Marsh AC club match.

I’m off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today for the seventh match of the Marsh AC year. It’s a match that I really look forward to fishing as it’s one of my favorite  waters with the potential for a cracking days sport . An early start was in order as I was meeting a few of the lads for breakfast at The Knoxbridge Café and with the promise of some decent weather for today it didn’t take long to get the gear loaded into the car and set off.

A nice smooth drive down saw me pulling into the car park at around 7·30am just as Al and Keith Powell who was guesting today arrived. Kevin and Jean were already there along with Keith and Mick who’d made their usual trip down from Milton Keynes and Rusty who was also guesting today and we were soon joined by John, Martin and Zack. With the pangs of hunger taken care of by a Knoxbridge Special it was time to get up to the fishery for the draw, but not before Keith Powell noticed Keith’s wallet that had dropped on the floor by his seat and phoned him to let him know he had it .

Arriving at the draw most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with our third guest today Mick the Chippy who I struck a side bet of a Golden Nugget with as usual. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw underway. Peg 25 proved to be mine today, a short stroll from the car park and shaded by trees. Kev had peg 29 and it looked good for a few today while Mick the Chippy was next up on 28 with Rusty to my left on 26 and Mick W next up on peg 23.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. I’d considered fishing the pellet wag today but with the wind blowing from right to left across the peg it was going to be very awkward , so although I set one up I was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to figure. Instead it was going to be 3 pole rigs, one at 5mtrs straight out with another for the willow to my right and a third for the left hand willow. The first two were once again Nick Gilbert’s handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s to finish off with while the third rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some hemp while hook bait would be 8mm hard pellet with some GOT Atomic paste if I needed it.

Kev provided a cup of coffee courtesy of Jean when he popped down for a chat and Dave called the All-In at 10am and I fed a couple of handfuls of hemp and pellets to the two willow swims and a handful of pellet straight out at 5mtrs before following them out with a banded 8mm to 5mtrs. I could hear that Rusty was in almost straight away but I was being plagued by sharp bites that I couldn’t connect with and I suspected that these were from roach snatching at the 8mm pellet and this was confirmed when I landed one of around 6ozs that had somehow managed to engulf the pellet.

Thankfully my first carp of the day was soon on its way, the carp in the reservoir give a good account of themselves with the deep water encouraging them to keep their heads down and making you work to get their heads up and into the net but after a spirited fight a nice mirror of around 7lbs was safely in the keepnet .

You couldn’t class the sport as fast and furious though and the general banter around the lake made it obvious that most were struggling after around an hour, apart that is from Kev who was into a steady run of fish and Mick the Chippy if the rumours were to be believed . I was picking up the odd carp on my 5mtr line but looks over at both willow swims were producing nothing apart from the odd roach and skimmer. Rusty had taken a few carp fishing shallow but they weren’t really having it either and gradually faded away.

By 12·30pm I had around 6 carp and a few silvers to show for my efforts so took a little stroll to see how others were doing on my bank. Mick W reckoned that he’d had a few but seemed to be doing OK to me judging by the amount of elastic coming from his top two as he played a carp and it was obvious that he had hopes of taking the MK Nugget from Keith today ……

but the pegs in the early twenties didn’t seem to be producing as I would have expected them to. However over on the other side the one person that did seem to be getting among a few was Terry and with the wind blowing into the margins there I fancied that he had the chance of a good weight on the cards today ……

Back down on peg 29 Kev was enjoying himself taking a succession of fish from under the willow to his left ……

Mick was enjoying himself as always but had suffered with a few lost fish in the course of the morning and looking to up his catch rate ……

and while Rusty was his usual jovial self , with his shallow line having dried up was looking to explore other lines in an effort to put a few more in the net ……

Back at my peg it was just a question of keeping some feed trickling into the three lines and waiting for some fish to turn up, which I was certain would happen at some point given the head of fish present in the water . Dave the Fish popped round for a stroll and it obviously wasn’t going well for him and you could sense his frustration with not being able to get to grips with things today .

As the afternoon wore on things did start picking up for me. I had to rotate round the three lines, but by doing this I started to pick up carp on a regular basis, nothing big, most were around the 4-5lbs mark but good weight builders if you can keep them coming.

Others weren’t so fortunate and I could hear Al bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t reach the spot where he felt the fish were in his swim ……

Things had picked up a bit for Tony, but he’d still found time to pop along and check out what Keith Powell was doing on peg 13 as it was obviously starting to produce for him ……

Keith was having one of those matches that we all dread, putting a few fish together but having to watch travelling companion Mick W catching just a few more which would surely result in the loss of an MK Nugget today ……

My afternoon was then rudely interrupted by a pain in the neck ….. I’d been stung by a bee . Fortunately Rusty came to my aid and removed the sting with the aid of a pair of styl pliers, ad hoc surgery at its finest which allowed me to resume fishing again .

Things seemed to pick up for most as the match drew to a close, unfortunately not for Dave who had to suffer more frustration as Tony on the next peg found a late run of fish to save his day while Dave got seen off by a couple of foul hookers .

The All-Out was called at 4pm and with a set of scales on our side Kevin and I decided to get the weigh-in underway before packing up. We started with Rod on peg 19 who put 26½lbs on the scales followed by Simon with 79½lbs. Next up was Graham with 33lbs and Chris with 36¾lbs. Mick W recorded 94¾lbs and my 19 carp with a few silvers weighed 114½lbs . Rusty had managed 96¾lbs but Mick the Chippy had suffered a frustrating second half to his match with just 36½lbs meaning a Golden Nugget was coming my way . Finally Kevin put his fish onto the scales and recorded 132½lbs and a new PB Match Weight ……

Time to pack away the kit and get back to the car park where Dave worked out the results and sorted out the section money. First today was Terry with a fine 163½lbs Kevin had secured second place and I had finished in third .
Today’s sections had gone to Al, Terry, Mick W and Kevin to bring an enjoyable day to a close .

The next club match is at Colemans Cottage on September 15th, but we also have a midweek match at Alders Farm a couple of days before that which Keith has kindly organised for us, so plenty to look forward to .

Marsh AC club match.

Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent is the venue today for the final Marsh AC match this year. The club has booked The Reservoir for today, which should make a nice change as we normally fish Nick’s Lake . It was an early start for me as I’d arranged to meet up with Mick Pearson who was coming along as my guest today for a spot of breakfast prior to the match.
There was a noticeable chill in the air as I loaded up the car, and as I made my way down the temperature was only registering 4°C on the car thermometer . I arrived at The Knoxbridge Café just after 7am to find Mick waiting for me. We were soon tucking into a hearty breakfast and catching up with events since we’d last met. Kevin & Jean along with Graham,John,Martin and Zack arrived for breakfast as well, and with that taken care of it was just a matter of a five minute drive up to the fishery.

Pulling into the car park it was the usual hive of activity as greetings were exchanged and tackle was assembled prior to the draw ……

Day out at Hartleylands

It’s off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today. I’m meeting Dave, Terry, Simon and Gino for a days fishing on the reservoir. Our club Marsh AC have a match there in a couple of weeks time, and as none of us have fished the reservoir for quite a time it seems like a good idea to have a session before the match to try and suss out what works and what doesn’t .

No point in an early start today as I’d arranged to meet the lads at 9·30am at the fishery, and that was when I arrived to find Terry, Simon and Gino there already and just about to set off to pick their swims . A quick discussion ensued and with a few anglers already ensconced in pegs we decided to fish what I refer to as the ‘Finches Bank’ as it runs parallel to Finches Pond. The lads set off to bag their pegs while I unloaded my kit, and with my trolley loaded set off to claim a peg. It was promising to be scorcher of a day, not a cloud in the sky and the first peg I came to was 24 between two overhanging trees and pleasantly shaded, but I felt that Dave would probably like that one (once he finally got there ) so left that one. Next up was Gino on 23 with Simon on 22. Terry had gone further round to Peg 18 as he’d always fancied fishing that one, so I settled on peg 20 to leave Simon a bit of space ……

With the sun climbing higher and barely a breathe of wind, the water looked like glass. It definitely was going to be a warm one today . First things first, so the kit was unloaded and as it wasn’t a match I fed a couple of good handfuls of pellet down the left hand margin straight away , then started to set my kit up. One of the things I noticed was that hardly anything was showing on the surface, which I felt was a little strange given the conditions. I knew that Simon was going to try the pellet wag, so left mine in it’s ready sleeve, It wouldn’t take long to set up if I decided to give it a go later. Instead I decided to just fish 2 lines, the first at 2 sections and a top 2 straight out where I had around 5 feet of water and the second down the left hand margin.. Rigs were a 4×12 CX pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with a size 14 Guru MWG and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 14 Guru MWG for the margin line. Bait today was simply 6mm pellet for feed and plenty of it with 8mm pellet for the hook ……

By now Dave had arrived and strolled up to see where we all were, and as I expected he did indeed decide to settle into Peg 24 . It was around 10·30am by now so time to get started. I could see that fish were already in the margins over the bait I’d fed, but I was going to ignore them for now and just keep some bait going in and take a look there later in the day. At the start I fed 2 good handfuls of pellet straight out and another down the margin before shipping out a banded 8mm straight out. A couple of lift and drops of the rig and the float sailed away and it was immediately apparent that I was attached to one of the reservoirs hard fighting carp . They give a good account of themselves and make full use of the deep water there, but I soon gained the upper hand and had it sliding over the landing net, a nice chunky Mirror, longer than the width of my 22 inch net and around the 10lbs mark ……

With us not using keepnets today I decided to use my clicker to keep track of what I had today and it soon started to tick over as I started to pick up regular fish. I was feeding a good handful of pellet every put in as well as keeping some bait going into the margins and was soon picking up a mix of Mirrors and Commons on a regular basis, the average size of which seemed to be around the 4-5 lbs mark with the odd better fish .

Around 11·30am Dave called out that the kettle had boiled, so I strolled round for a cup of coffee , to find that Dave was playing what turned out to be his first carp of the day ……

Simon’s mate Gino was also into a fish, he’s quite new to fishing and was taking it easy as the fish gave a good account of itself and refusing to get it’s head up, but steady gentle pressure won the day and he was rewarded with a lovely ghostie ……

With refreshments taken care of it was time to get back to my peg. Unfortunately the pellet wag had failed to produce anything of note for Simon, just a couple of small carp and a skimmer , so he’d reverted to the pole as he’d seen me catching regularly. The fish were still there on my return and it was really just a question of keeping the feed going in to keep the bites coming, The margin was still coloured up as well, so I just kept the feed going in, but still left it for later . Over on Peg 18 however Terry was having a bit of a struggle and getting a few to many skimmers rather than the carp he’d been hoping for, though the odd carp was getting a look in ……..

Dave had come up for a stroll, it seemed that the carp I’d seen him playing had been his only one !!!!! and all he was getting were roach, and although they were of a decent stamp around the 8-12oz mark, they weren’t what he was really after . From where I was sitting I had a pretty good view of what was going on around the reservoir and there must have been around 20 anglers in total, however the majority appeared to be struggling with just the odd fish coming out and despite the heat there was still nothing showing on the top. My peg seemed to be the exception however and I can only put that down to the amount I was feeding . Whatever it was the fish kept coming and by 1pm I had 103lbs on my clicker. So with a ‘Ton by One’ I decided to take a break and go and put the kettle on for another cuppa .

By now Dave had opted to try paste in an effort to try to tempt another carp, but it’s probably not a good idea to try and hit sharp paste bites when you’ve got an audience of piss taking supportive mates watching your every move and they’re ripping it out of you offering you their support . Dave gave it up and joined us for a coffee as we mulled over the mornings sport or lack of it in some cases.

With the inquest over we returned to our respective pegs. More feed onto both lines, but it seemed I’d left it a little to long as my line out in front seemed to be devoid of carp now, though there were plenty of skimmers that seemed only to happy to engulf an 8mm pellet . Time to target the margins. All morning I’d fed where the shelf dropped off and by laying the rig out so that the bait rested on the slope I had a bite straight away . Fishing against the slope the fish tend to dive off for the deeper water which limits any disturbance and once that initial run is contained they can be played out away from the swim. That first fish turned out to be a nice Mirror around the 7lb mark, and once again it was really just a case of steady away and taking fish on a regular basis ……

With the water well coloured up there was really very little chance of the fish vanishing on me as long as I kept the feed going in to hold them. Simon had taken another look on the pellet wag but that had proved to be fruitless. He’d had a couple of carp on the paste but had now decided to take a look at his right hand margin, but with an empty peg between us it wasn’t producing nearly as well for him ……

As the afternoon wore on Terry finally managed to start picking up a few more carp among the skimmers that steadfastly refused to go away …….

Gino was still enjoying himself and managing to winkle out the odd carp here and there alternating between fishing the method and the pole ……

and Dave had finally managed to find a few carp from a swim that had frustrated him for a good part of the day, even though he was forced to fish a bit further out than he really wanted to ……

For me it was an easy afternoons fishing with just the odd foul hooker upsetting things and breaking the flow as fish came steadily to the net……

….. and by 4pm it was time for one last coffee as I had 201lbs showing on my clicker . Simon had decided to concentrate on one margin spot and up his feed and it was finally starting to pay off for him as he started to take fish on a regular basis …….

My fish were still there and feeding well and just after 5pm I had my best fish of the day, a nice plump Mirror at around 14-15lbs that Simon kindly caught on camera for me ……

That was my final fish as the rig parted on the strike on my next bite, but with 265lbs showing on my clicker I was happy enough to leave it at that , and I packed my gear away. Terry , Simon and Gino were going to fish on for a bit and Dave managed a final carp before he to decided to call it a day …….

So what did we learn today? If the fish are there it’s possible to do a really decent weight, It’s possible to struggle in some pegs, even if it holds some obvious feature to fish to, and don’t ignore the margins . Thanks to Dave, Terry, Simon and Gino for their company today, let’s hope it’s a decent day for the match on the 15th, but I somehow feel it may just be a little bit different on the day .

Marsh AC club match.

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Marsh AC club match.

Well what a day!!!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thought I had better try and get some practice for the MD Individual Knockout Championships Southern Qualifier that’s taking place on the Reservoir at Hartleylands next Saturday . The weather wasn’t looking to good on the drive down, with the odd shower and strong blustery winds .

I arrived at the fishery at 9·30am and seeing that there were no bookings on the reservoir drove straight up there. There were only 3 other anglers fishing. A walk round made me realise why they were tucked into one corner as the wind was really blowing across the water. I suppose I could have toughed it out, but I decided to join the 3 others and dropped into peg 31 right next to the car park .

During disscussions with Paul (The Owner) and Vince in the past, the fact that the good head of silver fish present tend to get ignored by most anglers who target the Carp, has always come up, and today I fancied seeing just how many of these I could catch. To keep count I was going to drop a pellet into an empty baitbox for each 10 caught. Plumbing up I had 3ft at a top 2 length increasing to 5ft at 8 mtrs. The wind was going to make it uncomfortable to fish any longer, and would probably make for a slower catch rate.

I set up 3rigs, The 1st a top2 set to fish to hand that would cover all depths, the 2nd at dead depth for 8mtrs and a shallow rig for the same line. Bait was 6mm expanders, cubed meat and sweetcorn. Micro pellet was to be the loosefeed.
Starting off I put 2 pots of micropellet in at 8mtrs and a ½ pot at 3mtrs. Out to 8mtrs with an expander at depth and within a minute the float slid away as a plump Roach of about 6ozs obliged . Bites and fish were pretty constant. All the while a pinch of micros were being flicked into the 3mtr line and my 1st put in on that line after about 45 mins found that the Roach were waiting.These fish were unmarked and a good average size (6-8ozs) with some examples over the pound .

It must have been solid with roach as in the course of 4hrs only 4 Carp managed to muscle their way in along with a few Skimmers and a solitary Tench of about 3lbs. A fifth Carp finally trashed the to hand rig after about 4½hrs, so it was time to count up the pellets in the baitbox. 31 pellets plus the five Roach caught before the rig went west = 315 silvers, mainly Roach!!!!!!  One hell of a session, it’s at times like this that you wish you could use a keepnet .

After a well earned coffee and a sarnie I made another heavier rig up for a last hour targetting the Carp with big cubes of meat. The constant stream of micros had obviously resulted in a good few getting through to the bottom, and i managed another 11 Carp before packing up .
The largest of which is in the photo below.To give you some idea of size the net is a 24inch (2feet) pan.

What it doesn’t show is how fat the fish was .

Another day like this next Saturday will more than do me, but as “The Jinx” is fishing it as well, I may be raising my hopes, only to have them dashed. ROLL ON NEXT SATURDAY!!!!!!!  

First a word of warning Dear Reader,

If you fancy a quiet days fishing in pursuit of Perch DON’T post the idea on Maggotdrowning.com.
Hijacked?………Well at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

Last week realising that i’d be off today (friday) I posted on the going fishing section,

“I fancy a day at Hartleylands on Friday the 2nd to kick off the New Year.
Anyone else up for it?”
Thinking that someone may be mad enough to fancy a trip out after the excess of Christmas & New Year.
Dave the Fish mentioned that he fancied a crack at the large Perch that inhabit Samson pond, and before you could say “STRIKE” they were all lining up to join in.

Welshmen (Dai & son Dan) were planning round trips from the valleys, while a grumpy ex-pat old Englishman, moved a doctors appointment to stow away to his homeland.
Colin joined in because he had to supply a kettle for Dave the Fish, While Mick (Weyback) tagged along on the flimsy pretence of aquiring a ring for an old rod.
Terry aka Wily Coyote decided that as he’d found his “Winter Woolies” he’d better use them, and on the day from out of the blue “The Hat” aka Andy appeared.

Vince, the bailiff on hearing of this mini invasion, suddenly found a visit to his
Mother-in-law to be preferable,in case he had to get the excavator out to extend the pond, though he did appear briefly to part us from some ££££’s for BDAA raffle tickets.

Malc? Who knows with his inherent sense of direction, he may still be wandering the surrounding lanes seeking a sign.

So to the fishing.
Well it was soon apparent that 9 into a tiny pond that may at a squeeze take 7 wasn’t going to happen so some split to other parts of the fishery.
The Hat & Wily to the reservoir, with The Hat armed with his new margin pole to try for his target of a “Twenty” on the pole, while Wily just wanted to be alone to recover from the shock that grumpy ex-pat old Englishman (Geoff),was in fact the very same Master G Palmer that he had been at school with some 40 years before.
Mick to the relative seclusion of Finches, while Colin elected to try Hennicker, though he later shifted to Nick’s Lake.
The rest of us?
Being Lazy Buggers piled onto Samson, despite it being at least a 2 yard walk from the car park.

Oh yes , the fishing………….. Well not exactly stunning.
The Hat got his Carp, just a shame that it had been on a diet and lost 15lbs, but did get a specimen Perch

Colin managed to save his day with some small Carp from Nicks lake.

Dave wondered if his float tip would ever get wet, but did manage a couple of silvers at the death on some month old pinkies. Mind you he did have the handicap of seeing a beardless Geoff in the swim next door all day.

Geoff managed a couple of Gudgeon and a few silvers, but was left cursing after losing a Common Carp of about 5lbs, that smashed him having swum through some brambles, and promptly retreated under his hood and baseball cap to hide his shame.

Dai, despite the provocation of Geoffs phone playing “Sweet Chariot” at various times got a few silvers and a start in “The Fishing race 2004″, but poor Dan despite trying with Dads pole in his swim only succeeded in bumping the 3 Roach he hooked.

Me?
3 small Carp and another Common lost when the hook came out, and about 20 assorted small Skimmers, Roach and Hybrids.

And 12 points for The Fishing Race 2004 ………..

The best bite of the day? Without doubt the hot pasties and pies that Dave the Fish kindly supplied half way through the day from the farm bakery. Nice one Dave.

So that was it a nice quiet day out that became a mini fish-in.
Friendships made and renewed, and faces put to names. A laugh and a joke with the fishing becoming incidental.
All in All……A Grand Day Out.

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

Marsh AC club match.

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

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

Paste in the margin…….

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

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

Nice one for Dave……..

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

The Weigh-in……

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

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

Hawthorne AC club match.

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

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

Peg 10……….

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

Mint little Ghostie….

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

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

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well I have to say that the best part about todays club match at Hartleylands Reservoir was the Breakfast at The Little Chef beforehand.
The Reservoir at Harleylands is situated at one of the highest points of the farm, and when the wind blows you can really suffer .

Long pole is the name of the game here 12mtrs+, but with the wind being so variable from flat calm to a howling gale all day, presentation proved a nightmare with just a few small Roach as my reward for sticking it out for the first 2 hours.

It got so bad that I sat it out on the feeder for the final 3 hours! Twice the tip went round resulting in a couple of plump 2lb+ Carp. Then right on the final whistle the tip went again and I carefully played a similar Carp to the net, but at the very last second it rolled on the hooklength and was off.
At the scales i weighed 5lbs 14ozs for 5th,but that lost Carp had cost me 3rd place.
It just about sums up the way my season has gone in the club matches.
Just one more club match to go at Willow Park next month and then we can do it all over again!!!!!!!!!

Hawthorne AC club match.

It’s off to Hartleylands Farm for the 8th match of Hawthorne AC’s season today, and as I jumped into the car to make my way down to the fishery the heavens opened, and didn’t let up for the whole trip down until i pulled into the car park.
The fishery at Hartleylands Farm comprises a number of ponds and an irrigation reservoir,which is where we were to fish today.

After the usual welcomes and insults from those fishing today it was time for the draw, thrusting my hand into the draw bag I was rewarded with peg 17, which as it turns out is the very peg I struggled from in this years AT SuperCup match, so not a good start , but in for a penny……..

Now there are a lot of Skimmers & Roach present in the reservoir but you really need to target the Carp to frame on the reservoir at this time of year, and if they aren’t in your peg you’ll struggle, which is exactly what I did !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 It didn’t seem to matter what I tried I couldn’t get a sniff of a Carp all day. The only thing that would take my bait were either Skimmers or Roach and at the end my rather meager weight of 22lbs 3ozs was only good enough for 12th place .
Still some good weights were recorded, The match was won with a weight of 83lbs 14ozs of Carp caught by Paul Ollerenshaw,(The reigning Club Champion) for his 5th win in 8 matches …………

Some nice fish came out, including this one for Don Freeman, a nice plump Mirror Carp of 9lbs 15ozs …………..

Not my day today, but it beats the hell out of being at home and decorating. Anyway roll on Friday when I’m taking the brother-in-law Chris out for a days punt fishing at Old Bury Hill in an attempt to get him his first ever Tench.