Hawkhurst revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.