nick appeared to have the bulk of fish in front of them, with Colin always seeming to have the edge, though we were all catching if not as regularly as the dynamic duo .

About 3·30 we decided to call it a day as the sun started to set....

Dave had brought the scales so a quick weigh in was done.......

Vince managed 17lbs.

Tony had a creditable 49lbs.

Dave put 28lbs on the scales.

My net came to 41lbs.

Nick had 59lbs, 10lbs of that caught while we were weighing the rest in .

Finally Colin was the star of the day with a tremendous 118lbs!!!!!
(Only part of which is in the photo.)
Doing justice to the flyer .

So farewells made and Happy New Years wished, we packed up for the day. Over 300lbs of fish between the 6 of us, plenty of good natured banter and great company had made for another good day .
Must do it again sometime (as if we really need an excuse ).

Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship.

Having dropped Maria off at work at 6am and then loaded the car up, I took a leisurely drive down to Monk Lakes arriving earlier than anticipated at around 8am. Once again the fishery had put the "Welcome Maggotdrowners" sign out, and after parking up I thought I'd take a quick look at match lake 2, only to find that Terry (wily) Clive (blackhydro) & Darren (badatfishing) along with RonB had beaten me to it .

A quick look confirmed that you would either have the wind full in your face all day or off your back depending on your draw.

Some seemed to fancy peg 45, whether for the short walk or the fact it was a corner end-peg was open to debate. whoever drew it would have the wind full in their face however with very little chance of getting a brolly up should the threatened bad weather appear .

Back for a bit of breakfast and the draw, and pulling into the car park is a white Carlton estate and Dai's arrived for his 1st outing since he had his operation. He'd spoken to me a couple of days earlier saying that he fancied it having not been out for months, and my mention that he just might just finally catch a GOLDEN TENCH here, probably made his mind up though.

At the draw Vince announced that the previous match had been won from peg 45, so you can imagine just how delighted he was to see it resting in my hand when I pulled it out of the hat .

Setting up it was obvious that fishing long up in the water would be hard work, and as I had been off work for the previous 3 days with a pulled muscle in my back it wasn't really an option for me . Plumbing up though revealed a good 2?feet on a top 2 line with just 3 feet at about 5 meters.
With every other peg missed out I was pretty sure that I could catch close, so made up my mind to go for it from the off, and with Clive (blackhydro) to my left setting up to fish further out I would be able to see if I needed to lengthen my line as things progressed .

11am and Vince called all-in and I fed 3 lines, 2 just a comfortable underarm for 4mm pellets and another cupping in at 5 meters. Baits for the day were just GOT 6mm expanders and Paste, but before I could put a pellet on a shout from Dai had me running down the bank to capture this moment .....

.......... Just the sort of thing that makes it all worthwhile, the smile wouldn't leave Dai's face for the rest of the match .
Back on my peg and I dropped the top2 rig in and the float just kept going!! Had I overshotted it? obviously not as the black hydro streamed out of the top. 30 seconds later and an 8oz Barbel is safely in the net and I'm off and running.
Looking around it was soon evident that plenty of people were putting a few fish in their nets and miraculously the wind was holding the threat of rain off despite plenty of grey clouds scudding past.
It soon became evident that my peg appeared to be solid with small Barbel, super fit fish in perfect condition that gave a good account of themselves on soft set Black Hydro.

Now a constant bone of contention on forums is Barbel in still waters, I can only say that these fish in Monks are as fit as any that I've caught in rivers over the years and appear none the worse for wear due to their environment.
Indeed they have been bred at the fish farm that adjoins the Monk Lakes complex.

Sport was steady and with 3 and a bit hours gone Dave the Fish came along for his customary chat while he had a sarnie, and admitting to around 40lbs for his efforts so far . I estimated I had around 100 fish split between my 2 nets and decided to use a 3rd net for the final part of the match. Getting up to reposition my nets, I slipped !!!!!! Both feet straight in past my ankles , thankfully I had a spare pair of boots in the car, so a quick time out to change and sort things out left me with around 1hrs to go.

Thankfully despite this disruption they were still there and I caught steadily right up to the end at 4pm landing my last fish as Vince called the all out.

Weigh in time, and our bank had obviously been Barbel Alley, Dave starting off with 65lbs just edging RonB's 63lbs. Dai proving he was back in the groove putting a very creditable 81lbs on for a section win, Clive just missing out with 78lbs.

My 3 nets totaled 100lbs putting me into pole, but with Nick Gilbert admitting to 80lbs or maybe a tad more.

Next up was Polemad who had been opposite me, just missing out on a "TON" with 95lbs.

Then we came to Mr Gilbert. What can I say? other than "I'll NEVER BELIEVE ANOTHER OF HIS ESTIMATES AGAIN!!!!!!!" as his 80lbs guesstimate transformed itself into 170lbs!!!!!!. a superb weight on the day comprising of nearly all carp as with the wind behind him he had been able to catch up in the water on banded pellet all day.

It proved to be Nick's biggest ever match weight making him a worthy winner and MD's Southern Champion 2006.

The rest of the weigh-in Produced yet more weights between 50-80lbs, even Vince's daughter Jessica managing a creditable 21lbs with dad's help.

While Vince himself despite spending time with Jessica putting together a nice bag weighing 52lbs .

So back for a welcome cuppa and the results revealing that the 16 anglers present had put 1120lbs on the scales, an average of 70lbs per angler.

All that remains is to say a BIG THANK YOU to Vince for organising the day, and all those that turned up to make it a most enjoyable day, I'm sure we'll be doing it all again in the not to distant future.

Sponsored By: BR-Electrical.co.uk


Round 2

Winner on the day was J Davis with a very creditable 125lbs 08ozs .



2nd was Paul Hamlyn with a level 114lbs .



3rd with the other Ton+ bag on the day was P Speakman with 101lbs 08ozs



The other 5 qualifiers for The Charities Championship Final on September 30th at Holly farm, Leicestershire were S Joy, A Smith, Dave Baptist, Russ Evans and I Carley.

Section winners on the day were
A Section

S Joy 95lbs 02ozs.

B Section.

Dirk Williams 70lbs 08ozs

AND


S Middleton 70lbs 08ozs

C Section.

R Evans 88lbs 07ozs

D Section.

D Trustlove 58lbs 14ozs

Total Weight brought to the scales today was 1961lbs 08ozs

Lastly a few words of thanks.
Firstly to Vince Gould for his organisation of the match on behalf of Disabled Angler.Co.Uk.

To Simon Hughes and all the Staff at the fishery for their help and the donation of the keepnet for the "Guess the Weight" prize .

And lastly to all the Anglers who took part in todays match and helped to raise £221·50p, which brings the running total up to £548·50p raised so far.

Funds Handover

Full result.

__________________________

All in all a cracking day and nice to see Dirk and Bliss from Disabled Angler.Co.Uk in attendance for this match.

Things got off to a good start with a decent breakfast, but went downhill for me when I asked Dirk to draw for me .
As a few of you will know when Vince and I are about it gets a bit competative .
Well Dirk did Vince proud drawing me peg 88, well away from Vince and by all accounts one of the worst pegs .
Vince and Dirk however drew side by side, with Bliss just behind them on the island .
A good start saw me getting amongst the resident Barbel, but after a couple of hours my bites started to dry up.
A phone call to Vince revealed that he wasn't flying either, although I thought that I detected a hint of confidence on his part.

Bliss appeared to be enjoying himself even though sport didn't appear to be to fast and furious for him.

Towards the end I snared one of the smallest skimmers I've ever caught and had to net it (Fishery Rule: All Fish to be netted) much to Vince's amusement, who saw it and remarked as much to Dirk.

Come the weigh-in however I had the last laugh as I had managed to beat Vince by 2ozs .
Dirk positively battered the 2 of us beating both our combined weights and grabbing a share of the section money .

Farewells said,  Bliss, Dirk and my good self retired to a pub on our way home, where a barman was heard to wonder "where have all these moths appeared from????"
Yes Folks, Dirk had opened his wallet and got the drinks in!!!!!

A great end to good day.
Is it possible to frame a pint of beer????

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fun Match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting up in the car park at Monk's just after 7·30am the 1st thing on the agenda was brekkie, kindly paid for by Dave . Duly fortified we made our way down the left hand side of Puma Lake and selected a couple of swims for ourselves, in fact Dave ended up in the same swim that Andy (The Hat) had fished when we visited last December at Simon's invitation.

Dave and I both set up our poles to fish at around 11mtrs which offered a comfortable 4½-5ft of water.Feed wise Dave elected to cup in hemp I adopted a loose feed approach with pellet, maggot and a few grains of corn.

Almost straight away small Chub found our baits taking them on the drop, so a quick delve into my winder tray found a margin dibber rig more suited to Carp that was added to a top kit with green dual core (6-10) And i soon had some more small Chub on double maggot fished 2ft deep .

What we really wanted was to get amongst the better fish so back onto the bottom rigs and Dave soon had something a little better pulling back, which resulted in........

.............A Goldie for Dave.

Don't mention the Goldies to The Hat.

Well he may have bred every fish in the lakes, but they obviously decided that being netted by him once was enough, so shut up shop and refused to bite for him.

Throughout the morning a few of the larger Carp had been cruising around, in fact earlier 1 had cruised past Dave's feet in the margins and despite Dave hanging a bait in front of it, it had carried on its merry way .

Well as Dave and I stood chatting, having said farewell to Simon, one cruised into the margin of my peg, I threw a few grains of corn in front of it and it went straight down for them. Grabbing my up in the water rig and hooking a grain of corn on I dropped it in only to see the Carp suck it in straight away. STRIKE and it's on and it's then I remembered that it's only a light elastic Thankfully it was more of a plodder than a turbo nutter and 5 mins later Dave is doing the honours with the net.
It looked to have a little bit of damage so rather than weigh it,it was slipped straight back, as we both agreed that it was probably a scraper double.

while Dave managed a few more Goldies and Skimmers among the ever present Chub.
4pm saw us call it a day as a cool wind sprung up. All in all a most enjoyable day in good company, with things looking good for the Southern Friendly MD's match in May.

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to recieve an Invite from Simon Hughes to visit his new fishery at Monk Lakes with a few friends, so that was the reason that 5 of us arrived at Simon's house at Riverfield Fish Farm in the pitch black at 7am this morning . Dawn was just breaking as we set off following Simon's Landcruiser along the private road that passes through the fishfarm to the fishery.

This was an eyeopener in itself . I've seen an ariel photo of the fishfarm before, but it's not until you drive through it that you appreciate the sheer scale of the operation, which would be worthy of an article of it's own, if Simon ever finds the time to write it.

Assembled in the car park Simon gave us a brief rundown, arranged for our breakfast needs to be seen to, then left us to it giving us carte blanche to fish where we wanted . The five of us decided on a walk around the complex at first to get a feel for things.
Up to the 2 elevated Match Lakes and these are very regular looking, with platforms in every peg but with no visible features. On the same level is the Catfish Lake, which looks very natural with a profusion of features and islands.
On the other side of the car park are the 2 main pleasure fishing lakes, Puma and Bridges, both with totally natural banks and plenty of islands and features, Indeed Bridges takes its name from the bridges that allow you to reach the islands to fish from them .

Running behind these lakes and threading its way through the fishery runs the River Beult offering what promises to be some fine small river fishing, and leads past the Specimen Lake, home to some 40lb Carp.

After walking round that lot, break fast was definitely the order of the day, so retiring to the canteen behind the lodge 5 Full English Breakfasts were disposed of, all washed down with Tea while we decided on our plan of attack.
The main worry was the weather , It's turned pretty cold down here in the SE in the last couple of weeks and the fishery is quite exposed, but today there wasn't a breathe of wind although it was still cold.

Jess & Szabi had their sights set on the Specimen Lake, despite Simon's earlier warning that it hadn't been fishing well, so off they went, hoping for a 1st 'Twenty'. Terry, Andy(The Hat) and Myself plumped for Puma, and within 100 yds of the car park had settled on 3 swims, Terry with an island to fish to..............................

A range of 10mtrs gave me a comfortable 5ft of water, and with flat calm conditions a slim Preston B series 4X12 float with just 4 strung droppers and a size 20 PR23 was the rig of choice to fish single and double red maggot over the fisheries micro pellets .

1st up came a run of Chublets that were more than welcome as they happily feed on even the coldest of days, and as far as I'm concerned are an inspired bit of stocking on Simon's part ..........................

Once these have grown on a bit they are going to be well Worth going for.

Next came a run of smallish Tench for me, and as I unhooked one I remarked to Andy that rather than the little red eye the are known for these has golden eyes, to which he replied that perhaps they were Golden Tench, but that he'd never seen or caught one.
Well after a statement like that, you can guess what happened next  ...... My float dipped, and the next fish I landed was a Golden Tench .
Well it was the least I could do , though doubts were voiced by Andy that this capture was down to my sheer blinding skill and tenacity, this did inspire him to concentrate on capturing one for himself, but alas all he could manage were some examples of the wrong coloured (green) ones and a solitary Gudgeon , while i rubbed it in even further during the course of the day by catching another 7 goldies amongst the 30 or so Tench that I caught .

While all this was going on Vince appeared for a short visit, and in the way that is so typical, offered all his sympathy to Andy in his hour of need .

Terry meanwhile in his typical way was quietly doing his best to empty his swim of small Chub with a waggler, and by the end of the day must of had close to 100 of them .

During the course of the session a number of the smaller Carp that have been stocked also decided to put in an appearance. I don't know what strain these fish are, but they are picture perfect deep bodied fish that already give a good account of themselves despite going no more than 1½ lbs on average.

The fish kept coming right till the end, with a couple of Rudd thrown in for good measure, and although Andy hung on to the bitter end in the gathering gloom, he didn't manage to get his Goldie , though he did get the only Gudgeon of the day .

Jess & Szabi? Well athough they had been warned stubbornly sat it out, and didn't manage to contact any monsters, though they had one screaming run at around midday, but the strike didn't connect .

Overall I had a most enjoyable day. The stock are a testament to Simon's skills as a fish farmer, and are of the highest quality.
Puma is one of the two pleasure lakes on the complex, and it certainly lived up to its description and it was a Pleasure for me to fish there today .
I'll certainly be going back in the not to distant future, though next time I fancy travelling light and adopting a roving approach to see what I can tempt from the River.

In closing I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Simon Hughes for his invite, and his staff at MONK LAKES for a most enjoyable day. If you're ever in the area give it a try, there's something for almost everyone there .

A couple of weeks ago I had made arrangements with a friend of mine, Andy "The Hat" Speadbury to visit Monk Lakes. This is a new fishery in Kent. This is the one that featured in Angling Times a while back as a new "Super Fishery."

We had arranged to meet in the lodge at 7·30am. My initial impression on arrival was "WHERE DO YOU START??????"
To say it's a big site doesn't begin to do it justice. The level of investment in the venue is obviously major. Not only is there A good variety of fishing, but the facilities are all there as well - more than ample car parking (closely situated to the lakes), security, quiet, burger bar, bait and tackle from the lodge, Ladies and Gentlemen’s toilets on site as well as toilets for the Disabled located in the car park. In the summer some temporary toilets will be dotted around the site for convenience.
Oh! nearly forgot , something I had never seen at a fishery before - mains electric and water placed at around twenty points around the site!

The site itself covers over 120 acres, and the plans are that eventually it will be able to cater for 2000 anglers!  The fishery opened on 29th October and at the moment only the 1st part is open as work continues on the rest of the venue.

To give you all some idea of the present layout, I've taken the liberty of scanning the fishery pamphlet, which you can see below.....................

It has to be said that for a 1st visit to a new water the weather did us no favours at all, The 1st frost of the year down here and only 3°C on the car thermometer coupled with a biting northerly wind meant that the day was never going to be easy .

ME? I couldn't buy a bite . It was noticable during the day that the frost had had an effect with the colour noticably dropping out of the water.
Pellet or maggot, It didn't matter, after 1½hrs of watching Andy's grin I nicked a few of his reds as I only had whites and bingo, straight away a bite and a plump fin perfect Chub of around 8ozs to break my duck .

This was the cue for a stroll back to the car park for a ½pint of reds from the lodge, and a ½ lb cheeseburger from the catering wagon on site. Well one has to look after the inner man .

The red maggots made all the difference, and after a bit of playing around with the shotting of the rig so that it would pick up the tow a steady procession of small Chub followed for the rest of the session. By the end of our session I probably had 20lbs+ of them and as Andy said, I'm sure that these will prove to be an inspired bit of stocking as they should provide decent sport in even the coldest conditions, though whether the Carp anglers will share this view as they grow and develop a taste for boilies is another matter .

 

 

I'm going back for another visit next Saturday and it will be interesting to see how it fishes if the weather has settled down a bit .