Well today is a rare midweek day out with a few of the lads from Marsh AC and Maggotdrowners . Not a club match as such, just a days fishing as Kevin has returned to these shores for six weeks before he and Jean finally make their move to The Bahamas. So that Kevin can get a final bit of fishing in ahead of their departure we’d arranged this trip down to Hartleylands today along with a final official club match at Colemans Cottage on Saturday.
I’ve still got a few days of Holiday to fit in before the end of the year, so booked the day off to venture out for an all to rare weekday session. Loading up the car just before 6am it was noticeably chilly and the car thermometer only read 4°C. I’d arranged to meet a few of the lads at The Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast beforehand and when I got there Kevin, Jean and Al were already tucking in and we were soon joined by Tony and Jim. Soon we made our way down to the fishery to find the car park packed as there was a Police match on Nick’s and Bramley.
Dave soon had the draw organised and with just 13 of us fishing we just used the odd pegs on Peartree and I found Peg 19 in my hand. I soon had my gear round to the peg, though a soft trolley tyre made it harder work than usual.
I’ve still got a few days of Holiday to fit in before the end of the year, so booked the day off to venture out for an all to rare weekday session. Loading up the car just before 6am it was noticeably chilly and the car thermometer only read 4°C. I’d arranged to meet a few of the lads at The Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast beforehand and when I got there Kevin, Jean and Al were already tucking in and we were soon joined by Tony and Jim. Soon we made our way down to the fishery to find the car park packed as there was a Police match on Nick’s and Bramley.
Dave soon had the draw organised and with just 13 of us fishing we just used the odd pegs on Peartree and I found Peg 19 in my hand. I soon had my gear round to the peg, though a soft trolley tyre made it harder work than usual.
Settling in I had plenty of island to go at and I decided on a nice simple day fishing the method feeder, so setting up really took no time at all seeing as the rod was already set up in its ready sleeve. Indeed I had plenty of time to go back to the car and sort out my trolley tire.
For company today I had Tony to my right on Peg 17 and DaveT (Faye’s Dad) on Peg 15, while to my left on Peg 21 was Terry. Apart from the groundbait I just had a selection of pellets for the hook and a few maggots.
Dave blew the All-In at 10·15. I banded a white 6mm pellet and with the feeder clipped up dropped it around a foot from the island. Within 30 seconds the tip wrapped round and a nice little Common Carp of around 1lb was soon safely netted to get me off the mark. Back out and the tip wrapped again and Common number 2 was safely netted. The third cast produced exactly the same result, Happy Days.
Or not as it proved, subsequent casts produced not even a tremble on the tip, going through various hookbaits had no effect at all and after an hour I decided to get the pole out. A quick look in my box found a suitable rig, a 4X12 KC Tricky on 0·14 power match with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Plumbing up at around 9mtrs I found a nice even patch at around 3½ft deep. It was noticeable that nobody had really been catching much, apart from Bill up on Peg11, so I decided to go for it and balled 6 balls of groundbait in to see if I could draw a few fish, Then went back out on the method to let things settle. Another 20 minutes on the method produced nothing however, so time for the pole. 20 minute on the pole was biteless as well so I fed 2 pots of pellets and took a stroll.
Tony had a few on the method and had mugged a 4lb’er from the margin, but was struggling to put any sort of run of fish together……
Or not as it proved, subsequent casts produced not even a tremble on the tip, going through various hookbaits had no effect at all and after an hour I decided to get the pole out. A quick look in my box found a suitable rig, a 4X12 KC Tricky on 0·14 power match with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Plumbing up at around 9mtrs I found a nice even patch at around 3½ft deep. It was noticeable that nobody had really been catching much, apart from Bill up on Peg11, so I decided to go for it and balled 6 balls of groundbait in to see if I could draw a few fish, Then went back out on the method to let things settle. Another 20 minutes on the method produced nothing however, so time for the pole. 20 minute on the pole was biteless as well so I fed 2 pots of pellets and took a stroll.
Tony had a few on the method and had mugged a 4lb’er from the margin, but was struggling to put any sort of run of fish together……
Dave T was happy with his lot as he’d managed to snare a carp that he was sure was his best ever on his new pole ……
Jim was having a bit of a struggle tucked down in a corner on peg 13 and was having to watch Bill regularly putting a fish or two into his nets, even though he was suffering blank spells of his own……
Martin and Rod were suffering in a similar vein to Jim, though John was managing the odd fish on the feeder from the end of the island.
I got round to Dave just as he was into another fish on the feeder, just a small stockie carp but welcome all the same……
I got round to Dave just as he was into another fish on the feeder, just a small stockie carp but welcome all the same……
Al strolled round with his wife who’d come down to see him for a couple of hours and she and Jean were taking orders for pies from the farm shop, so with my order placed I strolled round to Kev who was actually into his second fish of the day ……
Stopping for a chat with Terry he was struggling big time without a single fish to show for his efforts, despite there being fish moving in the reeds in his left hand margin.
Settling back into my peg I banded a 6mm pellet and shipped out and settled for feeding just 10-15 pellets every put in. 10 minutes of lifting and dropping finally produced a bite, and a chunky little Mirror of around 1½lbs was a welcome result. Jean and Al’s wife arrived with the pies, and that Meat & Potato pie looked like it was going to be the best bite I was going to get on the day. I wish I could say it got better as the day progressed, but it didn’t, apart from Jean turning up with a freshly brewed mug of tea courtesy of Dave. Far to long between bites was the story, but I plugged away and ended with 19 fish which I thought might scrape 20lbs, by the time Dave called the All-Out.
The Weigh-In didn’t take long. Kev kicked off with just a couple of fish for 2½lbs. Dave had fared better with 28¼lbs to show for his efforts, while John managed 14¼lbs. Bill took the bragging rights on the day with a hard earned 49lbs, while DaveT managed 30½lbs for second (Including his 8½lb PB Common) Tony managed 22¼lbs to edge out my 19¾lbs. Terry managed to find a few in the end to weigh 16¼lbs while Al managed 30¼lbs for third on the day.
So no great shakes fishing wise, but good company and far better than a day at work. It’s off to Essex and Colemans Cottage on Saturday and hopefully a few more fish.
Settling back into my peg I banded a 6mm pellet and shipped out and settled for feeding just 10-15 pellets every put in. 10 minutes of lifting and dropping finally produced a bite, and a chunky little Mirror of around 1½lbs was a welcome result. Jean and Al’s wife arrived with the pies, and that Meat & Potato pie looked like it was going to be the best bite I was going to get on the day. I wish I could say it got better as the day progressed, but it didn’t, apart from Jean turning up with a freshly brewed mug of tea courtesy of Dave. Far to long between bites was the story, but I plugged away and ended with 19 fish which I thought might scrape 20lbs, by the time Dave called the All-Out.
The Weigh-In didn’t take long. Kev kicked off with just a couple of fish for 2½lbs. Dave had fared better with 28¼lbs to show for his efforts, while John managed 14¼lbs. Bill took the bragging rights on the day with a hard earned 49lbs, while DaveT managed 30½lbs for second (Including his 8½lb PB Common) Tony managed 22¼lbs to edge out my 19¾lbs. Terry managed to find a few in the end to weigh 16¼lbs while Al managed 30¼lbs for third on the day.
So no great shakes fishing wise, but good company and far better than a day at work. It’s off to Essex and Colemans Cottage on Saturday and hopefully a few more fish.
| Position | Peg | Angler | Weight |
| 1st | Peg 11 | Bill Gibbins | 49lbs 00ozs |
| 2nd | Peg 15 | Dave Talbot | 30lbs 08ozs |
| 3rd | Peg 23 | Al Loader | 30lbs 04ozs |
| 4th | Peg 3 | Dave Collier | 28lbs 04ozs |
| 5th | Peg 17 | Tony Roberts | 22lbs 04ozs |
| 6th | Peg 19 | Peter Morton | 19lbs 12ozs |
| 7th | Peg 21 | Terry Goff | 16lbs 04ozs |
| 8th | Peg 5 | John Holdsworth | 14lbs 04ozs |
| 9th | Peg 9 | Martin Hucker | 4lbs 08ozs |
| 10th | Peg 13 | Jim Boase | 3lbs 08ozs |
| 11th | Peg 1 | Kevin Loveland | 2lbs 08ozs |
| 12th | Peg 25 | Roger Noakes | 1lbs 12ozs |
| 13th | Peg 7 | Rod Turner | DNW |
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