Vince's Fishing Files

Elphicks North Lake 9th - 15th August 2010

2010-07-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now back from my week away at Elphicks Fishery in Kent. This was my fourth trip to fish North Lake and I had been joined by 9 others to target the stocks of quality Carp the lake holds.

I'd got a couple of different ideas for this trip which I hoped will see me bank my first 30lb Carp, something that has managed to pass me by on the last 3 trips to the venue. Most of the others fishing had already succeeded in breaking the 30lb barrier so this really was something I was keen to do. My current PB before this trip was 29lbs 12ozs so I'm getting close, let's hope this trip was the one.

The first two days and nights were difficult, I only managed a few line bites and one full blown run, which came to nothing. It was much the same for everyone else on my bank despite us using a variety of baits.

Eventually I was woken in the early hours with a screaming 'one toner' which resulted in this little beauty. I had changed to smaller baits, using 2 x 10mm Cell boilies, and this turned out to be a good decision.

26lb Mirror

Over the next couple of days my change to the 10mm boilies proved to be the right one and despite the lake fishing hard on our bank I caught a couple of super fish. The first a lovely Mirror with beautiful scales along it's back and then a new PB Common.

Mirror Carp 26lb 12ozs

Common Carp 27lbs 2ozs (PB common)

The next day and night passed without much in the way of action apart from a missed run in the early hours which despite the reel screaming and line pouring from the reel I struck into nothing.

Finally I managed a daytime run and after a long hard fight this old looking warrior graced the net. I was quite surprised as it's not normally the sort of fish that you catch from commercials.

Common Carp 24lb 20z

Saturday morning was warmer than it had been for a couple of days and I knew the fish would be moving through my swim heading for the shallows so I baited more heavily in the hope of halting them in their tracks as they went by. I noticed a lot of fizzing over the left hand baits so recast and within and hour the reel was screaming again. After another hard fight, this time in front of an audience (the wives and girlfriends had come to see us) this Common was in the net.

Common Carp 24lb 2ozs

Just as it was being placed on the unhooking mat the middle rod was off, so I asked Jamie to look after it while I attempted to land the second one. This one really did not want to come in and on more than one occasion tried to get in the bushes to my left. Finally it was in the net and turned out to be my biggest fish of the week.

Mirror Carp 27lbs 8ozs.

As you will have worked out by now that elusive 30lb Carp is still a thing of my dreams but I'm sure it will come sooner rather than later. I did catch a couple of other fish, an 8lb Mirror Carp and a new PB catfish...........a massive 6lbs 3ozs !!!!!!!! A young lad (10 yrs old) on the other bank had one of 63lbs, it was longer than him when he laid down beside it.

I've learnt a lot since I got back in to Specimen Carp fishing and have been trying to put this knowledge to good use. It's been working quite well up until now and I must thank Jamie and Luke for their advice and guidance. I am however, pleased to say the decision to use smaller baits was mine, and a decision the others followed with success.

Hopefully I'll be back having a crack at the fish at Elphicks later in the year, this time fishing either West End or Pullens lakes. They may not hold a 50lb fish but there are a lot more 30's and 40's to go at.

Overnight session 29th May 2010

2010-06-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately my trip to Monk Lakes for the Charity Match hit a snag when I went down with Pneumonia so when I was offered a short overnight session as a guest on a local club water I jumped at the chance.

Having not fished the lake for years when it used to be a Trout fishery I was really looking forward to it and duly arrived at 4.30pm Friday afternoon. When I arrived a number of the better swims were taken so I opted for one of the little used swims in the reeds. However shortly after setting up my rods I heard that one of the guys was not coming and the best swim on the lake was going to be free. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I quickly moved my gear and was soon ready to target the lakes residents.

There are a lot of Carp in the lake with the best running to around 35lbs. There are also Grass Carp to 32lbs as well as Catfish to well over 65lbs. There are also loads of tench in the 4-6lb bracket which can be a real pain (normally I'd be happy catching these but I was after something somewhat better) as well as some quality Bream to 12lbs. Whilst there are plenty of fish they are not easy and don't often feed during daylight hours so I planned my attack on two margin lines tight to an island to my left.

Bait for the session was Kentish Ripper pop ups fished over bottom baits. dropping my baits tight the island boards I sat back and waited. The evening started slowly with a few fish showing themselves but appearing unwilling to feed. As darkness fell things started to liven up with a number of line bites which showed the fish were now moving on to my feed.

Not long after retiring to my bivvy the left hand rod roared off and the strike was met with some reasonable resistence. However after a short spirited fight it turned out to be a one of the Tench at about 4lbs. Not long after a 2nd Tench around the same size was in the landing net. I was beginning to wonder if these Tench were going to keep me awake all night and by 6.30am I'll had the answer.

11 fish which included 4 carp (19lb 4oz Mirror, 19lb 8oz Mirror Carp, 11lb Mirror Carp, 10lb Mirror Carp), 5 tench to 6lbs and 2 Bream (8lb 4ozs, 8lb ). To say I was pleased is an understatement. After all the talk of it being a tough water where if you get 2 fish in a night you've done well I'd slaughtered it.

On top of these fish I had 2 more before packing up, another Tench of 4lbs and a 19lb 8oz Leather Carp.

All fish apart from the Bream fell to Kentish Ripper pop ups fished over a bed of Kentish Ripper on a KD rig. The Ripper had shown what it can do in spectacular style, hopefully I'll be back on the lake soon.

Elphicks North Lake April 2010

2010-03-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from my week at Elphicks North Lake and I have to say what a good week it was.

I arrived at around midday on Monday 5th April and settled in to my chosen swim, the sixth down on the road bank, and surveyed the water in front of me. There was an easy chuck to the island so one rod would be placed there whilst there was a nice overhanging willow on the right side of the island so that would do for the second rod. The third rod was going to be fished down the margin to my right where there was an overhanging bush and a small clump of reeds.

After fairly quickly erecting my bivvy I set about baiting up my chosen spots before getting the rods out. After about 10 minutes of spodding a particle mix out I noticed a carp swirl in the margin to my right so I put a few boilies in and left it for a while before dropping a bait there. The boilies by the way were Kentish Ripper 15mm Boilies from GB Baits, a local company with a good reputation for their baits. On each line I'd fired approximately 20 boilies.

Finally I was fully tackled up and cast the two rods out to the island but still left the margin swim to settle. After a few hours and having seen the carp swirl a number of times more I finally gave in to temptation and carefully dropped a bait in and waited. Well the wait wasn't too long as after about 10 minutes the alarm was screaming and line pouring from the reel as one angry carp made it's bid for freedom.

After about 5 minutes I managed to get the carp into netting range and gently slid it up to the spreader block and she was mine. The carp was one I had seen before, in November, when it was caught by a mate of mine, a gorgeous looking Ghost leather of 24lbs.

The rest of the day and night was quiet for me although one or two of the others were banking a few quality fish including a 30lb 8oz mirror to Luke.

Talking of Luke he had been having some success on the Grange Plum boilie but was not prepared for what was to come. After casting his rod to a gravel bed about 10 rod lengths out a strange run occurred and the resistance on the end was considerable. Luke commented that it felt strange and could be a Catfish but doubted if it was would go much over 20lbs. Little did he know that 45 minutes later and cheered on by the rest (or was that abused) of us he'd still be trying to get the fish to the net. Finally after a few attempts the catfish was netted and this little beauty of 59lbs 8ozs lay on the unhooking mat.

The weather during the week was very pleasant however the wind just couldn't decide which way it wanted to blow so it constantly changed direction to confuse the lot of us. The days were pretty quiet with the fish mainly moving to the shallower end of the lake but during the night things picked up a little when they made their way back to the deeper water. I was however to have to wait until daylight again before my next take. I was however up most nights helping the others with netting and photographing their fish.

Next to grace my net was a 28lb 8oz Mirror, a new Pb, and a fish that had fought long and hard.

Again apart from a few line bites I had nothing more in the daylight hours and as night fell I had a strange feeling that I'd catch, and so it proved when at 5.45am I landed a 19lb Mirror closely followed by an 11lb catfish.

The next couple of days didn't produce anything to me although Luke was still managing to find one or two. It wasn't until the early hours of Thursday morning that I managed another Carp and this was again a new Pb for me, 29lbs 10ozs of Mirror carp, still not the elusive 30lb'er I was hoping for on this trip, but very welcome all the same.

Spurred on by this success I decided to bait heavier and fired out about 4kg's of boilies to see if this would encourage more takes. Well it obviously worked as at 6.30pm this cracking Common took a liking to my bait tore off at an alarming rate. At one point I was beginning to wonder what I'd hooked and thought that maybe this was be the 30lb fish I was hoping for. On the bank the fish looked fabulous and reminded me of the 26lb 12oz common I'd had back in July 2009, both had fought well above their weight and were both stunning fish.

I was to manage one more fish during the week and this came along at 5.20am when I was fast asleep and into a strange dream. (I was fishing my mates garden pond, fishing the pole, gnome like, and was attached to a shark) see I said it was strange. Well the alarms put paid to that dream and it really was fish on. Again the fish fought well and after about 6 minutes this 28lb 8oz Mirror was laying on the unhooking mat.

I have to say the week at Elphicks was a real pleasure. Once again the GB Baits boilies worked well and produced some cracking fish, not only to me but to a number of the others. In total 34 fish were banked, 32 carp and 2 Catfish, with 5 of us recording new personal bests. The staff were friendly and helpful and the lads with me made it a great time. My diet wasn't too brilliant, bacon and cheese rolls or sausage and cheese rolls, washed down with copious amounts of coffee but I felt great and wasn't too tired by the end of it all. Jamie turned out to be a super chef, cooking all the food, his Coleman dual fuel cooker was brilliant and used about half a gallon of unleaded throughout the week. I can't recommend it highly enough and at around £80 it's well worth the money if you do a lot of night fishing or camping.

Will I go back again, of course I will, in fact we've already booked the lake for a week in August.

Have I given up match fishing and turned to the 'Dark Side', well not yet but who knows, If I start to lose too many pound coins to Peter again this year I may just have to consider my future.

Next time I'm on the bank will the a Charity match at Monks Lakes on Monday 3rd of May, helping out a lovely young lady called Faye, who suffers from a debilitating disease that keeps her bed ridden pretty much most of the time. the way things are looking a load of money will be raised for her favourite charity, Postpals, ( http://www.postpals.co.uk/ ) If anyone wants to donate a little to help it would be very much appreciated, the charity could do with all the help it can get.

Look out for my next report soon.

Tight Lines.

Elphicks North Lake - November 2009 Session

2009-11-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

After my successful session on North Lake back in July I was itching to get back to the place and have another go. Even though it was November the weather was quite mild although the forecast was for a fair amount of rain. This proved to be the case with rain lashing down on us most of the week.

Jamie Melham joined me again for this 72hr session.

Despite this we all managed a few fish, I ended the week with 6 Carp to 23lbs whilst Jamie managed 11 to 26lbs.

The strange thing was all the fish fell to baits fished in conjunction with plastic corn, the banker methods of maggots failed badly with only a couple of missed runs to show for it.

One thing I was pleased about was the way my new bite alarms performed. They are a set of Sundridge Wirelessa alarms and proved to be excellent value for money.

Jamie and I are already planning another trip once the weather warms up, hopefully sometime in April 2010.

This time we're planning on booking the whole lake so we can have the choice of whatever swims we want.

Sams Lake - Silver Fish Match

2009-10-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

As I was car less Bill Gibbins kindly offered to pick me up for this one and with all the gear loaded we made our way to the Weald of Kent Golf Club where we to meet a few of the others taking part in the match for a hearty breakfast.

Having never fished Sams lakes before I picked Nick Gilbert's brain about what the best approach was going to be and soon had a plan formualted.

Arriving at the fishery it appeared it might be a bit hard today as conditions weren't exactly perfect and it was likely to be won at the draw bag. Putting my and in the bag I pulled out peg 25, fairly comfortable with the wind off my back.

That was where my luck ended as my match was really hard going.

I ended up with a measly 5lbs 12ozs and a few pulled muscles as my box leg collapsed part way through the match and despite yelling for help I struggled to get myself upright.

The match was won by Matt Love with a creditible 24lbs 13ozs from peg 11, with Anglingman coming second with 21lbs 7ozs.

I quite enjoyed the day and will make another trip to Sam's sometime in the future probably when the weather is a little better.

At the end of the match Nick gave me a selcetion of his new hand made floats and I have to say they looked superb. If they perform as good as they look they should be superb.

What a great day !!

2009-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be invited along this afternoon to fish a syndicate lake a few miles from where I live. A friend of mine set up the syndicate some 18 years ago and to be honest hasn't really fished the lake much because of work commitments so he was keen to take me along to see how the lake was fishing.

I tried to glean a bit of information about the place but all he could tell me was that there were Tench and Bream to about 5lbs, Roach to 2lbs, Perch to 4lbs+ and some very big Pike. Also about 10 years ago one of the members stocked 100 Carp at between 3lb and 5lbs which in his opinion was a mistake. I decided to take along a waggler rod and also a feeder rod which would be used on a buzzer as a bit of a sleeper rod. Bait wise I had the usual pellets, a bag of groundbait, some corn and a few worms.

On arrival at the lake I had a look around and settled on a nice looking swim with a small island about 25 metres away as well as some nice reed beds in both margins. Setting up the feeder rod I baited it with 2 grains of corn on a hair and managed to drop it tight to the island first cast. Before I'd even got the rod on the rests it was off, the reel screaming. I just lifted the rod and hung on. Clearly this was far bigger than anything I'd heard about, other than maybe the pike, so I was looking forward to seeing what I'd hooked. A few minutes later and a fine looking Mirror carp of 15lbs 4ozs was staring back at me from the folds of the landing net. 'Blimey' my mate said ' they've grown on a bit" !!!!!!! With 4lb mainline I was beginning to wonder if I was a little undergunned but thought that maybe I'd just been lucky and caught a mug fish and would be OK.

Next cast and within 2 minutes I was in again, this time the fight lasted somewhat longer but eventually I slid the fish over the net, another mirror, this time going 16lbs 12ozs.2 fish in 2 casts and over 30lbs already I was beginning to enjoy this.

One thing Steve had told me was the way the Bream leap from the water when hooked and this I was looking forward to seeing. Well I didn't have to wait long as Steve soon struck into one. I couldn't believe my eyes, as this Bream of about 3lbs just leapt from the water time and time again like a rainbow trout on speed. I've never seen anything like it. After the Breams aerobatics I went back to trying to get my waggler rod actually in the water but again was interupted by another screamer and I was again attached to an angry carp. This one didn't fight at all and was soon netted, Not a mirror this time but a gorgeous leather carp of 11lbs. That was it I just chucked the waggler rod up the bank and concentrated on the feeder, I put the buzzer away and fished it normally.

Well as the afternoon wore on it was Carp after Carp, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. To be honest I might have, as the place is gorgeous, totally peaceful and miles from nowhere. I even saw 2 kingfishers in the few hours I was there. They have even built a small lodge with full cooking and washing facilities. By the time 8.30pm came along it was getting blooming dark so we packed up. Steve had managed a great bag of Bream and Roach as well as a couple of Carp whilst I finished with 14 Carp all between 10lb and 16lbs 12ozs. I also had a couple of nice perch both around the 2lb mark and a few Bream.

I have to say I've not enjoyed a session like that for years, and can't wait to go back. At least now I know what to expect I might go a bit more prepared next time. I'm quite pleased now I left the pole at home.

As the syndicate has a publicity ban I didn't take my camera along so sorry no pic's this time.

Maggotdrowning.com Southern Champs 2009

2009-09-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today saw me making the short journey to Hartleylands Farm Fishery for the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Champs 2009.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day even though I struggled off a fancied peg 23 on Nicks Lake and managed to smash the power waggler rod I bought from Nick last year in two places on a 1lb 8ozs Carp.

It didn't matter what I tried but I just couldn't get the fish to take ANY bait I tried on the method feeder despite the swim being absolutely stuffed with fish by the island. Hard pellet in 3 sizes and 3 different colours, soft pellet in 4 sizes and flavours, maggots and corn all failed to produce more than 2 bites. Even tried pellet wrapped in paste and that didn't work either.

Fed up with all the inactivity I decided to try the pellet wag however even that didn't produce either, which was a major shock as this was my banker method, and I only managed a handful of bites on it all match.

With 3/4 of an hour to go,and somewhat in desperation, I decided to fish the margins and ended up catching well in the last hour at 5 metres with paste, why oh why didn't I try it earlier, it was solid.

Never mind, at least I managed to take another shiny gold coin from Peter with my 31lb 8ozs so that was a bonus, in fact it was my 3rd £1 coin from Peter in my last 4 outings.

Well Done to Nick Coster on his win, and finally a message to Matt, all you needed to do was hook a duck like Peter and your day would have been complete. Hard luck mate you hard a real mare of a day.

Roll on next years Southern Champs, surely it can only get better.

Southern Intersite 2009

2009-08-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

(Picure kindly borrowed form Peter Morton's blog http://www.petermorton1.xanga.com/ )

After all the bragging the day of reckoning was upon us.........................

Over the years a series of matches has been organised between Talk Angling, Total Fishing, Angling Forums and Maggotdrowning.com. This has become known as the Intersite series and has become a hotly contested group of matches.

More recently numbers have dropped off and not all the matches have been held however the Southern match has always managed to appear in the calender.

And so it was that 40 souls decended uopn Monk Lakes in Kent to contest the 2009 Southern Intersite Match.

For my sins I was once again organising the match and this year it was to be held on Match lakes 1 & 2 and at 9am everyone was eagerly awaiting the draw. As I needed to be back at the Clubhouse early after the match and as I was the Maggotdrowning.com captain I picked Peg 4 on Lake 1 as my home for the day whilst everyone else drew for their pegs.

Matt Love was well pleased with peg 22 on the end of the spit on Lake 1 and to be honest he would be in with a shout of winning the match from there.

Peter my arch nemesis was happy as he'd drawn peg 60 on Lake 2, he's not a fan of Lake 1.

My plan for the day was to fish two lines on the pole, the first at 7 metres straight out in front and the other in the margin to my right. I also had set up a pellet wag in case the fish wanted it shallow at distance.

I called the 'All In' and cupped two pots of pellet on each pole line and started firing pellets out on the wag line, about 10 pellets every 15 seconds, to try and get the fish up in the water. 1st cast on the wag and it was fish on, not huge but at around 2lbs it was welcome. Unfortunately it was a loner and nothing else followed and by the end of the first hour Iwas struggling.

By now I had seen a lot of bubbling at 7 metres so tried that line. Again 1st put in resulted in a bite, not a carp this time but a lunatic Barbel of about 1lb. This was soon followed by half a dozen more before the line died. I had continued to fire pellets out on the wag line and there were more fish rising for them so I went back out. After a few missed bites I finally connected with something ablittle bigger, a carp of 5lbs which really put up a fight. I managed about 4 more fish in the next hour before giving up again.

The 7 metre line was still bubbling so I went back there again.
Again it was Barbel that were present and this time there seemd more of them as over the next couple of hours I put 15 in the net, all around the 2lbs mark.

Around me others were struggling and it appeared that Lake 1 wasn't fishing particularly well. I had heard that quite a lot on lake 2 were bagging and it was becoming clear the winner would probably come from there.

Matt was having a mare on peg 22, despite this being a real flyer peg he just couldn't put a run of fish together whatever he tried. To my left Paul Law (Talk Angling) had by now started catching regularly and it looked as though he was doing better than most on Lake 1.

The reaminder of the match was a bit of a struggle for me, I would catch one or two fish before having to switch lines. The margin swim proved worse than useless as all i could muster from there was two tiny skimmers.

At the 'All Out' I knew I would be nowhere near framing as the catch rate of others around me had improved in the last hour. With only 4 in each section (1 from each team) I was hoping to maybe get reasonable points. I knew Paul had beaten me but I hadn't seen the others catching much. Paul was 1st to weigh and put a fine 103lbs-04ozs in the weigh bag, I was next with 54lbs 10ozs. Dave Churchwood from Angling Forums weighed 87lbs 4ozs whilst Brian Jackson from Total Fishing returned a miserable 25lb 4ozs. So I was third in section and that meant 3 points for the team.

The weigh in revealed that indeed Lake 1 had fished hard and Paul law eneded up the winner of the lake. Matt had really suffered and only mustered 47lbs 8ozs from a peg many thought might be the winner.

The final team points are below:

1st
Total Fishing
20 points

2nd
Angling Forums
21 points

3rd
Maggotdrowning
28 points

4th
Talk Angling
31 points

Individually the match was won by Nick Gilbert (Maggotdrowning.com) with a fine 168lbs 4ozs from peg 67 on Lake 2. As I suspected this lake had fished much better with only 4 anglers recording less than 100lbs.

Back to the tea wagon for the presentation and then home to reflect on where I went wrong. To be honest I don't think i could have done much more, the fish just weren't there.

Never mind there's always next year which may well be on a new venue.

Sorry there's only a couple of pic's but my daughter had used the camera the day before and flattened the batteries.

Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Weekend

2009-08-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

Rolfs Lake 8th & 9th August 2009

Following my week away Carp fishing it's back to my first love, Match Fishing, and the Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Weekend at Rolfs Lake in Oxfordshire.

Rolfs Lake has reputation for throwing up some huge weights so everybody was looking forward to some real Carp bagging.

Leaving home around 8.30am I made my way to Rolfs via the dreaded M25 and then the M40. I was stunned though to be pulling into the fishery just before 10am. I couldn't believe how quiet the roads had been. Already in attendance were the lads that had fished the invitation match Dave the Fish had organised for the day before and a good number of tents and bivvies were already erected. I take the easy option and sleep in the car during these weekends (more of that later) so all I had to do was wander round having a chat and find out about how the match had fished the day before.

The news wasn't great, the fishing had been fairly hard with the winning weight being taken by Teepee despite him starting an hour and a half after everyone else. Well done Teepee.

In no time at all the draw for the Pairs was being made and I was paired with Westy (Tim Westmorland) who really cheered me up by telling me he'd only caught one fish on the friday.

Soon after the draw for pegs took place and I was delighted to find myself with Peg 6 for the day, a known flyer peg which can always be relied on for a decent weight. (that is of course until an angler of my calibre draws it)

Company for the day was to be Simple Simon on peg 34 opposite me, Mickthe Chippy on peg 7 and the Malman brothers, Gaz and Alex who despite travelling loads of miles had managed to draw next to each other.

After seeking some advise I was told the only way to fish Peg 6 was to feed a line at 5 metres and stick with it. Apparently the fish follow this line after entering the little lake from the bigger side and there is a little weed on the bottom which seems to hold the fish.

At the all in I fed 6 big potfuls of 6mm Skrettings pellet on the 5 metre line and a couple in the margin to my right and waited for my first fish. Bait for the day was going to be exclusively paste.

Right from the start I was being plagued with strange bites that just lifted and dropped the float without really taking the bait properly. Sometimes the float would just sit under the surface about an inch and stop. Eventually I got fed up waiting for the float to bury and hit a few of the strange bites. However this only resulted in foul hooking the Carp and the net result being a scale on the hook. MicktheChippy was sniggering away to himself in the next peg every time this happened, still at least he was happy. Eventually I managed to snare a decent fish which just came straight to the surface so I slid the net under it. Looking down it was a lovely looking carp and when weighed went 16lbs 4ozs. Eddie was on hand with his camera and took a few shots before I returned it to the lake.

Despite the problems I was having these were nothing compared to Simple on Peg 34. He had like me been struggling a bit and eventually hooked in to a Carp that took him straight under the bushes. Whilst trying to get it free his top three came away from the rest of his pole and just sat their like excalibur. Now Simple may be his name but he's not silly, he knew if he waited long enough Malc would come round and retrieve it for him however before Malc had chance to arrive Mitch on the next peg offered to help and just stripped off to his under crackers and jumped in.

As soon as he was in the water you could hear camera shutters going off from all around the lake, (poor Mitch). Soon enough he'd retrieved the top kit and was helped from the lake by Simple. Alas the fish had long gone.

My day turned out to be a frustrating one with foul hooker after foul hooker coming my way and by the end of the match I'd got 16 scales sitting on my side tray. I did manage to land 3 more fish and ended with a total of just 56lbs 120zs, not what I was hoping for especially as I'd had my usual £1 side bet with Peter 'Mugger' Morton.

As the scales made their way around it soon became clear that the lake had again fished hard for many, the eventual winner on day one being Dave Moore from Peg 8 with 116lbs 12ozs. More than half the field had however had less than 50lbs so I somehow managed to end up in 9th place. Better than that though was the news that Peter had really struggled from his least favoured peg 13. Recently he's drawn the peg on quite a lot of occasions and I think his heart just wasn't in it. His 39lbs 8ozs meant that after more than 18 months I'd finally won a £1 coin back. Hurrah !!!!!! My partner Tim and I were struggling in the Pairs competition and were in 9th place after day 1, in the lead were Dave Moore and Paul East (nomorelongwalks) with 13 points.

The handing over of the coin was duly photographed for posterity amongst rather a lot of banter from the assembled masses.

The evening was spent like every other year with a fine barbie and the comsumption of more than enough Lager before I finally retired to my car around 1am. I was quite surprised how chilly it felt in the car when I shut the doors and got ready for sleep so looked for my sleeping bag, Bugger, I'd left the bloody thing at home. All through the night I kept waking up probably as I was shivering so much, by the time I finally got to sleep I was wearing 2 sweatshirts, 2 polo shirts, 2 pairs of trousers and a coat and was still freezing!!!!!!!. I woke the next morning around 6.30am still absolutely frozen so decide to get up and see if anyone else was about. A few were beginning to stir so I stopped for a chat with one or two before scrounging a cup of Coffee off of Malc to warm me up. With the draw not for a good few hours I made up some new pole rigs and a couple more balls of paste before grabbing a bite to eat.

The draw for day two was eagerly awaited by everyone and some hoped they would not draw any where near where they had been the day before. Peter was of course one of these, and I could see he was hanging back a bit waiting for a few others to draw before trying his luck. Webbo however had other ideas and said that the bottom pair from day one would draw first. Unfortunately for Peter he and Dirk were in last place so they would be first in the draw bag. With drums rolling Peter dipped his hand in the bag and was pleased to see he'd got Peg 20, then his head seemed to drop when he realised where it was. It was not an area that had fished well of late so it looked like he may be in for another hard day.

My peg for day 2 was to be peg 32, yet another fancied peg, and right next to the car park so a nice short walk.

For company today I had Clive on peg 31, Dave Moore opposite on peg 9 and Gemma "The Minx" Doyle on peg 8.

There are 2 lines to fish on this peg, one at 7 metres diagonally towards peg 9 and the other over the top of the small bush along the bank to my left. At the all in I baited both lines with copious amounts of 6mm pellet and waited. The wait was a long one and 3 hours into the match I was fishless. Mind you I did have couple of scales on my side tray. Clive on the next peg was also struggling.

From where I was I could see Peter and knew he too was having a difficult time, this meant that if I could get a few fish feeding I might just have a chance of taking yet another £1 coin back. John , the lake owner, came round and suggested I feed a lot more along the margin line as this was always good for a few fish late on in a match so I upped my feed rate. Try as I might though I couldn't get anything that even resembled a bite and by the end of the 4th hour I had only 1 fish in the net which I'd caught at 7 metres. Clive by now was picking up the odd fish so there was hope for me yet and not much later I struck into Carp number 2. By the end of the match I'd caught just one more Carp and knew that I'd cocked up yet another flyer.

From what I'd seen Peter had yet again suffered a mare but I wasn't sure exactly what he'd caught so I'd have to wait for the scales to see if a miracle had happened for the 2nd day running.
The scales showed that Gaz Malman had easilly won the match with a fine 165lbs from Peg 37, 70lbs more than the 2nd placed angler which was Methodgob with 94lbs. By the time we reached Peter the others were giving him a fair bit of stick, by the time he'd weighed his fish he was getting plenty more. A meagre 16lbs 40zs was all he had to show for his efforts however I knew I'd not got much to weigh but thought I'd probably done enough. My fish were put on the scales and there seemed to be a sharp intake of breath from everyone following the weigh in, the good news for me was my fish went 19lbs 4ozs. I'd done it, 2 £1 coins from Peter in consecutive matches, unheard of before and unlikely to happen again so I was delighted. Peter took all the banter he received well and congratulated me on my fine weekends work. I've got a sneaking feeling he hasn't heard the last of it yet though.

Webbo dissapeared to work out the final placings,

and after a short while announced that DavetheFish and Alex Malman had pulled back a deficit of 12 points to overtake Dave Moore and Paul East to win the Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Championship for 2009.

The good news for me was I'd somehow managed to secure 2nd place in section by default on day 1 so picked up a little beer money.

As is always the case the weekend was a fabulous success, thanks must go to Dave 'Webbo' Webster for organising the whole thing and to John and Pauline for providing a fine fishery even if the fish didn't really want to play ball.

As a footnote I've managed to work out where it all went wrong for Dave and Paul on day 2,

Paul was obviously totally stunned and confused after his day 1 placing so much so that he couldn't find his peg on day 2 and fished in the middle of a field.

Roll on next year, I can't wait.

My next trip out will be the annual Southern Intersite match at Monk Lakes so keep checking back in for my report on the days events. With any luck my run of luck winning £1 coins from Peter will continue.

Elphicks 26th - 31st July 2009

2009-08-03T15:56:00.001-07:00

North Lake 5 day Session

Well the time had finally arrived for my 5 day session carp fishing at Elphicks Fishery in Kent. The original plan had been to fish somewhere in France but my mate went and got his girlfriend pregnant and now, as they say, the rest is history and he is the proud father of a gorgeous little girl. So after looking around for somewhere in the UK to go we settled on North lake at Elphicks just a few minutes from home.

Arriving around 1pm we had a look around the lake and settled on the first 3 swims on the right hand bank. Word from the bailiff was that these swims had been producing a lot of fish and were always popular. Neil (one of Jamies work colleagues) took the first swim, Jamie the 2nd and me the 3rd. Knowing how the lake was stocked both Jamie and I had set a target of beating our personal bests, mine 27lbs 90zs and Jamie 26lbs. Neil having only starting carp fishing a few months ago was going to be happy with anything he caught.

In what seemed no time at all I was set up and raring to go. The usual method at Elphicks is to spod out a decent bed of particle and pellets and fish single hookbaits over the top so thats what we did. Bait for the week was to be either Mainline Fusion or Cell boilies in 18mm size. As you can see from the buckets above, there were 2 more in the bivvy) I'd got plenty of bait to put in. (More of that later)

The daytime proved very frustrating with just a few bleeps and not much else but once the darkness fell things started to improve. Jamie was the first to connect just after midnight, with one of North lakes residents and it sure gave him one hell of a fight, not a huge fish, a Common of 14lbs, but in lovely condition. As it turned out we were to see a lot of fish this size during the week.

At 2.15am I was next to have a screaming run, mine too was to prove to be one of the lakes smaller resident Commons but at 14lbs 8ozs I was relatively happy.

During the first night both Jamie and I had a couple more fish but they were all of a simlar size. Neil however had nothing at all, mind you I doubt if he have heard his buzzers, that guy could sleep for England.

Monday morning and the sun was shining. Having heard about the lakes Catfish I decided to put one rod out with half a tin of chopped ham and pork on the hook. Dropping it close in the margins on my right I threw the contents of a tinm of sardines and just left it. The other two rods were to be fished the same as yesterday. The Catfish bait had only been in the water a short time when the buzzer started screaming and all hell let loose. Hanging on for dear life the fish made a series of powerful runs stripping line form the reel even with the clutch set tight, however after about 15 minutes I finally got it close to the bank. As I was sliding across the surface I could see it was a good size cat, probably around 40lbs+ but the hook hold was very dodgy being right in the front of the mouth in the boney crushing pads. Very carefully I brought it closer to the net when it decided it was having none of it and turned and fled. Unfortunately the hook pulled and the fish was gone.

I carried on trying for a Catfish throughout the week and was finally rewarded with this monster, which incidentally took a Maple 8 pop up boilie fished on a Zig Rig just under the surface.

I was to hook into another monster Cat on Thursday which gave me one hell of a work out. After making 6 massively powerful runs it decided to dissapear round the back of the island 3 swims down and all I could do was try and put the brakes on in the hope of turning it. Alas the hook pulled. The guy in the next swim down saw the cat twice during the fight and estimated it at around 8o-90lbs, no wonder it gave me the run around. Next time I'll go a bit better equipped with the right tackle to handle these monsters.

Monday evening into Tuesday morning during darkness was fairly frustrating, with only 1 run for Jamie, which resulted in this, a ghost Common of 18lbs 4ozs,

and just 1 run for me which resulted in my best fish of the trip so far, a Mirror of exactly 20lbs.

The frustrating part was the fact that there were obviously a lot of fish moving around causing liner after liner but they just didn't want to get their heads down on our baits. I must have woken 6 times to shorts bursts of bleeps from the buzzers which then stopped.

Tuesday morning was very quiet, there didn't seem to be in the way of fish moving around as they had done previously, something just didn't seem quite right. Maybe it was because it had been very still overnight and in the morning there was a horrible green slick across the surface which looked very much like Blue Green algae to me.

The wind however picked up mid morning which cleared the slime and as lunchtime approached Jamie struck in to what was a powerful fish. the fish was definately better than anything we'd caught so far and so it proved with this beauty of 26lbs 10ozs soon gracing Jamies landing net. As you can see he was very happy as it was only day 2 and he'd beat his PB.

As the afternoon wore on Neil managed a few of the smaller carp mainly around the 12 - 15lb mark however he did manage to connect with one better one a Mirror of exactlt 20lbs.

At 3.45pm I was in again and againhad to hang on. This one must have been taking some of the Rolfs Lake steroids as it just didn't want to come in and took nearly 15 minutes to get to the bank. I was well pleased though, when it turned out to be my 2nd 2olb+ fish, a lovely Common of 21lbs 12ozs.

Tuesday night was another one of those nights when the smaller fish came out to play with a succession of 12-15lbs fish falling to all three of us.

Wednesday proved to be Jamies day when after catching nothing since 2.30am he had a screamer of a run. This was definately something better and Jaime took his time with this one. By the time he'd fianlly got it on to the unhooking mat he was shattered but the smile soon returned when the fish was weighed and went 32lbs 8ozs smashing his PB out of sight.

After that fish whatever happened was going to be a bonus and we all managed to land plenty more, this one of Jamies went 21lbs 4ozs.

And this Common with a touch of Ghostie about it went 14lbs fell to me.

As the sun came up on Friday morning I had a wander around the lake mainly to try and get some reception on my mobile, if you are not on O2 it's blooming useless. I stopped and had a chat with a couple of guys fishing just down the bank from me who'd we'd got friendly with. They had been bagging all week with a lot of big fish. By now they had had 5 fish over 30lbs and had lost count of the amount of 20's. In total they finished with around 1200lbs of fish between them.

I knew they had been doing something different because of the success they had had but hadn't managed to work out what. After having a chat and a cuppa I found out what it was. Do you remember that earlier I mentioned about of bait I had well this paled in to siginificance compared to what they'd got through. 40 kilos of spod miz 60 kilos of boilies had gone into thier swims, at my estimation thats somewhere around £700's worth of bait that had gone in, no wonder there were a lot of fish in front of them.

Coming to the final night and after more fish between 12 and 14lbs and I was still secretly hoping for something a bit bigger. I had 4 kilos of spod mix and around 4 kilos of boilies left so most of that went out into the lake, 2 rods were fished over the bed of bait and I put another rod out for a Catfish. The Catfish rod was the first to go but as before it proved to be another kitten this time around 3lbs.

At 1.05am the left hand rod screamed off and I leapt from my bivvy hoping that this would be the one. As it turned out it was another of those pesky 12lber's so it was back to dreaming of that monster. 2.45am and another screamer and this time things felt much better. After a series of strong runs I finally slid the fish over the net and a big smile came to my face, I knew it was a good fish but how good and would it beat my PB?

The scales told the story, 26lbs 2ozs, not quite a PB but a stunning fish, and just look at the size of the paddle at the back no wonder it tore line from the reel with ease. It looked a young fish so has plenty of growing to do. I'd love to catch it again in a few years time when it will undoubtably have packed on some weight.

All in all I was well pleased with the 5 days. Yes, I know there are a lot of bigger fish in the lake, but as a relative novice specimen Carp angler I was pleased with my final totals, as we all were.

Neil finished with 9 fish for 133lbs, Jamie had 10 fish for 182lbs 4ozs including beating his PB and I finished with 15 fish for 200lbs. (those little Cats certainly didn't help my total weight)

Would I go again, Yes!!! I'd go tomorrow, I loved every minute of it.

Will I stop fishing matches and take up Specimen carp hunting, no chance, well someone's got to make Peter look good.

Actually, we are already looking at what to do next year, do we go back to Elphicks or maybe venture to France as originally planned. At the moment Elphicks is favourite as we learned a lot while we there, however it's along way off and things change so we'll just have to see. Maybe I'll look to make it a Maggotdrowning.com Fish In, now that would be fun.

Monk Lakes - Match Lake 4

2009-07-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Brits versus Aussies - The 3rd Test

Last night I had a phone call from one of my Wifes Aussie relatives asking if I'd take him fishing while he was over here on holiday for a few weeks. So after some rapid tackle organising I arranged to take him to the Monk Lakes complex.

Arriving around 10am we decided to fish Match Lake 4 as the wind was, as always, blowing a hoolie and making the other match lakes difficult to fish.

Settling in to pegs 155 and 156 which were relatively sheltered I showed Ronny how to rig up a pole and explained how to fish with it before leaving him to have a go.

Now coming from Aus he'd never even seen a pole let alone fished with one so for once I felt confident I'd catch more than him. His only experience of fishing had been fishing for Baramundi and Brim so whatever he caught would be new to him.

Bait wise we had a selection of hooker pellets, some corn and a pint of maggots. Ronny decided to try a pineapple soft hooker first and before I'd even got my bait in the water he'd connected with a small tench. This was followed by a successsion of it's brothers before he connected with a nice Tench of around 2lbs.

His method of shipping back left a little to be desired but he did ok and landed the fish.

I'd decided to fish exclusively down the margins and fish tight to the reeds. First put in caught and small mirror carp of around a pound was soon on it's way in. This was soon joined by it's brother.

As the day wore on Ronny continued to catch plenty of fish mainly small Tench but with the odd better carp thrown in for good measure. I continued to bag up in the margins with a selection of Carp, Tench, Golden Tench and Ide, most were in excellent condition but this one had seen better days, it's mouth was so badly damaged I don't know how it managed to get an 8mm hooker in it.

The weather was almost spot on with overcast skies and a breeze blowing in to our bank so fishing the margins was the best place to be.

By the end of the session I'd had somewhere around 60lbs whilst Ronny had probably caught 30lbs+, I'd could have easily caught more but spent quite a bit of time coaching Ronny.

All in all an enjoyable session although the constant beep beep from guys fishing the match lakes with buzzers did drive me slightly potty. I have to admit dragging out small Carp and Barbel on 2.75lb carp rods with line around 20lb breaking strain was somewhat over the top, maybe they had heard that Charlie Chawner had caught a 17lb fish from Match lake 3 during the weekend.

Ronny thoroughly enjoyed his day and hopefully we'll manage another session before he goes back home.

My next trip out is to be a week long session fishing on the dark side. I'm off to Elphicks Fishery to fish North Lake in the hope of beating my personal best Carp. There is certainly plenty to go for.

I'll post a full report on my return.

Rolfs Lake 10th & 11th July 2009

2009-07-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Day 1

ROLFS SPECIAL NIGHT MATCH

After spotting a post from Malc Doyle suggesting a special night match at Rolfs Lake in Oxforshire I jumped at it. I just love the place, it's a beautiful lake with wildlife in abundance.

Tonight match was to be something that had never been tried before at Rolfs and with fishing times being 6.30pm till 11.30pm it was going to be dark before we finished.

I'd formulated a plan in the days running up to this match which was to fish paste exclusively, as I'd read that it was producing a lot of decent weights and had made up 8 huge balls before I left home.

I've never done very well when I've drawn in the little side of the lake so hoped to draw away from there, of course when I stuck my hand in the draw bag I found peg 2 stuck to my palm. Exactly where I didn't want to be but when I got to my peg it looked quite inviting.

I spoke to Eddie Taylor-Green, who fishes Rolfs Lake an awful lot, about the best way to fish the peg and he told me to fish two lines one straight in front at 5 metres and the other at 3-4 metres along the margin to my left. His other piece of advice was to feed, feed and feed, oh and not to forget to keeping feeding. One other thing he did say was that the fish in Peg 2 were big so I should be prepared. Luckilly I'd just bought some Red Hydro so was ready for whatever they threw at me.

Armed with his advice I was set up with plenty of time to spare and wandered round and had a chat with those close by which included Tony (spamwham), Al, Nick (Neo1) and Terry (Wily). All were really looking forward to what proved to be a great match.

The first couple of hours for me went by with little action apart from a couple of carp early on. They were both good fish though, the first going 13lbs+. the others around me were also finding things alittle difficult although most had caught a few. I kept feeding staedilly, as Eddie had said, and eventually things started to improve. Try as I might I couldn't buy a bite on the margin line but the fish were now queing up at 5 metres. As the darkness fell John, who runs Rolfs, turned on the floodlights which was great for those in their beam but it didn't make a jot of difference to my view so I quickly attached a starlight to my paste float which made all the difference.

With an hour to go I was really motoring and had already passed the ton (the 1st time I'd ever done this at Rolfs) and was looking good for a very big weight. Eddie had been right when he said the fish were big as all bar two of the carp were 'weighers' and I was up and down like a fiddlers elbow back and forth to the weigh station. Tony on peg 40 to my left was suffering and having a real nightmare with fish that kept trashing his rigs whilst Al on peg 4 could be heard moaning everytime I got up to weigh another fish.

By the end of the match I was absolutley knackered and knew I'd caught a big weight. Two of the fish I'd caught went 16lbs and 17lbs 2ozs and went mental when hooked but I have to say I was very pleased with the way my pole handled them armed with the new Red Hydro.

As the scales went round the lake it appeared that a lot of fish had been caught although a few had struggled once the lights went on. Dave the Fish in particular had really suffered and had to go for a walk to cool down as the lights were burning the back of his neck.

Finally the scales reached my peg and when the 'weighers' sheet was added up I'd got 190lbs without the couple of fish in the net. My final total was 202lbs 2ozs, a personal best match weight and of course my first ton and double ton from Rolfs Lake. I was ecstatic...................

It turned out my weight wasn't quite enough to win the match but I'd finished a fantastic 3rd and I knew I'd sleep well tonight even though I was sleeping in the car. Simon E on peg 16 had won the match with 242lbs 4ozs with Steve Wilson on peg 30 finishing 2nd with 225lbs 4ozs ( a new personal best match weight). The total weight of fish caught by the 19 anglers was 2288 lb, an average of 120lbs 4ozs per angler. There were 3 x 200lb+ weights and 9 x 100lbs+ weights so it showed what the lake can do when it gets dark.

I have to say the night match was a great success and most importantly everyone had managed to stay safe and not fall in. I for one can't wait to do it again.

Day 2

JINX MATCH 3

After finally getting to bed at 3.30am I had a decent nights and woke about 7.30am to the sound of Malc laughing and just knew he'd been awake all night. This turned out to be the case as Steve Wilson had originally planned to sleep in the fishery caravan but had mysteriously been locked out by Gemma and Simple. Now whats that saying....When the caravans rocking don't go knocking.....Steve obviously decided not to disturb them so he went and woke Malc and they stayed up all night talking.

The mornings discussions were all about the way the lake had fished last night and whether the pegs that weren't fished last night would be at a disadvantage today. A few of those fishing today had not fished last night and were soon arriving and were looking for information about which pegs fished well and what methods had proved successful.

Peter Morton, my arch nemesis, came and spoke to me and seemed genuinely pleased that I'd caught a double ton the night before but warned that now he was here things were bound to go downhill. By the time the draw arrived everyone was bursting to get started apart from Peter who semed to be hanging back from the draw bag. It seems he was worried about drawing peg 13, somewhere he'd drawn a bit too much lately, and one he'd really struggled on. My lucky drawing hand seriously let me down picking me peg 36 not only was I again in the little lake but worse than that it was one of those pegs not fished the day before.

To make matters even worse when I got to my peg I looked round and saw Peter dumping his gear down on the next peg !!!!!!!.

I have to say I've drawn peg 36 before and really struggled so I wasn't looking forward to what the day had to offer but as last night proved I can catch plenty of fish when they are in front of me so there was some hope.

This hope soon faded when after 2 and a half hours I'd caught next to nothing and had to watch those around me bagging. Peter was catching steadilly and I was well behind him whilst Tony on peg 7 was absolutely flying. I remembered what Eddie had told me the day beofre and decided to really go heavy with my feeding and in the last two hours fed 6 bags of pellet. This seemed to work as finally I was getting bites. The trouble was so was Peter and he continued to keep catching well. I thought I'd better take an action shot as he was bound to ask me for some pics for his blog.

The fish had taken his some time to land and proved to be a good fish so I took a pic of that too.

By the end of the match I'd only got 4 'weighers' for about 50lbs but at least I'd managed to catch a few. By the time the other few fish were weighed I'd finished with 61lbs. Peter kindly returned the favour and took a pic of my best fish a lovely common of 14lbs which fought like crazy, I'm sure John must feed these fish steroids.

Today hadn't fished quite so well but almost eveyone had caught a few fish. Spare a thought for Gemma though who having finished last on friday night managed that feat again having only been able to catch 1lb 4ozs of silvers. (Probably a good thing as I expect she was tired after the night in the caravan !!................behave Vince!!)

I'm not sure of the full results yet but do know that Ryan won the day with, I believe, 197lbs from the car park bank, Well done Ryan.

Finally I must thank a few people, firstly Malc for organising both matches and giving me an invitation.

Secondly to John for letting us fish the 'Special' on friday and for all his hard work in keeping the fishery the place of dreams that it is.

Finally my thanks must go to Eddie Taylor-Green for his help and advice, cheers mate.

My final thoughts must go to Dave, the owner of the Maggotdrowning.com website. Not only had he travelled all the way down form Yorkshire to fish but he'd managed to snap one of his top kits playing a carp but then went on to lose another when he stuck it between his legs to feed his peg whilst playing another fish and had it dragged in to the lake. OOooopppss!!!!!!!

Maggotdrowning.com - Individual Champs 2009

2009-07-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Maggotdrowning.com Individual Champs held on the match lake at Larford Lakes, Stourport, Worcestershire took place today. This is a match that I have the pleasure of organising and have done so for a few years now and thoroughly enjoy doing so.

So many anglers originally booked in that I had to form a reserve list but in the end just 38 turned up hoping to be crowned Maggotdrowning.com Individual Champion 2009.

Talk at the draw was about the big weights that can be caught in the match lake and where the best place would be to draw. One thing I'd noticed was how close the pegs were, there can't have been more than about 10 paces between each one so fortunately today we were using every other peg.

I quite fancied a peg near the club house so of course drew just about as far away as was possible, peg 51 at the far end in a bay. For company I had Simon elsey on peg 53, Midge, Croydon Angler and Royst. Also close by and in full view were Clive and of course my nemesis, Mugger Morton.

My day turned out to be difficult one. I couldn't buy a bite and with 3 hours gone had caught hardly anything other than 1 carp on the feeder. Peter was putting afew in the net but not as many as Tony (Spamwham) who was bagging. By the end I'd given up hope, it didn't matter what I tried there just weren't any fish in front of me, even fishing maggot brought no response. To make it worse I could hear Malc catching fish after fish on the other side of the island, just a good job I couldn't see him or else I might had slit my wrists.

The weigh in told a story, all those pegged in the same bay as me had struggled, it appeared that the fish just weren't there and were all in the main part of the lake.

Congratulations to Fordy on another fine win with 116lbs 7ozs, the only ton+ weight of the day.

Full results by peg no. are shown below. Thanks must go to the fishery staff for looking after us, Lyn for her hard work with the raffle, and to everyone who made the effort to come along and make the day a success.

P2 Bucko 14-01 P3 Smasher (DNW)

P5 Simple Simon 63-15 P7 Baggingman 89-03

P9 Sprucey 46-01 P11 Milo 55-08

P13 Genus9 73-00 P15 Gemma 15 15-11

P19 Me 23-16 P21 Paul Scatt 37-10

P23 ED10 72-05 P25 Dirk 53-12

P27 Mike Globe 64-03 P29 Dai Fish 28-02

P31 BaggerJ 40-13 P33 Floatfisher Jnr 53-04

P35 Spamwham 96-15 P37 Peter M 50-05

P39 Marginman 34-06 P41 Clive 19-03

P43 Drynets 16-10 P45 Royst 34-10

P46 Midge99 18-02 P47 Croydon Angler DNW

P51 Vince G 17-11 P53 Simon Elsey DNW

P55 Malc 89-12 P57 Fish4alarf 18-13

P59 Bungee 98-13 P61 MarkCAdroit 54-04

P63 Aigy 66-03 P65 Fordy1 116-07

P67 Ulladubulla 34-15 P69 Looney 50-02

P71 Hicko1 82-02 (inc 1 fish 16-01) P73 J R Hartley 47-05

P75 Budgie65 31-13 P77 Steak 36-02

Sorry no pics as I'd managed to leave the camera on after taking the first one and flattenned the batteries. OOOooops!!

Faye's Charity Match - Monk Lakes

2009-05-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well today was the day that so many members of Maggotdrowning.com were waiting for.

A while ago a young lady called Faye asked the members for help in coming up with an idea for a present for her Dad for Christmas. Faye suffers from an awful illness that keeps her more or less bedridden so as is the way with Maggotdrowning.com not only did some ideas come forward but a collection was made and some lovely items of tackle purchased and delivered. Faye was delighted by the members generosity.

it was decided that a charity match would be held to raise money for Fayes favourite charity, postpals, which helps people in a similar situation to Faye.

27 brave souls arrived at Monk Lakes not only looking forward to the match but also eagerly awaiting the arrival of Faye who was maiking a special visit to say thankyou.

As many of you know I always have a £1 side bet with Peter Morton and as luck would have we drew next to each other so it would be easy to see how he was getting on.

Well what a day!!

First and foremost, a huge thankyou to all the Maggotdrowners who came along, as well as those who supported from afar, to help such a wonderful young lady. Faye truly is an inspriration to us all, despite her illness she was desperate to come along today and show her thanks for what this great online family of ours is doing for her. She never stopped smiling the whole time she was with us and certainly brightened up my day even though the fishing where I was was hard. It was lovely to see her get involved at the recording the weights from her wheelchair, she clearly enjoyed doing it.

Liz (Faye's mum), how you managed to get through today without bursting in to tears is a mystery to me, you have a beautiful daughter who you must be very, very proud of. Dave your speech at the presentation brought a lump to my throat and I'm not ashamed to admit, a tear to my eyes. As the above shows, today had a profound effect on me and the memories will live with me for a very long time.T

he fishing for me was today was hard, not helped by the fact that as I said earlier I'd managed to draw next to Mugger Morton on a day that I really wanted to beat him. It certainly added some extra pressure.

Needless to say I lost another £1 + a fiver I promised to the kitty if I didn't beat him. Things looked good for a while with 3 carp in quick succession then it all went t*ts up, and while I sat looking a a motionless tip or pole float Peter was slowly nicking Barbel on the maggot feeder. (Guess who didn't bother to take any maggots today). At the weigh in it was clear I'd had a mare, only weighing 13lbs 8ozs. Peter had easily beaten me with 25lbs 4ozs.

The match winner was Al with just over 94lbs.

The amount money raised was superb and when the final total is in it will be well over £700, a marvellous effort.

Mansfield Lake, Nr Canterbury

2009-05-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

Mansfield Lake - 2nd May 2009

Some time ago Mick the Chippy Pearson (Worzel to his friends) posted that he was arranging a little get together at Mansfield Lake nr Canterbury. Having visited the lake before in the winter I decided to go back and see what it would fish like in the warmer weather.

As the place is tucked away in deepest darkest Kent Bill Gibbbins suggested he pick me up, mainly because I have a Sat Nav which would ensure he could find the place.

Bill arrived at 7am and the car was soon packed. Making our way through the Kent countryside I said to Bill I'd like to draw one of the pegs on the Southern Side by the car park. The reason for this was it was where I guessed most pleasure anglers would fish (they are lazy buggers you know) and hopefully have put in a bit of bait. Also there are some lovely looking patches of reeds and large lily beds which should be natural fish holding areas.

Now I normally like to draw early on but this being one of Mick's matches things were a little different. He had decided that we would draw depending on the order we arrived at the fishery. Well as Bill and I were the last to get there I only avoided drawing last by getting out of the car before Bill. There were still a few of the southern pegs in the bag when I drew so I was happy to see peg 11 nestling in my palm.

After the obligatory huge breakfast roll had been consumed I made my way to my peg and was pleased to find a nice looking lily bed on one side and some reeds on the other. For company today I had Kev the Catch on my left and Mike Jameson on my right.

Just to make things interesting onthe opposite bank was my arch nemesis Peter. As usual I had a £1 side bet with him and hoped that maybe today would be my day to finally win one.

I decided on three lines of attack, one margin rig for the reeds to my right where I found about 1 foot of water, 1 rig for the lily bed to my left where I found 4 feet of water tight to the lily bed and a waggler line. I set up both pole rigs with Malman 4 x 14 Thicko's with size 16 b911's and a 4bb insert waggler to fish approximately half way across the lake.

Bait wise I had with me, corn, luncheon meat, worms, maggots, various flavoured soft hookers and a ball of paste.

At the all in I fed 2 cups of 4mm skretting pellet laced with a few bits of corn and a few maggots on each pole line and fired out a couple of pouchfuls to the middle of the lake. My plan was to start on the waggler to give the fish time to settle closer in. First cast with corn and the float buried but it wasn't the greatest resistence that met the strike but a greedy 4 oz roach. which was soon in the net. After a few more casts and a change to worm on the hook the waggler shot away and this time my 12ft Normark Microlite rod arched over. It took a little while to subdue the fish but soon a carp of around 3lbs was in the net. Looking across to Peter it seemed he was stuggling and a s yet hadn't had a bite. Hopefully things would contnue like this and I might actually bag a decent net of fish. However as is usual for me things got worse, much worse. Even though I was getting indications on the float it just wouldn't go under so I started striking at the small dips. Unfortunately I didn't connect with anything so after about an hour I came in to the pole line next to the lilies. Baiting with half a worm I dropped the rig right next to the lilies and waited, and waited and waited. Even though there were bubbles everywhere the fish didn't seem to want the bait no matter what I used, corn, meat maggots and paste all taking a turn.

With the water so shallow on the other margin line I wanted to leave it longer so went back on the waggler. Again first cast it buried and another roach came to hand. Well by now I was starting to worry about where I would find any decent fish especially as Al at the far end of the lake seemed to be catching carp fairly regularly and Bill next to him having a couple of decent bream.

Mike next to me had managed a few small tench on the paste in the first couple of hours whilst Peter still remained fish less. Others around the lake had caught the odd carp but it was fishing very hard. I'm fairly certain that the carp had other things on their mind as the reeds all around were resembling a knocking shop.

Things remained hard and nearing the end of the match I'd only caught one more fish, another carp of around 3lbs from the shallow line.

However the good news was Peter was still struggling having resorted to catching small roach. maybe, just maybe today was the day. Peter had however set up a feeder rod as by now Mike opposite him had gone home, disappointed with his catch rate, and Peter was able to cast acros to the lilies by Mike's platform.

With a few minutes to go Peter had managed to find one carp so things were now getting a bit close. He has a reputation of mugging a good fish late on in matches so I kenw anything could yet happen. With barely any time left I looked at my watch and it read 4 o'clock, however as the 'All out' hadn't yet been called I assumed Mick was running the match to French time. Peter by now had gone over to fishing along to the next platform with his feeder as he had seen fish moving there. I was willing Mick to shout that time was up as I knew I had more than Peter and finally would take a £1 off him after too many times trying.

I heard Peter comment to Ryan that there was a ghostie carp which just wouldn't get it's head down when suddenly his rod was almost ripped off the rest. 8 seconds later, yes you read it right 8 bloody seconds, Mick called the 'all out' .......................... My heart sunk, I could see that it was a decent fish and was fairly certain that Peter wopuld have more than me if he landed it. Needless to say he was the target of much encouragement from everyone around the lake who like me couldn't believe he had the cheek to Mug yet another late fish....

As the scales showed he'd gone and done it again and taken another of my shiny coins. To say I was gutted was an understatement, the last time we fished Mansfield Lake he did me by 1 oz and this time he'd done me with a very late, possibly too late, fish as if i'd been running the match the 'all out ' would have been called by my watch which would have meant he wouldn't have caught it. ( I'm not bitter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! honestly I'm not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no seriously I'm really not a bad loser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oi Chippy buy a new bloody watch, yours runs slow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway back to the match. Congratulations to Al on a fine win on a hard day and to Dean for his 2nd place on his first MDer's outing. Thanks to Mick and his assorted brothers for organising the day and to Old Crapper for the after match refreshments.

After Mick had handed out the money to the winners I had a little surpise for him. I then made a little speech, I said to Mick that I knew what a family man he was and how it would be nice if his brothers could see what he got up to in his younger days whilst out chasing the ladies. I told him I managed, after searching the internet, to find a long lost, home movie and that I'd like to present it to him.

Here's what I gave him.

And here's a close up,

Somehow I reckon he might just find a way of getting his own back sometime, but don't worry I've got another surprise for a future match planned and this time it's not for Mick.

Be afraid, be very afraid..........................................

By the way, anyone got the number for the Samaritans?

Bridges Lake revisited

2009-04-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Bridges Lake, Monk Lakes Fishery

A few days ago Bill G sent me a PM saying that him and Peter were popping over to Monk lakes to day for a session on Bridges Lake and asked if I'd like to join them. Unfortunately the night before Bill had to drop out as his wife wasn't well so it turned in to a head to head between me and Mugger. I'd had a great day there last week so was looking forward to it, What a difference a week makes.

I arrived about 7.45am and had a look around to see if I could find a couple of pegs close together. It was fairly busy already and there weren't many free but I saw that the 2 pegs on the end of the same island that I fished the other day were free. I made my way around the lake and not long after parking the car Peter arrived. We went and had a look at the pegs and being the nice guy that I am I chose to fish the same one I had a few days ago. That left Peter the peg right on the end of the island.

One thing I forgot to mention was the wind was blowing a fairly strong northerly, right in to Peters face.

I'd only brought along the pole today so found the rig I'd used previously and set up one top kit with a Maver 12/20 elastic, attaching a Drennan Carbo .75gm shotted with an olivette and 2 small droppers to a size 16 B911. On my 2nd top kit with Black hydro I put a 1.5gm Maver float (sorry don't know the name) again shotted with an olivette and droppers but this time with a 14 B911.

This was my swim.

By now Peter had started moaning as he had found he only had about 2 feet of water at 8 metres whilst I had at least twice that at 6 metres. He kept saying something about being tucked up, I just kept quietly grinning to myself. Having set himself up Peter decided to have a look in the swim to my right just to see of it was any deeper so off he trot, pole in hand to plumb the depth. Having reached the swim and dropped his plummet in he was met with a volley of abuse from a 'Carper' fishing on the right hand bank who seemed to think he could fish anywhere he liked including in the swim Peter was plumbing. Peter not being shy sent a volley back before deciding to stay in his original swim. For the rest of the day I heard the 'Carper' telling everyone and anyone about the pillock (word changed to protect the innocent) fishing on the end of the island. It sounded something like being an employee of somewhere you deposit your money.

Anyway back to the fishing, things for me started slowly with nothing for the first 10 minutes until finally I hooked into a bream of around 1lb 8ozs. Peter by now had caught 3 or 4 having decided to fish the waggler because of the wind. To say it was awkward would be an understatement, the water was towing heavilly to my left and even with the heavy rig on I was having trouble holding the rig still. I even fed a line even shorter but that was the same. In the end I had to under shot the float to stop it disappearing in the waves.

I persevered and managed to catch a few every now and then but spotting bites was difficult. A mixture of Bream to 3lbs 8ozs, Tench, Golden Tench and Chub made up my eventual catch of 29 fish. I guess they probably weighed around 40lbs +. Of course it wouldn't be right if I didn't hook a lump so I did just that, however it was gone in a hurry after stetching the Maver 12/20 to alarming lengths. Peter was having more success with the waggler and was catching some lovely Bream the best I saw him have was around 6lbs and ready for spawning. I had to go around 3pm so left Peter to it, I gather he finished with 57 fish so all in all not a bad return on a difficult day because of the wind. I'll definately be back, hopefully when it's lovely and hot and with no wind.

On a different note I spoke to the bailiff about matches on the lake and he said they could only be held in the winter. In that case maybe I'll organise a match on Bridges later in the year, maybe somewhere around Christmas. With the margins in some swims being fairly shallow it will be probably be a waggler or feeder event for most, but that will make a change from the pole.

Hawkhurst Fish Farm - 10th April 2009

2009-04-11T17:00:00.001-07:00

Hawkhurst Fish Farm Match Lake

A few weeks back Paulvis posted a thread suggesting a Maggotdrowning day at Hawkhurst on Good Friday. As the venue is about 3 minutes from home this was one I wanted to fish so my name was added to the list.

The forecast leading up to the day was not looking good, so much so that Matt Love dropped out as he didn't want to get his waterproofs wet. Heavy winds and a steady wind were apparently what we were to expect.

I arrived at the fishery at 8.30am to find everyone else already there. My wife dropped me off and left me to have some peace and quiet away from the kids. I paid my entry fee and was a little dissapointed to pick peg 2 from the draw bag. Although everyone says a match here can be won from any peg I've never liked this area, peg 1 supposedly a flyer sits in a corner and it's here where everyone tends to congregate before the match. I'm sure this has a negative effect on both pegs 1 & 2.

Anyway I set up my gear and had a two pronged attack planned, a line at 5 metres hard on the deck and two margin lines tight to the boards both left and right. Bait for the day was to be 6mm GOTBaits cat meat hookers, corn and some 8mm Skrettings pellets to fish on a band. Feed would consist of 4m Skrettings pellet and I'd also got about 3 pints of almost dead maggots which I might feed on one of the margins. I'd also knocked up a small amount of paste but thought it might still be a bit cold for that to work well.

To my left was Peter, my arch nemesis, we always have a £1 side bet and unfortunately it's beginning to get expensive. I was really hoping today would be a better one and maybe a £1 would be coming my way. As you can see Peter wasn't at all confident as he looks like he's praying to the fishing gods.

After breakfast was taken the all in was sounded at 10.30am and I potted in a couple of pots of 4mm Skrettings pellet and a few bits of corn on each line and shipped out to 5 metres to see whether the fish wanted to play ball. 30 seconds later and carp no.1 was in the net, not big at around 1lb but a welcome start. The next few put ins resulted in the same thing and I was beginning to feel confident of catching a few today.

For some reason things suddenly slowed and for the next ten minutes only one more fish came to the net. Then almost a soon as it slowed things picked up again and a few more fish soon joined the others in the net. This pattern was continue throught the match, catch a few then nothing, catch a few more, then nothing. It was incredibly frustrating especially as Peter didn't seem to be catching much either.

Throught the match I picked up one or two better fish including one of around 7lbs but most were what appeared to be newly stocked F1's. One thing I did notice was how slimy the Carp were, not something I'd come across before.

Anyway after around 3 hours my bladder got the better of me and I made a trip to the loo but not before potting 2 more pots of pellet on the 5 metre line. Returning from the loo I decided tio have a look at the margin lnes to see whether there were any fish there. First drop in and the float buried and a nice mirror of around 3lbs fought well before I eventually netted it. As I suspected the fish was hooked squarely in the pectoral fin, no wonder it hung on a bit.

No more fish followed during the next hour, despite signs of fish in the swim, from either margin so it was back out to 5 metres.

I decided at this time to try the paste, what a difference, the float buried straight away and a 2lb carp was soon netted and for the remaider of the match I continued to pick up more even though the bites were very finicky. during the last hour the forecast rain arrived although not as heavy as expected.

By the all out I knew I hadn't done nearly enough and certainly had been beaten by Peter yet again as while his catch rate improved mine never really got out of 1st gear.

Peter next to me was first to weigh and put a creditible 86lbs 5ozs, I ended up with 32lbs 50zs for no where. As the scales made their way round it was evident that most had caught a few but many had suffered long biteless periods just like me.

The eventual winner was Paul East from peg 7 with 125lbs with Keith Driscoll a fairly 2nd with 112lbs. The only other to break the 'ton' was Nick Allen with 101lbs.

One of these days I'm going to have a decent day at Hawkhurst but for now I'll just look forward to my next trip out which will probably be another visit to Monk lakes for another assault on the Bream and Tench in Bridges Lake. This time I'll make sure my camera batteries are fully charged.

Sorry for the lack of photo's in this report but with the likelyhood of rain I packed the camera away early to save it from getting wet.

Monk Lakes - Bridges Lake - 7th April 2009

2009-04-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well what a day !!

I asked last night online for some suggestions as to where I should fish today. The only person to reply was BillG who said I should go to Monk Lakes and have a bash at the Bream in Bridges Lake. So after taking the mother in law to the hospital for an appointment I packed the car and headed off to the fishery. I arrived around 1pm, paid for my ticket and drove round looking for a comfortable peg to fish. Whilst the sky was quite clear with some bright blue patches there was a steady breeze blowing which made the temperature feel much colder.

I settled on a peg on the end the 2nd island, on the right hand bank, which meant the wind was off my back. As you can see it was an easy chuck to the island so I started on the feeder baited with double hair rigged corn. Before casting I baited the pole line at 8 metres with 2 large pot fulls of 3mm skrettings pellets and a few grains of corn in readiness for later.First cast on the feeder the tip wrapped round and a bream of about 2lbs was soon netted.

Soon afterwards his brother was on his way to join me.

I baited again, this time with 3 grains of corn and soon after I had another wrap round. This time I just had to hang on, the clutch screamed and what appeared to be a huge carp tried it's best to get round the back of the island. Unfortunately I had to tighten down to try and stop it and then everything went slack, the hook had pulled. I suspect it was one of the larger residents of the lake, they run to over 30lbs in Bridges.All the time the pole line was fizzing like crazy so I put the feeder rod behind me and dropped in with a grain of hair rigged corn for bait. Immediately the float buried and Bream of around 3lbs came to the net. The next 2 hours continued like this with bream after bream finding a liking for the corn. After the two hours I'd caught 27 of them, all 'peas in a pod' weighing about 2lbs. By now the wind had change direction and I was really feeling the cold so I took the opportunity to get my coat from the car and visit the loo. Before leaving I potted in another couple of pots of pellet.Suitably refreshed I shipped back out and waited. this time it took a bit longer for a bite but when it came the strike was met with with something altogether different. The 12 elastic streamed from the pole and the fight was nothing like before. After a minute or so I slid a barbel of around 3lbs in to the net. It was in immaculate condition and fought like crazy.

Next put in and the float buried again. This time it felt completely different again and very soon this was sitting in the bottom of the landing net.

It seemed the change of wind direction has brought in a different range of fish and the bream and all but dissapeared. For the next hour all I could catch was tench or barbel, almost all the tench being the golden variety with exception of one.

For some reason things changed again with the next ten fish all being bream of about 2lbs.After a few more golden tench I baited again with two more pots of pellet. This had the effect of bringing in some better fish, firstly a decent golden tench,

and then a real elastic stretcher, this barbel which just didn't want to give up.

I carried on for another hour and a half and continued catching well before it completely died. I couldn't buy a bite and was getting a little puzzled, then I found out the reason, the carp had woken up and pushed everything else out.This was the first and smallest of 3 that I caught, all on the pole, this one went 8lbs 6ozs

Unfortunately the camera died after this pic, guess which pillock didn't charge the batteries last night I carried on for another hour catching a few more smaller carp before hitting in to what what turned out to be the biggest of the day. A 19lb 4oz beauty that really tested my Maver 101 pole to the limit. The guy in the next peg had a camera so took a couple of pic's which he said he would e/mail to me so when they arrive I'll post them here. I decided this was a good time to pack up so I chucked the feeder out onto the pole line while I cleared everything away. Having almost got everthing sorted the tip slammed round and the reel churned and there was obviously something substantial on the end. After a few minutes i slid another lovely looking mirror in to the net, this time it weighed 11lbs 12ozs. Again the guy in the next peg came and took a couple of photo's before going back to his peg, no doubt cursing my luck as he'd been there all day fishing with boilies and hadn't had a touch.

My final tally for the day was:

2 Green Tench,

14 Golden Tench,

37 Bream,

11 Barbel,

and 2 Mirror Carp.

At a rough guess I must have had somewhere in the region of 200lbs of fish, all in pristine condition. They really are a credit to the fishery management.

My next day out is a match on Good Friday at Hawkhurst Fishery with the Maggotdrowners, I hope I catch a similar weight, but this time they will almost all be Carp.

Wylands Farm - House Lake 14th March 2009

2009-03-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

When the alarm went off I looked out the window expecting to see overcast skies and probably rain especially as Bill was fishing today. However I was happy to see blue skies and the sun trying to peek through.

By the time I arrived at Wylands the cloud cover had rolled in and the drizzle was beginning to come down, I just knew Bill was somewhere close to arriving. Sure enough a few minutes later he turned up to be met with just a few words regarding his status as a total and utter jinx on the weather.
I was hoping for a decent draw today so was pleased to find peg 7 in my hand, halfway along the road bank, a comfortbale swim to fish with reasonable depth close in and an inviting looking margin to my left. Fortunately Bill's effect on the weather hadn't worked as by the all in the drizzle had stopped and it was turning out to be a nice day.
You always know on a MD's day out that something out of the ordinary will happen and today was no exception, poor old Disco managed to let his pole slide in to the lake, not just one sction but the whole thing. Spamwham tried to help with a few suggestions one of which was that Disco should strip off and go in, Disco however, wasn't so keen on this idea as he'd gone commando today and was obviously ashamed to show off his tackle. Being the nice guy that I am I grabbed my camera to record what followed.

My plan of attack today was two fold, firstly the pole fished at 6 metres at the bottom of a small shelf I found when plumbing up and the waggler to fish at about 10 metres with a strung out shotting pattern to give a nice slow fall through the water. Trevor had told me before we started that the waggler would be a waste of time so just to prove him wrong I started on it. First cast and the float buried and I was attached to a decent skimmer. 2nd cast and the same happened so I decided to stick with it. The first hour went well with with 8 good skimmers, 2 roach and a small perch finding their way to the net. Thrioughout the frist hour I'd also been feeding the left hand margin swim and had noticed the odd tail swirl so baited with 3 red maggots and dropped it in tight to the stick ups. Within seconds the float sailed away and I was attached to something somewhat bigger. With only an 8 elastic I was not surprised to see yards and yards of elastic stretching from the pole and came to the conclusion it must be one of the resident Carp that run to 15lbs+. Unfortunately I never found out as after a minute or two the hook pulled and I came back with a very large scale attached to the hook. No more bites followed so I left the margin to settle again.
Back on the waggler and for the next hour and a half things were looking reasonably good, the main thing was I enjoying the day and catching plenty of fish. Things though were going to change as the wind picked up a bit and changed direction which made the presentation a little difficult so I went out on the pole line.
For some reason the bites just weren't positive and I kept bumping fish so I threw the pole up the bank and had another look on the margin line. Baiting again with 3 reds I dropped in again and immediately the float disappeared. This time the fight was completely different and suddenly a cracking perch broke the surface. Safely netted it must have been getting on for 2 pounds.Next put in and another perch followed this time around a pound.
I once again left the margin to settle and went back to the waggler but things had got harder with bites having dried up. I carried on till 2.45pm before packing up early as my son was in his first drama production, Wind in the Willows, and of course I wanted to be there to record it for posterity. He was brilliant and as a reward I've promised to take him fishing, as long as he promises not to catch more than me.

All in all I had a fairly good day ending with 18lbs 13ozs, if only the bites hadn't dried up I just wonder what I might have had. I saw from the results when I got home that most on my bank struggled so I didn't feel so bad.

Thanks to Mark for his organisation, and Keith (Disco) for the entertainment and also thanks to Mick 'worzelgummidge' Chippy for keeping the ducks away.

Congratulations to Bill on his win, a fantastic weight, the only sour note today being the fact that Peter's another £1 richer.

Oast Farm, Buxted - 28/02/2009

2009-02-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

After last weeks struggle at Shannons I was hoping for a better day today as I drove to Oast Farm fishery at Buxted. The weather was fairly good, mild and dry with little wind and it was forecast to warm up as the day went on. Arriving at the lake the usual suspects were there apart from Al who failed to turn up, I'm guessing he had been offered a days work.

There are a few decent pegs on the lake and I fancied either 8 in the corner of the dam or 9, 10 or 11 on the right hand bank, In to the draw bag and peg 9 is nestling in my palm, Spot on. For company on Peg 8, the flyer peg, was Colin.

On my left was Ryan on peg 10.

The peg has a good depth in the margins and doesn't vary too much out to 9 metres so I set up 3 top kits, 1 for the margins, 1 set at dead depth at 8metres for soft hooker or corn and the 3rd for banded pellet on the same 8 metre line. Cupping in half a pot of 4mm skrettings pellet on both the margin and 8m lines I baited with corn and tried down the inside. Things started slowly with just the odd knock coming to nothing so after 1/2 hour I switched to the 8m rig baited with a GOTBaits Catmeat hooker pellet. First put in and I missed the bite as the float buried. Encouraged I shipped out again however this time the float remained stationary. 5 minutes later it still hadn't moved so I shipped back, baited with corn and tried again. Again the float didn'tmove so after about an hour I decided to try the margin line which I'd been feeding since the 'All in'. Bill had told me to fish tight to the bank but the depth was only about a foot so I dropped in about a metre off the bank where there was almost 2 1/2 feet. After not very long the float disappeared and Carp no.1 was soon in the net, only about 1lb but welcome. Next put in and the same happened, Carp no.2 and words of encouragement echoed across the lake from Peter Mortons direction. A few minutes later and Carp no.3 was on and this time Peter was at hand to take some photo's.

He was clearly worried about losing a £1 to me as the catch shot is a bit blurred.

I was beginning to think this might be my day, how wrong could I be, for the remainder of the match all I managed to catch was two small roach.

The top 3 weights were ;

1. Dave 'le frog' Collier 52lb 4oz

2. Bill Gibbins 27lb 0oz

3. Peter Morton 25lb 6oz

Never mind, I'd still enjoyed my day, Dave had a great day with 27 Carp mainly caught shallow whille Bill having struggled for most of the match snared 7 Carp in the last hour agin fishing shallow.

Next up is a 'Silver Fish' only match with the Maggotdrowners at Wylands Farm Fishery on House Lake which I'm really looking forward to.

Thanks to the guys for sorting out the day, oh and I nearly forgot I lost yet another £1 to Peter the first and hopefully the last in 2009.

Shannons, Eridge 22nd February 2009

2009-02-22T15:39:00.000-08:00

I had originally planned to fish Hartleylands Farm today to try out my new pole, a Maver 101 Competition and a new feeder rod, a 12ft Shakespeare Mach 3 but at the last minute received an invite from Bill Gibbins to join him and a few others at Shannons at Eridge nr Tunbridge Wells. The day was to be a friendly one with no keepnets allowed, just a good day out with some mates.

Arriving at 8.15am I found the gate locked so went to sit back in the car as Peter and Bill arrived. The gate was unlocked and we made our way to the car park. After a walk round the lake I decided to fish the far bank which would give me a nice easy chuck with the feeder to the island and a nice comfortable 8m line for my new pole.

Peter sat just to my left in a swim that had a comfortable 11m to an island so I expected a bit of banter during the day.

I set the feeder up first baited with corn and sent it flying to the island, with more luck than judgement dropping it tight to the far bank grass.

A few smalls plucks of the tip amounted to nothing so I put the feeder rod away for a while and concentrated on the pole. This too only brought me a small perch with a liking for corn so I went back on the feeder. Again I managed to drop the feeder tight to the island and after a couple of minutes the tip twitched a few times before pulling right round and Carp no.1 was on. After a fairly short fight and a little encouragement/mickey taking from Bill and Peter the Carp was soon netted, a nice looking Common around 6lbs.

Peter even took a picture of me playing the fish as he said he'd never managed to get one before, cheeky sod !!

After this excitement both the pole line and the feeder line failed to produce for an hour or so, so I popped over the fence behind me to see if I could catch any of the Chub or Barbel that live in the river that runs alongside the fishery. I'd already chucked a couple of handfuls of 3mm pellets into the swim an hour before so hopefully there would be something there. Dropping a feeder full of maggots in to the deep hole no sooner had I put the rod on the rest when the tip slammed over and it was fish on. After a short fight a Chub of around 2lbs was safely netted. On closer inspection I noticed it throat was full of the pellets I'd fed earlier so It was obviously a good move. A few minutes later and Chub no.2 was in the net, slightly bigger this time around 2lbs 8ozs. After about 20 minutes with no further cation I went back to the lake. Before doing so I got my camera out and took a couple of action shots of Peter playing one of his few Carp.

Before I'd left for the river I'd fed the pole line with 3 large cups of 3mm pellet so I hoped the fish had turned up. Dropping the rig in at 8metres I sat back and waited. It didn't take too long before the float twitched a bit before sliding away and to be honest I expected it to be a roach so I was quite surprised when a good length of black hydro stretched from the pole. After a short spirited fight the carp was netted a nice looking mirror of around 5lbs. Not too long after it's brother took a fancy to my corn hookbait and that was safely netted too.

Too soon it was time to start packing away as I had to leave early so I left the feeder in while I packed away my pole. Just as I was about to put the feeder rod away the tip flew round and an angry Carp tried to make it's way round the back of the island. It took a little while to get it under control, which proved a good workout for the new rod, and it wasn't long before it was netted. I was surprised to see that it was probably only about 2-3lbs but it fought like a 10 pounder.

I said my goodbyes and left having had a good time at Shannons yet again and made a promise to myself to make sure I visit again soon when weather turns a little warmer and the water level has dropped a bit after it was flooded recently.

My thanks to Bill for the invite and Peter, Dave, Colin and Al for a enjoyable day in good company, I may be out again with these guys at Oast farm next weekend, if so I'll post another blog afterwards.

I'll do a report on the new pole and rod soon once I've had a few more fish on each so I can give a more detailed review.

Happy New Year

2008-12-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Just a line to wish everyone who has read my blog

I look forward to welcoming you

all back in 2009

Vince

Oast Farm Fishery, Buxted

2008-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I awoke this morning to a very heavy frost and wondered at my sanity as I packed the car for the drive to Buxted. The day didn't start well as I noticed a front wheel puncture which I duly sorted and after de-icing the car I was on my way.

Arriving at the fishery the usual suspects were there, Peter, Bill, Mick the Chippy, Ryan and Kevin to name a few and all were looking worried as the lake was half frozen and it looked like the fishing would be hard to say the least. The draw was made and Bill complained that he'd drawn the peg next to the flyer which was the worst place to be as there are never any fish in these pegs.

I'd drawn on the middle of dam wall with an outfall in front of me at about 4 metres which looked like it may hold a few fish. first job was to break the ice which proved harder than I first thought as it was quite thick Soon I'd got a good clear area in front of me and I set up 2 top kits for the pole, one to fish against the outfall and the other to fish in open water at 6 metres. Plumbing up I found the depth was pretty consistent with about 4 foot in front of me. bait today was to be maggots, worms and corn although I had a few soft hooker pellets if the carp showed.

I started at 6 metres an cupped in asome 4mm pellet and fished with double red maggot over top. After that I was pestered with tiny plucks which came to nothing. Straight away the float buried and a small roach came to hand. I decided to change to corn to see if things would improve as Bill hhad already landed a Carp on it. the outfall line had also failed to produce. peter over on the sunny bank was also struggling depsite sitting in what looked to be a cracking peg with a large reed bed to fish to. After an hour I was still waiting for action and popped round to Bill to have a chat. He'd had a couple of more carp by now and it transpired he was feeding micro pellets and kindly gave me a good couple of handfuls to use.

Back at my peg I fed a pinch of micro pellet and dropped thea corn baited rig back in. Unfortuantely nothing happened and I sat bitelees for another couple of hours. It was proving hard for most, Ryan to my left had snared a carp early on but was now targetting roach, Peter too was struggling although Mick seemed to be doing Ok catching plenty of raoch.

Despite changing to maggot hookbiat things didn't get much better although at least I was catching a few fish now even if they were tiny roach. By the time the all out was called I knew I hadn't got much and so it rpoved with just 1lb 10zs to show for my efforts. I'd hoped that maybe I'd finish 2008 taking a £1 off Peter but it didn't happen as he'd decided with 2 hours to go to target roach and had caught well putting 4lbs odd on the scales. Bill slaughtered us all taking 37lbs 8ozs of Carp from that unfacied peg, the rest of us (7 anglers) managed 38lb 4ozs between us !!

All in all it wasn't a bad day and I'll definately go back when the weather improves as Bill told me it fishes really well with loads of carp to go at and bags to 100lbs regularly taken.

So thats it 2008 has been an enjoyable year even though at times I didn't do too well. 2009 will hopefully be better and I've set myself 2 targets,

No. 1) Win a few £1 coins back from Peter and

No. 2) Catch 100lbs of fish from Rolfs Lake in a match.

Both are realistic targets so with any luck by mid year I'll be setting myself some new ones.

Southern Fur and Feather, Wylands Farm - House Lake

2008-12-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa, I need New waterproofs !!

Today saw 14 nuttters assemble at Wylands farm for the annual Maggotdrowning.com Southern Fur and Feather. The weather was attrocious, pouring rain and very windy so a draw with the wind off your back was going to be the order of the day today. After an enjoyable bacon roll the draw was made and my home for the day was to be peg 9 next to Nick Gilbert.

I made my way to my peg and set up a waggler and a 4 metre whip with a view to targetting the silver fish stocks. After feeding both lines I started on the waggler and caught a roach first cast.

I started well with a few fish in the first few casts although I wasn't expecting a Gudgeon. Best fish for me was a Roach of somewhere between 1lb 4ozs and 1lb 8ozs along with a few skimmers around 3/4 lb. After about 2 1/2 hours it all got too much and I went and sat up by the cafe for an hour and a half before venturing back out for half an hour. Unfortunately due to being absent for a while the fish had dissapeared from my swim (you would have thought Nick would have carried on feeding it for me) so I packed up.

I tipped back about 8lbs which in the conditions I was fairly happy with. I look forward to having a bash at the House Lake in the better weather. Just don't let Zak (I'm a BOK) Gibbins know when were going back. Thanks Trev for your organisation, and well done to Moleman (Mark Hathaway) on his win.

Despite getting literally soaked to the skin, I enjoyed the day in the company of my fellow Maggotdrowners. Roll on 2009 and some decent weather.

Mansfield Lake, Broad Oak, Canterbury

2008-12-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

Mick the Chippys Knock Up

Saturday 22nd November

As I had no transport Bill agreed to give me a lift and arrived around 7.30am. The family had heard about his celebrity status and being Emmerdale fans were looking out the door to see if he really looked like the head of the Dingle clan. Bill duly donned his flat cap and posed to keep them happy.

The journey to the venue was uneventful due to me taking my Sat Nav along for the ride and we arrived in good time which was probably a good thing when confronted with the huge breakfast roll being dished out by the food wagon.

A quick look at the lake confirmed that a peg with the wind on your back would make for a reasonably comfortable day so I opted for peg 18. This looked good especially as no one was at to my left effectively making it an end peg. (Unfortunately Jeff decided the wind on the other bank was too much and took away my end peg status by sitting on what I think was peg 21)

My attack for the day was originally planned to be either waggler or feeder however I decided at the last minute to set up the pole to fish at 4 metres if all else failed. Maggots were to be the main bait with worms and corn as change baits. I'd also got various tubs of soft pellets to try if the carp showed.

First cast with the feeder to the far bank produced a wrap round bite but I struck into nothing. Unfortunately only tiny little plucks on the tip followed this and I and I went on to the waggler after about half an hour. First cast and roach no.1 was safely in the net (at least I wasn't going to blank today).

A few more tiny roach followed before a slightly better sample showed up, at around 6ozs it was most welcome. It was interesting that single maggot wasn't producing many bites but 2 or 3 maggots did so I stuck at it. More tiny roach continued to take the bait before another better fished came along in the form of a skimmer bream.

As bites were a little difficult to hit I decided to try the pole on the same line but for some reason it wasn't so productive. Looking to my right I could see Peter was catching a few roach but thought that maybe I was just in front of him for now. Mike provided the entertainment a while later when hooking one of the resident carp, I thought it must be pretty big judging by the amount of elastic stretching from his pole but it transpired he was only using a no.4 laccy. After playing the carp for what seemed like ages it was safely netted by match organiser Mick. (Mick, Please note, A trophy, medals, arranging a tea wagon and paying the peg fees is fine but landing others anglers fish is just taking things too far, unless of course you were trying to knock it off)

Mick soon hooked a carp of his own which lead him a merry dance. I fully expected Mike to repay the compliment and net the carp for him but he stayed firmly sat on his box. Either he was frozen stiff or he was hoping Mick would lose it. My match continued in similar fashion with small roach coming in small bursts but none of the better fish wanted to play. Soon it was time for the wiegh in and I was 2nd to weigh. My meager net full net 2lb 4ozs not a lot but I'd still quite enjoyed my days fishing. A couple of pegs later and we reached Peter. Looking at his catch I knew it would be close and so it proved with the scalesman calling 2lb 4ozs. Well at least I hadn't lost another £1. Peter however was obviously incredibly hard up and disputed the weight. A number of others looked at the scales and weights between 2lb 3ozs and 2lb 5ozs were offered as his weight. My personal opinion was that we got equal weight. Peter had obviously paid some one off as his weight finally got agreed at 2lb 5ozs and I'd lost by 1 ounce. The weigh in continued and it appeared that no one had caught that much with just 2 or 3 pounds being brought to the scales by most. Well done to Mike on his win and also Colin on catching a lovely roach. It looked quite an old fish and had probably been in the lake for many years. The journey home was not so good as the Sat Nav battery ran out and with the cigar lighter not working in Bills car we had to follow the road signs. Somehow we went wrong and had a scenic tour of Ashford before finally getting back on the right road.

Once again thanks to Bill for the lift and for helping me back to the house with my gear. An enjoyable day out once again in the company of the Southern Maggotdrowners. I look forward to fishing the lake again when the weather warms up. Some of the pegs had lily beds and reeds which looked very inviting.

Marsh AC match - Hawkhurst Fish Farm - 11th October 2008

2008-10-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was meant to be fishing Sams Lake in Headcorn today but due to circumstances beyond my control I wasn't able to and ended up joining the Marsh AC lads at Hawkhurst Fish Farms match lake. I know many of the members as they are friends from the Maggotdrowning.com website and enjoy fishing with them.

When I arrived just after 8.30am it was quite foggy but for a change I actually fancied I'd catch a few today.My home for the day was to be peg 18 one I'd not fished before and for company I had Keith (Ghandi) on 17 to my left and Bill Gibbins on 19 to my right.

This was to be a civilised day with everyone setting up their tackle first and then retiring to the Cafe for breakfast. At 10.15am with every one full of bacon, eggs and sausages the All In was called.

I'd chosen just a couple of lines today, the margin tight in under a bush to my left and straight out in front at 5 metres. I cupped in a liberal helping of 4mm skretting pellets and baiting with a GOTbaits 6mm catmeat soft pellet dropped the rig out at 5 metres. It was like a jacuzzi over the pellet feed and I expected a bite fairly instantly however nothing happened. After half an hour I had only managed 1 fish, a small carp around 1lb.

Hours 2 and 3 were not much better with only a couple more fish to show for my efforts. Despite changing hookbaits, depth and hook size I was suffering badly with foulhooked fish. Even changing to my margin rig and fishing it really shallow didn't help.

Not long after I received 2 phone calls I could have done without. The first was to tell me the wife was taking her Mum to Hospital as her dogs had had a fight and ripped her leg open and the second to say Dad had collapsed again (twice in about an hour) and wasn't too well.

With my head not really in it my peg not doing much I sat back and looked around to see Bill catching well and he looked likely to be the leader, Peter was also picking up a few so It could be a close run thing.I cupped in some more pellet and had a wander with my camera to take a few shots and popped down to have a chat with Peter. He told me he too had been suffering with foul hookers but was picking up a few better fish using 8mm hard banded pellet. I went back to my peg and tried again, this time I was beginning to connect with a few more fish and a small flurry of Carp followed. As the match wore on Peter was still catching well and it seemed that he may now be in the lead, my match plan had now gone completely out the window and I was just waiting for the final whistle.

I left very soon after the "all out", not bothering to weigh in but estimated my 14 fish at around 35lbs, certainly not enough to trouble those who had been catching all day. I had loads of bites but just kept coming back with scales.

Peter did indeed end up winning with a hard caught 118lbs, Bill finished a close second with 106lbs 8ozs. Dave the organiser had also included a pairs match which was won by Bill Gibbins & Kevin Loveland .

Despite everything that had happened I still enjoyed the day in the company of some decent people who made me feel very welcome.

I will one day to get to grips with the match Lake at Hawkhurst maybe not till next year though as I shall give the place a miss till things warm up again.

Dawns Vale MD's match - 4th October 2008

2008-10-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

My journey to Dawns Vale was quite eventful to say the least. First of all my Sat Nav wouldn't find the postcode for the lake so I was almost travelling blind. I'd printed some directions from the internet but they weren't exactly brilliant. I had a rough idea where I was going but would need help once I got close. Making my way along the M25 I was merrily driving along minding my own business when suddenly the car just in front swerved all over the road and ended up embedded in the bridge parapet. I stopped to see if I could help and found that the car had suffered a front tyre blow out. The young girl was in a state of shock and after waiting with her for a while until she had calmed down and helping her change the wheel I made my way to deepest darkest Essex. (Incidentally, she rang me tonight to thank me for stopping to help her, which I really appreciated). I eventually found the fishery but only after a call to Peter for help, I don't know why I bothered ringing him, he hadn't got a clue as he was following Dave The Fish. In the end I used my sense of smell and arrived at the lake just as Dawn was cooking up Bacon and Egg rolls.

My first look at the lake was a pleasant one, although not that large the lake looked very fishy indeed and I hoped we would be in for a good days fishing. the overnight frost however had me a little worried. Dai and Mick the Chippy were already in attendance and were soon followed by Peter, DTF and Colin. Not long after Dave and Geoff turned up along with Tony and of course Max the mad Boxer. Max was obviously hungry after his long journey and joined the queue for his bacon roll.

After the bacon rolls were consumed amd teas and coffee drunk everyone made their way to their chosen pegs. I settled for the shortest walk and sat right next to the caravan. Dawn had told me it was a popular peg with the locals and often threw up some decent fish from under the overhanging tree.

I had planned a 3 pronged approach for toady which consisted of the pole at 5 metres in front and close in on both margins, a feeder rod for a chuck to the deep water in front and a carp rod rigged up for fishing a boilie.I filled in both margin pegs and sent the feeder out in to open water to hope for an early mug fish. An hour later I was still waiting. In the meantime Dai and Geoff had been slowly bulding a weight of small rudd.I decided a change of tack was needed so picked up the pole, baited with corn and dropped it in under the tree. I somehow expected an instant response but The lake had other ideas and try as I might i couldn't buy a bite. I also tried the left hand margin but that was just as useless.I chucked the pole up the bank baited the feeder with 2 red maggots and sent it back out in to the depths. this time there seemd to be a little interest and suddenly the tip whacked round, the reel churned and I struck...................................................... into thin air. B*GGER!!!!!!!!!!Next put in resulted in another bite but it was only a tiny Rudd. Nothing followed for the next two hours on any line so I baited the carp rod with a smelly squid and octopus boilie cast out under the tree and sat back waiting for all hell to let loose. Unfortuanately I had a long wait and eventually decided I was wasting my time. I chopped and changed for the rest of the match and managed another itiny Rudd before the all out was called.Highlight of the day was watching Dave's new pink knicker elastic stretched to the limit as he tried to subdue what was obviously a decent fish. A number of us had assembled behind Dave giving him encouragement as well as Malc on the phone being his usual polite helpful self.
Finally Dave managed to land the fish and was well pleased with his catch and Max seemed quite interested too.. Throughout the day Peter had been picking up the odd fish and I thought I'd better get a pic of him as he looked like he might just win. Alas when I looked up he'd dissapeared still never mind I took a picture of his empty peg. It's probably a better picture without him in it anyway.

All in all despite not catching much I'd enjoyed the Dawns Vale experience. Meeting up with friends from MD's is always a great way to spend the day even if some smart arse suggested that I should present Peter with his trophy, sorry but I can't print my reply, it's a family site.Thanks to Dawn and her hubby for letting us fish and for looking after us so well. Bacon and Egg rolls to start, Cheeseburgers half way through and copiuos amounts of steaming hot coffee to keep me awake during fishless periods (there were quite a few) were all very welcome. I will definately be going back and Peter and I are already planning a 2 day session for sometime next year once the weather warms up again.My journey home was as bad as the one on the way to the lake. 4 miles from the Dartford crossing the traffic ground to a halt and I sat going no where for over an hour. It turned out a lorry had caught fire right on top of the bridge and the bridge had been closed. This meant everything had to go through the one tunnel that was open (one was closed for maintenance). I finally arrived home at around 9.45pm completely knackered.

Mote Park knock up - 28th September 2008

2008-10-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today was the day a few hardy souls ventured out to Mote Park, a 30 acre park lake in the centre of Maidstone, for a friendly match hopefully sacking up on the resident roach stocks.

Arriving in the car park numbers were somewhat low with only Trevor and Hemphead (Andy) in attendance. Shortly after Mick the chippy arrived so that made just 4 of us which was shame when we were hoping for 10-12. After paying the bailiff he opened the gate to let us drive along to our chosen pegs on the jetty. Unfortunately there were already a few anglers there so we squeezed in between them. Trevor sat to the right with Mick next to him then Andy and finally me 3 pegs to the left under a low willow tree.(yet another end peg)

I called the all in at 9.30 and all apart from Andy started on the waggler. After balling in 3 babies heads of original Swimstim, first put in and Roach no.1, about 6ozs was safely in the net. A minute later and Roach no.2 followed this time slightly bigger around 10ozs.The others were all catching too so things looked good for a decent days fishing. The bright sun wasn't helping things though as for a while the fish seemed a little finicky not wanting to take the bait properly but after a change of hook size to an 18 things improved. After about an hour I hooked something somewhat larger but unfortunately didn't get chance to see it as it charged off to my left under the jetty and just continued on it's way to the other side of the lake. It was probably one of the lakes Carp that had taken a liking to my maggot hookbait, however I shall never know. Not long after Andy suffered a similar fate. Trevor seemed to be catching a few and had his own fan club watching him, probably the only bird he's likely to pull.

Andy hooked into what he thought was another Carp so I quickly grabbed the camera for some action shots. However it seems he was just playing to the crowds as it turned out to a roach hooked squarely in the dorsal fin.

Mick in the meantime had been catching a few but for now seemed more interested in his sandwiches.

Try as I might I couldn't seem to get in a rhythm, I don't think fishing under the willow helped as it was difficult to cast any distance, the Roach just didn't want to feed close in.A few casts on the feeder produced nothing.Nick turned up around 2pm and proceeded to bag up, catching Roach every put in. It was interesting watching him, one thing I noticed was just how inaccurate his casting was, one left, one right one straight. I'm sure Matt's mentioned this before. Perhaps it's a ploy to lead everyone in to a false sense of security.

The all out was called at 3pm and Mick was first to weigh. His net went, 9lbs 7ozs, Andy followed and it was clear he'd got more than Mick and this showed when the scales settled on 17lbs 8ozs.

My net was next. I lifted out and couldn't help but think I caught a lot more than was in the net, maybe I'd over estimated but I didn't think so as I reckoned I'd had at least 12 to 13lbs. Putting the fish on the scales it was clear I hadn't got that and a measly 6lbs was recorded.
Finally it was Trevors turn. Another decent bag of fish came to the scales and after some light hearted banter the weight was agreed at 17lbs 8ozs, the same as Andy.All in all it was an enjoyable day out but I went home puzzled about how I could have got my weight so wrong. The answer however came when I hung my net up to dry in the garden when I got home, there next to the ring just up from the bottom was a split about 4 inches long. I don't feel quite so bad now apart from the fact I'll probably have to buy a new net as I'm not sure this one can be repaired.

Maggotdrowning.com Southern Pairs - 23rd August 2008

2008-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

20 of us lined up for the first ever Maggotdrowning.com Southern Pairs Championships at Hawkhurst Fish farm.

The pairs were organised so that each person from the pair would be on opposite banks.

At the draw bag I fancied and end peg and duly drew out peg 20, an out and out flier that I'd seen many a decent bag of fish caught from. happily I made my way to the peg expecting a great day. The aerators were on and fish could be seen all across the lake. After setting up breakfast was taken and then the serious business of catching a few fish began.

Below is what I wrote on the Maggotdrowning.com forum after the match, it just about sums up my day.

Got up, went fishing, caught naff all, went home, wished I'd stayed in bed. I think that just about sums it up.
Oh and I must not forget that Matt got a visit from a couple of young girls half way through the match. (I expect he thought they'd heard he was a good angler)
Mind you, I thought Bill was a bit mean,........when he started singing Gary Glitter's "Do you wanna be in my Gang".

Actually I ended the day with 15 pounds of hard earned carp, the lake had fished terribly, worse than anyone could remember the top weight being a measly 38lbs. This meant the pairs result would be close and so it proved with 2 pairs eneding withe same number of points.

Congratulations to Dave the Fish and Clive on winning the pairs match on weight.

I did at least see a few fish caught although Nick had a little trouble landing them on his knicker elastic.

All in all it was an enjoyable day in good company, lets just hope next years match fishes somewhat better.

MD Southern Champs -Hartleylands Farm - 12th July 2008

2008-10-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the day of the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Champs held on the Reservoir at Hartleylands Farm fishery. My peg for today was to be peg 6, not where I really wanted to be but it did hat least have some from having once held the lake record. I settled on three lines both margins, left and right and out in front at 7 metres. I'd also set up a pellet waggler if the fish started showing on top.

Across the lake I could see Bill Gibbins settling in to his swim and he looked quietly confident as fish were crashing out the water in front of him.

I cupped in 2 large pot fulls of 6mm skretting pellets on each line, baited with a 6mm GOTbaits soft hooker pellet and waited, and waited and waited. 3 hours later and I'd got 2 fish to show for my efforts and they were only small skimmers. Peter on peg 1 was suffering a similar fate although Bill was absolutely bagging with fish lining up to take his paste bait.
Paul east over on peg 19 was also building a tidy net full.

At the end of the match I with a poor 13lbs 11 ozs and another £1 lost to Peter.

Peg 1 Peter Morton 23-0

Peg 2 Dean Lockwood 55-1

Peg 3 Jeff Driscoll 15-15

Peg 4 Tony Clark DNW

Peg 5 Mick Pearson 4-7

Peg 6 Vince Gould 13-11

Peg 7 Trevor Little 13-3

Peg 8 Alan 18-4

Peg 9 Bill Brice DNW

Peg 10 Matt Love 105-11

Peg 11 Darren Smith 20-0

Peg 12 Empty!

Peg 13 Wily Coyote 30-03

Peg 14 Stuart Wilson 62-6

Peg 15 Bill Gibbins 156-0

Peg 16 Tony Roberts 23-3

Peg 17 John Haigh 52-7

Peg 18 Nick Gilbert 49-2

Peg 19 Paul East 91-7

Peg 20 Nick Costa 34-14

Bill ended up taking the honours with a fine 156lbs with Matt love not a million miles behind with 105lbs 11ozs many of which he caught on the waggler.

At the moment I'm suffering a poor run oif results, hopefully it will change soon, I'm running out of £1 coins to give Peter.

Nicks Forum Match - Hartleylands Farm

2008-06-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Bramley Lake

Well today I'd planned an out and out Pellet waggler attack on my visit to Hartleylands to fish Nick Gilberts forum match. Luckily I drew peg 18 on Bramley, a fairly decent peg with the wind off my back so things looked good. Chucking the pellet wag out before the match to find the range to clip up I hooked a carp with a bare hook so there were obviously fish in the swim.

At the "All In" I fired 6mm pellets out to the island and followed with my wag baited with a 6mm banded pellet and immediately was in to Carp no.1. As this was my first really serious go at fishing the Pellet Wag in amatch I'd set myself a target of 75 Carp, 15 an hour, which I thought may just be enough for around a 100lbs so this was a good start. The first hour continued with a fish coming almost every cast and by the end of it I'd hit my tagert of 15 fish. The only problem was most of them were around 12ozs and not the 1lb - 1lb 8ozs fish I'd hoped for.

I changed hookbait to a banded 8mm pellet and this improved thing slightly with a few slightly larger specimens but there were still too many small ones. By the end of hour 3 I was still on target with 47 carp now in the net.

Hour 4 was a little better with 24 Carp gracing my net and in this were a few better fish, I still felt frustrated that I was catching so many smaller samples though.

Into Hour 5 and I was hoping to pick up a few bigger fish from the margin line I'd been feeding all day. By now there were tail patterns everywhere so there were obviously some decent carp rooting around tight to the reeds on my right. After 15 minutes more on the Pellet Waggler I put it to one side and shipped out my margin rig, a Malman Thicko with a size 12 B911 tied direct to 5lb maxima, bait was a large lump of paste. Straight away the pole was almost ripped from my hand and I was attached to a rather angry Common carp of around 5lbs. Eventually the elastic did it's work and the fish was safely netted. Next put in and the same happened, this time a Carp of around 3lb being the culprit. Then the margin line died. All I could connect with was a few roach and a skimmer of about 12ozs. Another pot of pellets went in and it was back on the Wag for 15 minutes.
4 carp later and I went back on the margin line, now it was really solid and Carp after Carp came to the net right up until the "All Out". I was still frustrated though as they were still only smaller Carp. My final fish count was 92 so I'd beaten my target but would I beat the 'Ton', I was doubtful, those 12oz Carp might just not be big enough.

Word going round was that, surprise surprise, Nick had caught well and so it turned out with him winning Peartree with 117lbs 1oz. Matt Love was 2nd on Peartree with 88lb 10ozs. Rusty Groves was 1st to weigh on Bramley and he had a superb 137 fish going 125lb 1oz almost all caught shallow. Next it was my turn, 3 weighs later and the final total was......................... ................... .............................................................................. 80lb 10zs. Oh well, not the 'Ton' I'd hoped for but still a decent return from my first match fishing the Pellet Wag.

I'd enjoyed the day and got seriously sunburnt in the bargain , I just didn't realise how hot the sun was, the breeze off my back was keeping me quite cool all match.I was pleased to see I'd beaten a few decent anglers on the day including Derek Gladwin and Andy Silver.

Congratulatons Rusty on the match win, even though you were pegged next to me I didn't have chance to watch your display of shallow pole fishing, never mind there's always another day.

Can I do it again? who knows, but I'm certainly looking forward to the next time I get the chance to fish the Pellet Wag.

2008-06-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Maggotdrowning.com Individual Champs

14th June 2008

Packington Somers Fishery Meriden, Coventry.

Today was the annual Maggotdrowning Indivdiual Champs for 2008. Some superb prizes had been donated and the first 3 anglers were to the lucky recipients of a brand new seatbox kindly donated by Jim Burton of Matchbox. 6 reels had also been donated and were to form the 4th place prize and for each of the section winners. These had been kindly donated by John at The Matchmen, Nottingham.

Here's my take on the day.

My Individual Champs experience started with a 166 mile drive from Kent on Friday the 13th. I left home around 3.30pm hoping to miss the worst of the M25 traffic and was quite lucky until I reached Heathrow. 3 miles in about and hour wasn't exactly what I'd planned. Fortunately after this hold up things went well and I finally arrived at the B & B around 8.30pm. I booked in, dropped some stuff off in my room and popped off to the pub to find Bucko and his lady wife.
After an enjoyable pint we all left to make our way back to the digs, however I forget to tell Bucko I was popping down to the Bull in Meriden to say Hi, to Simonelsey, Aigy and CroydonAngler. Bucko being the nice caring soul that he is started panicking and was soon ringing his way round the Maggotdrowners trying to find someone who had my mobile no. Peter and Dirk both heard from him, however, they were wasting their time trying to ring me as I hadn't got any signal on my T Mobile phone anyway. (Bloody things got to go.) Rumour has it Peter told Bucko "I was probably at the bottom of a ditch somewhere but he was sure I'd find my way home soon". Thanks for showing your compassionate side Peter.

After a decent nights sleep I woke refreshed and ready to go and was soon pulling in to the fishery, mind you it was only 3 minutes from the B & B. First impressions were very good, a nice looking golf course along side the drive and lakes in the distance. Arriving in the large car park I could see a number of MDers standing around chatting clearly looking forward to the day. By the time of the draw 42 excited MDers had turned up and an orderly queue was formed as hands went in the draw bag hoping for a favoured peg. Before the draw John, the fishery manager, had told me he thought the match would be won from one of the island pegs in the mid 40's so when I saw local expert Missabite had drawn 44 I was fairly sure he'd be somewhere in the frame come the end of the match. For the record Peter drew me peg 37, he had peg 48 and Dirk was miles away on peg 15.

Arriving at peg 37 it certainly looked very inviting, probaly the nicest peg I'd seen all the way round the lake. Llillies either side of me and a bay in the island with reeds fringing it. I stood and surveyed the peg before settling on what to do.

My plan of action was to fish the feeder tight across to the island and also feed two pole lines, one at 8 metres and the other in the margins close to the lillies. At the All In if potted in a couple of pots of chopped worm and caster on each pole line and then cast the feeder in to the bay opposite. 10 minutes in and no bite so I picked up the pole and tried the 8 metre line. first drop in and the float sailed awy. However I didn't meet with the expected hard fight of a Crucian but the jig jagging of a tiny perch. Next put in and the same result so I decided to go back on the feeder.
As the hour mark approached the tip flew round and Bream no.1 was soon in the net, a nice looking fish of around 2lbs or so I thought. (more of that later) A couple of casts later and another Bream was in the net slightly bigger this time. As the match progressed I'd take a couple of Bream and then have a quiet spell befoe taking another couple. At the 3 hour mark I was happy and estimated I'd probably got maybe 30lbs. Next cast and as I waited foir a bite I rang Peter to see how he was doing, I think I managed a couple of words before I had to drop the phone and dive for the rod as it tried to make it's way in to the lake. Haning on for dear life I managed to turn the fish before it got too far through the reeds and slowly managed to gain some ground. This was clearly much bigger than anything i'd caught so far so I took my time suspecting it may be one of the large resident Tench. Sadly for me as the fish surfaced beside the landing net I saw it was a Carp of about 10lbs so I skillfully knocked it off the hook without the need to lift it from the water. Next cast and I barely had chance to put the rod in the rest before the tip bent double and another good fish was on. i wondered whether this may be a Carp too as the fight was similar however, I was happy to see a nice looking Tench surface just in front of me which was safely netter. I guessed it was about 4lbs. Back in again and I was on again this time a Bream of maybe 3lbs. I eventually got round to ringing Peter again and perhaps wished I hadn't as after telling him about my last few minutes he didn't sound too happy and hung up muttering something about 2 tiny perch and a skimmer.
With about 30 minutes to go word reached me that that I was catching better than most and was apparently in the lead, well that made me smile and I celebrated with another Bream. By now I thought I'd got maybe 50lbs. A few more smaller bream/skimmers and it was time to blow the whistle for the end of the match. Dry Nets to my right came to see me and said he thought I'd probably got around 60lbs and must be in line for a win as he hadn't heard of anyone else having that much. In no time at all the scales reached my peg and a quick look at the wiegh sehhts showed Matt Nutt in the lead with just over 40lbs and Mike Globe next with 38lbs. I was pretty sure I'd beaten both of them and was feeling quite good for a change. Then my day turned sour, the scalesman shouted 29lb 13ozs, are you sure? I asked him to check again and he said 29-13. I was absolutely stunned. I was so shocked that I checked my nets for any large holes the mice might have made. Drynets just looked at me in disbelief. I can only think the bream were hollow after spawning which accounted for them not weighing anything near their size. Still I was in 3rd place and hadn't heard of much being caught from the pegs after me so was still in with a shout of a frame place and a lovely shiny new Matchbox Seatbox. My joy was to be short lived when only 4 pegs later Missabite put 43lbs 12ozs on the scales to push me down to 4th. I followed the scales round to Peter and couldn't help smiling inwardly when he weighed a huge 5lbs 9ozs . Sadly with all the roganistion I'd been doing for the draw I'd forgotten to have our customary £1 side bet.
The last few pegs were weighed and I held on to 4th place but couldn't help but feel disappointed as I'd used my clicker to roughly estimate my weight and it showed 47lbs. How did I get it so wrong?
Back at the clubhouse and after I'd worked out the places the presentations were made, with special thanks going to Ray Best for arranging the superb prizes and to the fishery staff for looking after us so well and carrying out the fastest, most efficent weigh in I'd ever seen.
A huge array of raffle prizes were up for grabs and thanks were given to Bucko's wife (I can never remember her name) and to Roger for sorting out the raffle. It seemed to take forever, but was worth it with £224 being raised to be split between The Kent Air Ambulance and Great Ormond Steeet Hospital for Sick Children.
After everyone had I left I sat and looked back on the day, I concluded that it had been a great success. the fishery was lovely, the company excellent as always and the banter up to it's usual standard. Highlight of the day had to be when halfway through the raffle Dave realised someone had picked up the bottle of wine he'd won earlier on. he'd put it on the table in front of him and one of the later prize winners had picked it up thinking it was still up for grabs, the look on his face was priceless.
Will I run it all again next? Of course I will, I just need to start considering a venue.
I made one final note to myself before I left and that was to speak to Nick Gilbert about lessons in weight estimation, we all know how good he is at that.

Charity Fundraiser - Monk Lakes - 17/05/2008

2008-05-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Arriving at Monk Lakes the weather was looking decidedly dodgy , for a moment I thought Malc was visiting Kent . A good number of Anglers, Danglers, Maggotdrowners, Venue Experts and Paul East (looking tired as usual) were eagerly tucking into sausage sticks from the food van and looking forward to a decent days fishing. Dirk had rung to say he was stuck on the M25 behind an accident and would be late.The talk was all about which pegs people wanted to draw or perhaps didn't want to draw and estimates of the winning weight varied from 70 - 150lbs.

The draw went smoothly and my home for the day was to be peg 61 half way along the causeway, not where I wanted to be as the wind and rain were to be right in my face all day.I settled on fishing 3 lines today, 2 in the margins to my left and right and out in front at 8 metres. As a back up I'd brought along a feeder rod set up in a ready rod bag in case things were tough. As is customary I'd joined in a £1 side bet with Peter, Paul and Dirk.

2 large cups of 6mm Skrettings pellet went in on each of the margin lines with 3 pots going in a 8 metres. Leaving these lines to settle I chucked the feeder about 20 metres and sat back and waited. The wait wasn't long as Carp no.1 was soon in the net after taking my paste hookbait. Back out and within seconds the tip went round again and an Ide of about 1lb was quickly landed. Then things died and the tip sat motionless for about 10 minutes. On to the right hand margin line with 6mm expander and a small skimmer was the first to take the bait. 2 more put ins and 2 more baby skimmers made me think I should leave the margins for a while longer. A trip to 8 metres proved no better so it was back to the feeder. 2 more Carp quickly followed and then nothing. The match for me continued like this for the next 3 hours, the odd fish from the margins and a couple of fish from the feeder but I just couldn't get them to feed confidently.

Looking around throughtout the match it seemed no-one was particularly bagging although Peter told me Simon Edwards was doing quite well. Every so often I would take a slightly better fish but in the main they were all quite small. No Green Tench, Golden Tench or Barbel seemed to be present in my swim so it was a case of sitting it out for the Carp. I carried on taking the odd fish on the feeder till the end of the match and felt a little dissapointed that I hadn't done better but they were just too finicky.As the weigh started James North was leading with 52lb 12ozs till we reached John Haigh who had 58lbs. Phil Brice then bettered that with 66lbs 8ozs from peg 48. A lot of people were complaining about how bad the fishing had been but it was clearly down to the change in the weather since last weekend.

By the end of the weigh in Nick Allen ran out the winner with a creditible 73lbs 12ozs on a difficult day. Well done Nick. Most of his fish were Carp taken 3 sections out on paste. I finished with a dismal 27lbs 6ozs beating Dirk and Paul , however Peter took another £1 from me with 34lbs 40zs. Unfortunatly the weigh sheets got rather wet during the weigh in and by the time I'd got home they had welded themselves together making them impossible to read. Luckily I'd already started making a new list which stayed dry so I'd still got the top twenty weights.

Nick Allen 73-12
Phil Brice 66-08
Peter Allen 63-12
Graham Flynn 62-00
Ian Carley 61-00
John Haigh 58-00
James North 52-12
Simon Edwards 52-08
Dennis Price 50-12
Trevor Little 46-00
Dave Barr 36-08
Peter Morton 34-04
Gary Cross 34-02
Steve Holden 33-12
Simon Elsey 32-08
Jeff Driscoll 32-00
Alan Loader 30-08
Mike Jameson 28-04
Vince Gould 27-06
Matt Love 27-04

Section 1 P Brice 66-08 J Haigh 58-00

Section 2 P Allen 63-12 G Flynn 62-00

Section 3 N Allen 73-12 S Edwards 52-08

Section 4 A Loader 30-08 C Pritchard 21-08.

The main winner from the match are the two charities who benefit from the http://www.disabled-angler.co.uk charity match series, Rainbows Childrens Hospice and Macmillan Nurses. The match, the 2 auctions and a donation from Lexus Park Lane brought in £540. Finally thanks to everyone who took part, helped with the organisation and especially Braham & Murray who gave us 4 cases of their hemp products which we gave out to every competitor. As soon as all the money is in I'll forward a cheque to Dirk.

Hawkhurst revisited

2008-04-29T15:06:00.001-07:00

After last weekends poor performance at Hawkhurst Fish Farm, Al suggested on the Maggotdrowning forum that we go back for another go. Unfortunately a few from the previous visit couldn't go but 9 of us cdecided to try again.
The match lake is renowned for it's huge catches but as last week showed conditions have to be right. This weekend looked much better with reasonably settled weather the week before and warm sunshine greeting us on arrival.

As the cafe wasn't opening till 9am it was agreed that we would do the draw, set up and then go for breakfast before the all in at 10am. The favoured draw today was either peg 1 or peg 10 both end pegs. Hands went in to the draw bag and everyone was keeping quiet. I drew peg 4 which was OK as there was to be no-one on peg 3 giving me a bit of room. Trevor Little (M.T.Net) had peg 10 whilst Keith, who had only been fishing since christmas drew peg 1.

My plan of attack today was to be 3 lines, one at 5 metres in front, one at 3 metres tight to the boards on my right and one at 5 metres tight to the boards on the left. 2 cupfulls of 4mm skrettings pellets were fed on each line and I started by fishing tight to the bottom at 5 metres with paste. Despite a few taps and knocks, after 5 minutes I was still fishless whilst all around me everyone seemed to be catching. A switch to 6mm soft pellet did the trick and fish no.1 was safely netted, a carp of around 2lbs. Back out and carp no.2 was soon in the keepnet with it's brother. Things continued like this for about 3o minutes when suddenly the line died, I'd been feeding a small pinch of pellets every put in so wondered whether one of the larger residents had disturbed things. I fed another pot of pellets and dropped in on the margin line to my left.

No sooner had the bait touched bottom and the elastic shot from the pole and an angry, foul hooked fish charged away. Elastic today was a preston 12 solid and this handled things comfortably and soon enough the fish was netted. By switching lines I kept fish coming and was fairly happy with my catch rate although Colin and Dave the Fish both seemed to be doing alittle better. With about 2 hours to go I got another 3 pint bait box of pellets out of my carryall and promptly knocked the whole lot straight in to the lake right next to the platform. Unfortunately that was all the feed pellet I had left apart from a few left in the previous box. I worried that this may cause me problems but soldiered on. Shortly after my family arrived and sat behind me eating lunch before disappearing of after about 45 minutes.

During the time they were there I had lifted the pole in to a fish on the 5 metre line which seemed intent on trying to stretch my laccy to the limit. eventually I managed to get it under control and started to lift it to the surface ready for netting. I was a little surprsied when I noticed another length of line hanging from it's mouth together with a complete pole rig. I had hooked the fish perfectly in the mouth so It was obviously not affected by the rig it had been towing round. At around 5lbs it was my biggest fish of the day.

Back to the margin line and it seemd that the family's visit had upset things and the fish had been spooked. I continued to catch a few fish but the catch rate had dropped right off without any feed pellets it was going to be difficuklt to do much about it.

At the whistle I guessed I'd got maybe 85lb, not bad, but clearly not enough to win as Dave had had a fabulous last hour whilst there were rumours Trevor had caught well on Peg 10.

As the scales made there way along it appeared that the weights were much improved on the previous week, a special mention must go to Keith on peg 1 who fishing only his 2nd knock up had managed a creditible 47lb 8oz. Ali on peg 2 led the way with 167lb 8oz with Tony just behind on 157lbs when the scales reached Dave the Fish. 3 weighs later and Dave had taken the lead with a superb 190lbs. Finally the scales got to Trevor who told me at the end of the match he may have around 130lbs (we'll see). Again 3 weighs later and some carefull addition Tony's net of fish went exactly 200lbs. A cracking weight but somewhat more than his estimate, if he continues to estimate his catches that badly he'll be rivalling Nick Gilbert.

My final total was 88lbs, an enjoyable days fishing but one which could have been so much better had I not been so clumsy.

Joseph's first fish

2008-04-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my 5 year old son started pestering me to take him fishing. Those at the recent Hawkhurst get together will remember that he was still pestering me a week later.

I finally relented and the next day we decided to pop along to the small pond close to the mother in laws home. Some time ago I'd bought him a little 3 metre whip and set it up with a small dibber float with a size 16 B911 tied direct to 4lb maxima. Bait was to bread punch. After feeding a small nugget of liquidised bread the first put in resulted in solid resistence and with some expert coaching from me he landed a small common carp.

I can't ever remember seeing some one so excited about catching a fish and he insisted on posing for the camera with his prize.
We continued to fish for about an hour until he got a bit restless but in that time he managed to catch another 15 small carp and a couple of roach.Somehow I think he'll want to go fishing again.

Wet and miserable at Hawkhurst

2008-04-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today was the Maggotdrowning.com day out at Hawkhurst Fish Farm in deepest Kent. As with most of these get togethers they turn in to friendly matches and this was no exception. 20 guys turned up on a cold wet morning and after devouring a nice cooked breakfast we set about tempting the resident carp to feed. There are certainly plenty to tempt as there are over 4 & 1/2 tons of fish in the lake.

The match lake is the small strip lake on the left and holds 20 pegs.

I was situated in the top left of the lake.

Here's my report on the day.

My day was somewhat of a disappointment to be honest. I hadn't really fished much so far this year so was up for some serious bagging. It started well enough when Clive having travelled all the way from Reading very kindly drew me Peg 1, the so called flyer peg. I'd been informed that when Peter and one or two of the others looked upon arrival there were so many fish in the swim that I could have walked across it. Off I went with a smile on my face looking forward to a real bagging fest. After 2 & 1/2 hours I'd only got two small carp to show for my efforts and then the rain started.

Whilst I'm really pleased with the Boss box I bought from Peter there's no easy way of attaching a support to attach my brolly to so I moved my box across to the side of the platform and stuck the brolly in the grass. 2 minutes later and the brolly fell over landing with a crash behind me. Oh well up the bank it went and I sat there in the rain unable to buy a bite.

I tried close to the boards a metre from the corner, 4 metres from the corner and 6 metres straight out in front but the fish didn't want to play ball. I shallowed up and tried up in the water but that didn't work either. I decided to cup in a pint of pellet at 6 metres in front and went for a wee. When I returned after having a chat with DTF I shipped out and caught a carp of around 2lbs first put in. 2nd put in and it's brother followed, maybe I'd cracked it. However it wasn't to be. An hour later and only 1 other fish a goldfish of about 1lb to show for my hard work and I was getting frustrated. There were bites happening but they were really iffy just little taps and dinks and they wouldn't take it properly. I tried changing a few things but that didn't work either. The only good thing was Nick G 2 pegs along was having mare and I was beating him.

I struggled on till the end managing to occasionally snare a fish or two until the all out. It had been hard work and as far as I could see quite a lot had struggled like me. Apart from DTf who had really wound me up by catching pretty much all day from the peg directly in front of me and from what I could see he was doing nothing different from what I was.

A chat with the bailiff after the match made me feel a bit better when he said my peg never fished well with an easterly wind so I wasn't quite so upset at my performance. Maybe next time I go to Hawkhurst the sun will be out and I'll draw the peg again and really bag up, mind you I doubt it.

The final indignity was having to give Peter £2 as he'd well and truly beaten me, look after it Peter and keep it shiny, it's coming back to me next time we fish together.

Smile Pete, that cost me a quid that did.

Oh and Petermid the new landing net was all my own doing I hope you like it, although the look on your face when it was presented to you told me you weren't too happy about your latest bit of Preston Immitation kit. I wonder what you'll get next time the MD's go out perhaps it will be a seatbox leg attachment for your jam jar.

My next serious trip out will be a charity match I'm organising at Monk Lakes on the 17th May in aid of Macmillan Nurses. Before then I hope to have a few pleasure sessions including one at Hartleylands Farm before it changes to a private membership fishery.

Back to Shannons - 9th Feb 2008

2008-02-11T16:22:00.000-08:00

After my practice day a couple of weeks ago it was back to Shannons match lake to see if things had improved.

Well as usual it was a nice day out in great company. I wasn't surprised when Peter stuck his hand in the draw bag and picked the peg next to me, especially after all the stick I'd been getting before the draw. Still at least I'd have a chance to see what he was catching and try to beat him (not something that happens too often).

Things started slowly with the odd tap on the feeder which didn't come to anything so after half an hour I dropped a couple of maggots in on the pole line and the float buried. The strike was met with solid resistance and.....................................a 2oz roach was landed without too much trouble.That proved to be it for a while until a change back to the feeder started to bring the odd bite which I missed with ease. On about the tenth cast the feeder had just hit the water when the rod was almost ripped rom my hands and a rather angry carp did it's best to go and visit DTF on the far bank. With only a light hooklength it was clenched buttocks time and hold on especially as I'd clipped up and had no line to give. eventually the carp swam towards me and after a few minutes was safely in the net. The lake owner Shannon said "nice fish, probably about 5-6lbs" which proved to be a bit of a Nick Gilbert estimate as the fish went 9lb 4ozs when weighed at the end of the day.

Another smaller carp followed about half an hour later before the feeder line died. I managed 1 gudgeon, a miniscule perch and a couple more roach before the end but was left to rue two lost carp, one on the pole with about an hour to go and another on the feeder as the whistle went. Again this carp seemed intent on getting round the back of the island and unfortunately the hook pulled. Felt like a good fish too.All in all a fun day out made all the better by beating Peter for once.

Thanks to Bill for organising the day and I look forward to going back when the weathers warmer and the fish have got over the two floods the lake has recently suffered.

Shannons Fishery - Eridge Green. 27th Jan 2008

2008-02-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

A week or so back Bill G posted asking for someone to take him fishing so having not managed to get out on the bank for a while I jumped at the chance of a day out. Now where should we go? Monks, Hartleylands, Framfield, Mushroom Farm all sounded appealing but I wanted to go somewhere I hadn'y been before. I decided to see whether there was any chance of a sneaky days practice at Shannons match lake ahead of our plannned get together on the 9th February. A PM to Bill was all that was needed to secure a day out and it seemed I wasn't the only one with the same idea as arriving at the fishery Bill told me that Dave the Fish and Tony (Spamwham) would also be joining us.Being the friendly people that we are we let Dave have his usual swim just inside the gate whilst Bill, Tony and I opted for pegs on the right hand bank. This was to be my home for the day.

Following Bill's advice I set up a top kit with a 12 elastic to fish at 9-10 metres. I potted in a large cup of pellet baited with 2 red maggots and sat back and waited for a bite. The lake had flooded heavilly recently so that was possibly going to have an affect on the fishing. 2 minutes later and fish no.1 was landed. It was only a small Roach but hopefully things would get better. As the day wore on it quickly became apparent that the Carp were not playing ball and the only fish showing were the Roach. Tony did finally manage a Carp of around 6lbs his peg at the far end of the lake but was finding the going hard. After suffering loads of tiny twitchy bites which came to nothing I decided to have a wander over to the small river that runs alongside the fishery to see what I could catch. Reports from Bill of loads of Chub and some Barbel had whet my appetite and to be honest anything was better than the tiny Roach I had been catching. First run through showed that the depth was only maybe 3 feet and the flow was quite strong but I still fancied it for a fish or two. After a couple of unsuccessful swims I settled beside a lovely long (approx 30 yard glide) that just screamed Chub. After feeding a small handful of maggots I baited with 2 reds and started the 1st run through. Halfway down the run and the float buried and I was attached to my 1st Chub of the day. After a little difficulty due to the over hanging trees and a landing net that wasn't really long enough I safely landed the fish. A nice Chub of around 2lbs was soon back in the water and my run 2nd through had started.

(Sorry about the picture quality but I took the photo with my phone.)

As before the float reached about halfway down the run and buried again. The strike was met with somewhat more resistence and a rather angry Chub did it's best to get in to any snags it could find.After getting caught in the trees a few times I finally netted the fish and this time it was a better Chub of around 4lbs.The next hour or so continued in similar fashion and when I finally decided to go back to the lake I had caught 6 Chub between 1 & 4lbs 5 Roach between 6ozs and 1lb and a soilitary huge fat Gudgeon.I'd really enjoyed fishing the river, it was something I hadn't done for far too long.Back to the lake and I potted in some more 4mm pellet and again dropped the rig in baited with 2 red maggots and waited. Unfortunately the Roach were still there and a succession of them between 2 and 4ozs frustrated me for the next hour. Bill started to pack away as he had a prior engagement to go to and as he came up to say goodbye I hooked into something slightly bigger. the 12 elastic did it's job well and a beautiful Mirror Carp of arounf 5lbs nestled in my landing net. It really was a stunning fishing with gorgeous scale patterns and will look superb when it gets to 15lbs.Tony and Bill had both managed to catch Carp but poor Dave hadn't had a sniff of one. I expect he'll come up with some excuse but then a bad fisherman always blames his tackle (or in Dave's case, someone else's tackle as in his excitement at having a sneaky days practice he left all his top kits at home) .

Thanks for the day out Bill, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There wasn't much I learnt about the match lake prior to my match there in a couple of weeks time, but I did learn something from the day,

1) pack a shorter rod for the river,

2) take a longer landing net handle and

3) pack a feeder rod as the island in front of me looked so inviting.

I'm looking forward to the 9th when hopefully the Carp will come out to play.

Back at Monk Lakes

2007-09-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

I received a message from Peter Morton saying that he and Red Leader (Dave Webster) were going to visit Monk lakes for a few hours fishing on Sunday so I decided to go along for a few hours myself. Bill Gibbins was also going to join us so it was turning out to be a bit of a Maggotdrowning day out. I met up with Bill at Hawkhurst fish farm around midday so he could follow me to the venue and after about 15 minutes we were pulling in to the car park at Monks. He told me that he had just heard from Dave and that he and Peter were running late and wouldn't arrive till around 1 o'clock so we decided to have a coffee and a walk around to find some suitable pegs.

Most of the match lakes were very busy with matches on lakes 1 & 2 and it soon appeared that lakes 3 was busy too with a small 15 peg club match on the far bank of lake 4. After looking around for a while longer we settled on a few pegs on lake 4 well away from the match. As we got back to the cars to collect our gear my phone rang and it was yet another Maggotdrowner, Dave the Fish asking where we were as he'd too come along to fish for a few hours. Soon enough we arrived at our pegs and set about targetting the lakes fish stocks. I had travelled light today and had just taken along my pole so set up just 2 rigs both with 4 x 14 Malman "Thicko" floats, one a margin rig to be fished tight to the reeds to my left and the second at 6 metres set full depth. Plumbing up straight in front I found about 4 feet of water at 6 metres although the bottom seemed to shelve off slightly the further right I went, the margins had around 2 feet.

As I had fished the lake a few days before I knew it wasn't necessary to cup my feed in so just threw 3 good handfuls of 6mm Skrettings carp pellets on my main line and a couple in the margins. First put in resulted in a small but perfectly formed mirror carp around 8ozs which was followed by it's twin soon after. Things continued like this for some time before I connected with one of the lakes resident tench which gave a good account of itself before being safely netted. At just short of 5lbs it was a lovely fish and one of many I hoped.

Shortly after catching the tench Dave and Peter arrived and set up in two my to my right. Dave had travelled all the way down from Yorkshire to drop his wife and daughter in London so they could go to the Prince concert at the O2 arena so looked a little jaded as he set up his gear. Peter had brought along his new Shakespeare Mach 3, 11ft micro pellet waggler rod to give it another work out. He'd used at Rolfs Lake firt time out and it had handled Rolfs big fish very well. It certainly looks and feels a very nice rod.

All around the lads were catching fish, well almost all of us as Dave was doing his usual garden Gnome impression, perhaps if he wasn't such a tight arsed yorkie he might feed enough pellet to actually draw some fish in to his peg. Bill to my left was bagging small carp and to be honest was getting a little bored when he latched in to something better. He too had managed to find a lovely tench and soon after had snared another. Dave the Fish was busy feeding the margins with copious amounts of hemp whilst taking afew few fish from around 5 metres. Being the nice man that he is he popped off to the food wagon and bought us all coffee and burgers, good on ya Dave and we took a break.

Red Leader started catching a few fish after this and was well pleased to also land a nice Tench.

By now the match on lake 2 had finished and Peter decided to move across to it and catch some fish from the margins as the swim was alive with fish. It seemed to be a wise choice as soon enough his rod was bending under the strain of numerous carp to 5lbs and about a dozen barbel to 2lbs. Bill, having only caught one barbel before of arounds 6ozs, popped over to Peter and borrowed his rod to try and beat this. Despite trying hard he just couldn't catch one it was carp after carp for him. After 15 minutes of trying he handed Peter back his rod and as he stood and watched in disbelief as Peter immediately caught another barbel. Poor Bill was gutted especially when a little later I dropped in to the peg next to Peter and caught one of around 2lb 8ozs soon afterwards.

All in all it was an enjoyable few hours on the bank. Bill will have to come back again to break the barbel hoodoo and I'm sure Peter and the others will be there to cheer him on.

Monk Lakes - Match Lake 4 - 3rd September 2007

2007-09-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

As I was due back to work on Wednesday 4th September after 6 weeks holiday (I work as a teaching assistant) I decided to finish my summer break with a visit to Monk Lakes at Marden, Kent. One of the main reasons was to see how a trapped nerve in my elbow affected my fishing especially as I've got a couple of matches coming up. A while ago I had watched the old catfish lake being emptied, dredged and re-stocked and fancied a day fishing what is now known as match lake 4. The lake is stocked with all the usual suspects, as far as Monk Lakes goes, although there are a larger amount of silver fish rather than carp. I had read reports recently of winning match weights of 100lbs+ so was looking forward to a good day.

Upon reaching the lake the wind was blowing quite strongly, no surprise there then, so I looked for somewhere reasonably comfortable to set up. I finally decided on peg 140, a featureless peg compared to many of the others, but with the wind off my back making fishing a little easier.

My plan of attack was going to be a main line at 5 metres and a margin swim to my right in case the main line failed. Both rigs consisted of a Malman floats 4 x 14 Thicko, 5lb main line to 4lb hooklength and a size 14 Preston PR28. Plumbing up I found 5 feet at 5 metres whilst the margin swim had around 2 feet. I started by cupping in 3 pots of 6mm skrettings pellets on the main line and 2 of the same in the margin swim before baiting the rig with 2 grains of corn. First put in and the float buried after about 5 seconds and I found myself attached to one of the smallest tench I've ever caught. Still it was fish so no blank for me today.

Back in with the corn and this time I was attached to something a little better, a small carp about 6ozs in beautiful condition. The tail was a very bright red colour something you don't see that much.

The next 2 hours continued in similar fashion with loads of tench in the 6-8oz bracket as well as a few carp, then things started to change. I wondered whether any better fish may have been sitting slighlty off the feed so added another section. Shipping back out, this time with 3 small grains of corn, the float dissapeared almost as soon as it had settled and I was suddenly attached to something stretching my Vespe 14 solid elastic to it's extreme. I had heard there were a good number of decent tench in the lake and hoped this was one of them, and so I proved when I slipped the net under a tench of around 3lbs.

Ron, the bailiff had agreed I could use a keepnet if I wanted to for some photo's at the end of the session so I laid it out gently in the margins in the hope that there were more larger tench to come. Back in and again there was decent resistence on the strike, it looked like the bigger fish had finally found my feed. and another tench of the same size was safely deposited in the keepnet. The next 2 hours were fantastic as quality tench came one after the other until I packed up at 2.30pm.

My final tally was 103 fish, 63 small tench to 8ozs, 8 carp to 1lb, 10 skimmers to 1lb and 22 tench in the 3-5lb bracket. A lovely bag of fish and barely a carp in sight. Below is just a few of the fish I caught.
All in all it was a superb days fishing, one that I look forward to repeating soon. My arm stood up to the fishing fairly well although it wouldn't manage fishing anything much more than 5-6 metres or catching anything that pulled back stronger than those I caught today.

Southern Intersite, Willow Park 4th August 2007

2007-08-11T02:05:00.000-07:00

For the 2nd year running I had volunteered to captain the Maggotdrowning.com team for the Southern Intersite match at Willow Park. We had assembled a motley crew of anglers all keen to do well, although the usual way to do things with the Maggotdrowners is to come last in section and finish last overall.

The match was held over Small, Middle and Big lakes meaning there were a number of options to tackling the fish. I had opted for Big lake as this involved a lot of feeder flinging which suited me. Drawing peg 59 I was quite pleased as the area had been throwing up some decent catches of bream in the weeks previous. For company on peg 57 I had something of a venue expert, Perry Stone, although he wasn't admitting to being very happy about his peg as he said it was just out the the area he wanted to be.

There was a light breeze blowing across the lake so feeder rods were set up for a thirty yard chuck to a gravel bar and a margin pole for any lumps that may be hiding under the bush to my right later in the match.

The all in sounded and everything went well with a bream of around 2lbs coming to the net first cast. 2nd cast and another fish was on it's way in , a little smaller this around 1lb. Then it went dead, no bites, no liners nothing. I fired out a a few balls of groundbait and fished under the bush with the margin pole for 3o minutes to let the feeder line settle. A few 4 oz perch took my maggot hookbait before I went back on the feeder. Unfortuantely it still seemed dead on this line but I decided to stick at it. After about an hour I had managed another couple of reasonable bream but not much else. Things continued like this till the end apart from the huge carp I hooked and lost under the bush with 10 minutes to go. It just didn't want to stop. At the weigh in I put 6lbs on the scales only just beaten by Perry on peg 57 with 87lbs !!!!!! No wonder I coudn't catch anything he'd got them all in front of him. (so much for a peg he didn't fancy)

Back at the clubhouse things were looking like they normally do with most team members finishing low down in their sections, a couple managing less than a pound. The results were announced and at least we'd kept up the tradition of coming last in these events.

Thanks to Dave Pearson for organising the day, can we go somewhere else next year ?

MD Pairs Weekend - Rolfs Lake 28th/29th July 2007

2007-08-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

This was a fishing outing I'd been looking forward since last year and it proved to be another fabulous weekend in wonderful company. The fishing Saturday was a little difficult to say the least but if it was always easy we wouldn't enjoy it would we. 6 bites and 5 fish from peg 28 was not much of a return for 5 hours fishing but I still enjoyed the day. The evening proved to be even better with a superb BBQ and copius amounts of alcohol consumed by some, well mainly by Simon (me) who kept us all amused by falling over his chair, staggering around and generally making a complete arse of himself. It was good to see Rolf turn up to watch the proceedings and also great that he felt up to staying around into the evening. I finally clambered into the car to sleep around 1am, tired but reasonably sober.

Sunday morning came and I drew peg 25, just along from where I was the day before. this time I was deternmined to do better so set up 3 rigs, 1 margin rig, 1 for 7 metres and a shallow rig for fishing long. I also decided to put a feeder rod together for the first hour. As with Saturday things started slowly although I did manage 1 carp of around 3lbs from the 7 metre line. Next peg along was Gemma who was clearly not happy and just couldn't seem to get in the mood for fishing. (too tired from the day before catching all those fish I guess ) Bites were slow to come by but I did catch a few more small carp on the feeder before even that line dried up. Desperate times called for desperate measures and with an hout to go I threw the pole up the bank and set up a pellet waggler. With 11 mm banded hard pellet on the hook out went the float and almost immediately I was into something substantially bigger. At the scales it went 15lbs 8ozs, a lovely common in fabulous condition. Back to my peg and out went the waggler again, 10 seconds later and I was in again. This was another common which took the scales around to 10lbs. Third cast and another carp was on, this time 12lbs 8ozs. I started to wonder what was going on. Then everyting went quiet. The fish had disappeared. 30 minutes later and carp no.s 5 and 6 finally arived which took my total on the board to 50lb+. Soon the all out sounded and I was left wondering what might I have caught if I'd fished the pellet wag all day.The weigh in went with it's usual precision and Dave finally announced that Peter and Tony had won the pairs trophy. Well done guys. A bigger shock was to come though when he said Chin and I were runners up !!!!!!!!!! I really thought my day 1 performance had confined us to mid table mediocrity.

A few final thank you's, Dave for all his hard work organising the whole thing, John and John at the fishery for looking after us so well,Gemma for letting me win my pound back on day two, Simon (Me) for making me laugh so much Saturday evening, and finally to everyone who came along and made the weekend what it was, thanks guys, it would be difficult to find a nicer bunch of people to spend time with.

Pellet Waggler versus Vitalin feeder

2006-09-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

As a photo journalist and regional correspondent for Southern Angler magazine I had been looking for something different to write an article about. After chatting to a couple of local anglers the following challenge match was organised.

The Battle of Hartleylands Farm

Two anglers enjoying tremendous success recently on the Kent Match scene are Mike Jameson (BCUK Team Sport One) and Nick Gilbert (Maidstone Victory). The excellent run of results has been down to having total confidence in 2 completely contrasting methods, Mike likes to fish “the Vitalin Feeder” whilst Nick favours the Pellet Waggler approach. Both are regular contributors to a number of angling forums on the Internet and through this a challenge was set to see which of the methods would win in a head to head match at Hartleylands Farm Fishery in Kent. A date was set and the customary £1 side bet agreed on and so it was that we arrived at the fishery on a warm day with little wind. After looking around both anglers decided to fish Bramley Lake, a 22 peg water with a central island stocked with a good head of match sized carp as well as plenty of silver fish. Nick settled in to peg 20 while Mike chose peg 17.

Nicks plan of attack was to fish the pellet waggler tight to the island with a view to drawing the fish closer to him as the match wore on. 2 rods were used, the first a 4g puddle chucker to 0.18 mainline and a 0.14 hooklength, a size 14 Drennan carp hook with a hair rigged bait band set anywhere between 12-24 in deep. The 2nd a 3.5AAA pellet waggler with 0.18 mainline(4LB) and a 0.16 hooklength, a size 12 Drennan carp hook with a hair rigged bait band. Set at about 10-12in deep.Mike method is simplicity itself, a Drennan open end feeder with the weight removed and replaced with a piece of rig foam to make the feeder float even when filled with the Vitalin groundbait. The feeder is attached to a Korum quick change bead free running on 0.20mm Ultima Power Plus mainline with a 0.148mm Daiwa Super Shinobi hooklength. Hookbaits would be presented on a hair rigged size 12 Preston PR21.

The 5 hour match started at 1.30pm and Mike started by making 5 casts of a large feeder full of Vitalin groundbait before even attaching a hooklength. The response from the fish was instant with Carp climbing over each other to get to the free offerings, there were certainly a large number of fish in the swim.

Nick by contrast had fed just one catapult full of pellet before landing his first fish, a lovely Common Carp of around 12ozs in pristine condition, this was shortly followed by it’s twin brother. Nick had 4 fish in his net before Mike caught his first and by the end of the first hour Nick was admitting to around 30 fish to Mike’s 26. All the fish were of a similar size which meant things were very close. Mike told me that he was somewhat frustrated as he was having a little trouble getting the fish to take his hook bait, not something he suffered with before when using this method. He said he was already considering changing things around by shortening his hooklength to see if it made a difference. 2 hours had gone by when I next checked in to see how things were going. Nick was catching steadily now having to wait only 4-5 seconds before his float disappeared and a fish hooked itself. He felt he probably had around 60 Carp in his net for around 50lbs. Mike however was still suffering, even though he’d landed 52 Carp he wasn’t happy and was having real trouble getting the hundreds of fish in front of him interested in his hook bait. So far he’d tried a variety of different sized cat and dog biscuits as well as various sized banded pellets but felt he was only connecting with a fish on 25% of his casts. Things had to change soon or else Mike would be in trouble.

During the third hour Nick said he had landed 42 Carp although the size seemed to be somewhat smaller with most fish only around the 8-12oz. He was catching every cast though and was finding that if he cast a little away from his feed he caught slightly bigger specimens. Mike’s catch rate had improved by now to 84 fish but this was partly down to a change made to his feeder. He had removed the rig foam and not re-attached the weight which meant was allowing the feeder to sink very slowly. The change was also bringing a better stamp of fish with many around the pound mark.

Over the next two hours Nick’s catch rate seemed to be getting better, his bait barely hitting the water before another Carp was on it’s way in. It was interesting to watch Nick continuing to feed, sometimes two or three times whilst playing the fish to the net. Speaking to Mike confirmed my fears that he was continuing to suffer, unable to find a hookbait that would keep the fish coming. He would catch 2 or 3 and then nothing for 5 minutes before catching 2or 3 more. 10 minutes to go and Mike had conceded defeat already packing away his tackle, Nick in the meantime was perhaps catching even faster than before. Shortly after I called the “All Out” and it was time to weigh in. First to weigh was Nick, his 3 nets of carp totalling 135lbs 4ozs. Time now for Mike, 4 weighs later and he’d failed to make the “ton” but ended with a respectable 93lbs 10ozs, a good days fishing by anyone standards but not up to Mike’s expectations. Nick was delighted to have won and after handing over his £1 Mike was left to rack his brains as to what had gone wrong.