Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Hailsham .May 18th, 2003.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Today was the first match of the new club season,and the venue was Falkenville Mushroom Farm just outside Hailsham in Sussex.
Now we’ve fished Falkenville before, normally on the main lake or the matchlake, but today we were trying a newer lake on the complex.
It’s a canal type lake about 12mtrs wide supposedly stocked with a bit of everything.
Unfortunately to say that it’s exposed would be an understatement and with a grey sky and strong winds everyone opted for the cooked breakfast in the barn before the draw, as it promised to be the best part of the day.
Well into the drawbag and peg 17 stuck to my hand, slap bang in the middle of the stretch, totally exposed and with just a few stick-ups to fish to, I just knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it.
The View from Peg 17 looking towards the low numbers…

As is usual on one of our club matches the wind dropped as we were setting up, lulling us into a false sense of hope, but as soon as the all in sounded the wind sprang up again,never to drop away again. 
Now most of the fish in the lakes at Falkenville are reared at the owners own fish farm and the killer bait is normally pellet or paste, and with no cover and a very shallow margin on my side the line of attack had to be across at 12 mtrs where I had a small shelf and about 3 ft of water.
Micro pellet with a few maggots and bits of sweetcorn were potted in with a Kinder cup and an expander pellet on the hook.
Bites were mere knocks, and trying to fish a dotted down float at 12 mtrs in a howling wind isn’t my idea of fun, but by chopping and changing I was able to nick a few little blade skimmers and Chublets.

Nearly everyone except the 2 end pegs were struggling when with an hour to go I had a run of 4 bites and 4 Carp. Alas they departed almost as soon as they had arrived, but I did have one more fish before the final whistle, a bit of a surprise ……… a small Barbel

Those 4 bonus fish boosted my weight at the end to 6lbs which was good enough for 4th on the day and  7 points towards the club championship. 

Old Bury Hill Fishery. Milton Lake. May 1st, 2003.

I dropped Maria off at work and made my way down to Old Bury Hill.
Now driving down there I was beginning to question my sanity, as the rain was lashing down though a few breaks in the clouds did promise some sunshine……… Still better than being at work though.
Now my favorite fish is the Crucian Carp, and Milton Lake holds a good head of these glorious fish that were originally stocked from Witley Park when Milton Lake was dug.
The weather seemed determined to do it’s worst and a clap of thunder greeted me as I arrived at the lake,along with a strong wind!!!!!

On my way I’d had a look at Bonds Lake, which is the 3rd lake on the complex. It’s a 20 peg match lake that is solid with Carp but these were not on the agenda for today.

So a quick wander round the lake, and I settled on peg 3. It’s got so many features to fish to that you’re spoilt for choice really, stick ups to the left, lilies straight out in front and reeds and a smaller lily bed to the right…………. Oh and the wind was blowing into it.
Standing there and pondering my plan I noticed some fish were already moving through the stick ups which could be reached on the pole at a comfy 10mtrs.
The approach was going to be simple, 10 elastic, a 4×12 float with strung shot ending in a size 16 PR24 and either sweetcorn or soft pellet on the hook at dead depth (about 3 feet) Feed was to be micropellets and a few grains of corn, fed every put in from a kinder cup.

1st off though, 2 big Drennan pots full of micro pellets and corn were fed over a 3 foot square area, 1 to feed off the Rudd (there’s loads of them) and 2 to hold any fish that were already in the swim. First put in with a grain of corn and the float just sinks?? Overshotted?? NO……… Rudd, a plump fin perfect example of about 6ozs.

A few more of those and then a bit of spirited resistance on the strike and a minute later there in the net is a Tench of about 2½lbs.
3 more follow, then a change to pellet brings the 1st Crucian of the session, and 1 more species ticked off on the Fishing Race.

Well that’s the way it went all day till I packed up at 4pm.
I’d like to say that I worked hard for all the fish, but in reality, it was an easy day…….. I had the bait and the fish wanted it.
17 Tench and 66 Crucians…….. Oh, and quite a few Rudd made it a bit of a Red Letter Day, Certainly better than a day at work.