Marsh AC club match.
Well it’s off to Essex again for another Marsh AC club match, and the initial glance out of the curtains wasn’t to promising with a cloudy grey sky and gently falling rain looking as if it could put a dampener on things today. The venue this time is Blasford Hill Fishery just outside of Chelmsford. The club fished here last year and some decent fish were caught. I soon had the car loaded and set off to meet up with Dave at his house to follow him down as this was my first visit having missed the club match there last year. I met up with Dave at around 7am and shortly after we found the road blocked off by the Police due to an accident (was this an omen of things to come?), a quick detour soon had us back on track and we arrived at the fishery shortly before 8am.
A few had arrived ahead of us and we took a walk down for a look at the lake. The first thing that struck me was that it was quite small, indeed there are only 22 pegs, so things would be quite tight today. There were a few fish showing on top, though doubtless they would vanish once we settled into our pegs.
Back at the car park Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. With the pegs not being numbered it was decided to use 10 pegs down each side, leaving out the 2 end pegs and I found peg 11 sticking to my hand. To see where we all ended up see the picture below……
A few had arrived ahead of us and we took a walk down for a look at the lake. The first thing that struck me was that it was quite small, indeed there are only 22 pegs, so things would be quite tight today. There were a few fish showing on top, though doubtless they would vanish once we settled into our pegs.
Back at the car park Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw under way. With the pegs not being numbered it was decided to use 10 pegs down each side, leaving out the 2 end pegs and I found peg 11 sticking to my hand. To see where we all ended up see the picture below……
Making my way round with my kit I was happy to find one of the empty pegs to my left giving me a nice long margin to fish. Jim was on peg 10, the same peg he fished last year, while Clive was to my right on peg 12 with Tony next to him.
Settling into the peg I set up 3 top kits. one with a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for the 7mtr line where I found a nice level area with around 5ft of depth. The other rigs were a couple of 0.2 NG Edger’s on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG’s. One for the left hand margin where I had a constant 15inches no matter how far along it I plumbed, the other for the patch of reeds in the right hand margin where i had around 2ft hard against them. Clive would be fishing this from the other side though so I would probably be concentrating on the left hand margin. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with various GOT Baits soft hookers, corn, cat meat and some paste.
With a bit of time before the All-In Keith appeared for a quick chat and Jean arrived with a welcome cup of coffee. Looking across I could see Dave on peg 7 and what appeared to be his fan club in attendance……
With a bit of time before the All-In Keith appeared for a quick chat and Jean arrived with a welcome cup of coffee. Looking across I could see Dave on peg 7 and what appeared to be his fan club in attendance……
While Tony appeared to be happy enough with his lot prior to the off ……
10am and Dave called the All-In, a pot of mixed pellet and corn on my 7mtr line, with some pellet and corn in the left margin and some pellets into the right margin was my opening feeding gambit. I shipped a 6mm banded pellet out to 7mtrs and awaited developments. Al appeared to get 3 quick fish on the method, but all round things appeared to be slow. I’d been told that the fishery contained a decent head of Carp including quite a few doubles along with plenty of skimmers and Roach, but the singular lack of action already had me wondering just how accurate this info was.
Just to dampen things further we had a short shower, however this didn’t last to long and having run through various baits I finally had a bite having returned to a banded 6mm pellet. Lifting into it I felt a Carp take off and was just drawing it toward the net when the rig came flying back with a scale embedded on the hook.
Clive had managed an early Carp on the method, but with no further action had reverted to the pole and taken another couple. Tony hadn’t had so much as a bite and was already voicing his displeasure, however rather than sympathy it just resulted in a volley of pee taking coming his way from all around the lake.
I finally managed a second bite, a 4oz Roach being the culprit, but most welcome as it at least meant a DNW would be avoided and that was followed by a skimmer of around 8ozs. Jim had picked up a couple of fish from his margin, but a decent fish had snapped his elastic and he’d now reverted to his waggler rod.
After about 1½ hours a kernel of corn produced a bite!!!!!! This was a Carp that was played ever so carefully, not a big fish at around 3lbs, but very gratefully dispatched to the keepnet. A second similar sized one followed after around 15 minutes, and with Jean arriving with a refill of coffee, hopefully things were starting to pick up. A third arrived after another 20 minutes, but then the sun came out and the swim died. I’d looked at both margins, but there were no signs of life from either of them. Jim appeared to be into a decent fish on his rod, but was taking things carefully with it.
I decided to fill in the 7mtr line and take a stroll in search of some inspiration, and just as I set off Clive lifted into another Carp, not a large fish but it put up a spirited scrap before Clive slid the landing net under it ……
Just to dampen things further we had a short shower, however this didn’t last to long and having run through various baits I finally had a bite having returned to a banded 6mm pellet. Lifting into it I felt a Carp take off and was just drawing it toward the net when the rig came flying back with a scale embedded on the hook.
Clive had managed an early Carp on the method, but with no further action had reverted to the pole and taken another couple. Tony hadn’t had so much as a bite and was already voicing his displeasure, however rather than sympathy it just resulted in a volley of pee taking coming his way from all around the lake.
I finally managed a second bite, a 4oz Roach being the culprit, but most welcome as it at least meant a DNW would be avoided and that was followed by a skimmer of around 8ozs. Jim had picked up a couple of fish from his margin, but a decent fish had snapped his elastic and he’d now reverted to his waggler rod.
After about 1½ hours a kernel of corn produced a bite!!!!!! This was a Carp that was played ever so carefully, not a big fish at around 3lbs, but very gratefully dispatched to the keepnet. A second similar sized one followed after around 15 minutes, and with Jean arriving with a refill of coffee, hopefully things were starting to pick up. A third arrived after another 20 minutes, but then the sun came out and the swim died. I’d looked at both margins, but there were no signs of life from either of them. Jim appeared to be into a decent fish on his rod, but was taking things carefully with it.
I decided to fill in the 7mtr line and take a stroll in search of some inspiration, and just as I set off Clive lifted into another Carp, not a large fish but it put up a spirited scrap before Clive slid the landing net under it ……
Tony was in a marginally better mood by now having finally taken a Carp of around 7lbs from his margin line, but it looked like it was a solitary fish as no matter what he tried he couldn’t tempt another ……
Al’s catch rate has slowed right down after his quick start to the match and he was now fishing his favourite long pole shallow style, but he did manage a decent stamp Roach as I watched him ……
Keith was frustrated, although he’d had a few fish, he couldn’t work out why his margin that looked spot on for a few fish wasn’t producing, while opposite him his travelling companion Mick had started to put a few together, and appeared to be in with a real chance of taking the bragging rights for the trip home to Milton Keynes. As if that wasn’t enough on the next peg to Keith’s right was Vic (a fellow GOT Baits sponsored angler) so there was a bit of friendly rivalry there as well. Vic however was also having a struggle so it remained to be seen who would come out on top ……
Eddie was having a ‘mare’ on peg 1 with lost fish and a smashed top kit to show for his efforts and stopping for a chat with Kev on peg 2 there were a raft of fish cruising the surface in front of him with no interest in feeding and causing him considerable frustration. Jim had finally got the better of the Carp he’d hooked on the waggler and had just weighed it as I got there ……
Back at my peg things got no better I’m sorry to say, just a single Carp foul hooked at 7mtrs that trashed the rig as it shot off heading for the other end of the lake. However sport picked up for those on the other side as the afternoon wore on, most notably for Dave on peg 7. It must have been solid with fish under the bush to his left, unfortunately a lot of the fish he hooked were foul hookers, which gave him a right run around before shedding the hook, but he was catching a fair few that were properly hooked, However this was even more exasperating for Terry next door on peg 6 as he couldn’t tempt them round to his side ……
Time ticked on, but the only highlight was Jean arriving with a third cup of coffee. I managed just 1 more bite for the rest of the match which produced a Roach of around 6ozs, and I have to say that it was a blessed relief when Dave called the All-Out at 4pm.
I packed up pretty quickly and knew that I would struggle to put 10lbs on the scales, but was at a loss to work out where it had all gone wrong for me today, and Tony was feeling just the same as we mulled things over. With a set of scales on our side we started the Weigh-In at peg 20 where Martin put 24¼lbs on the scales. John had a level 10lbs and Rod 10½lbs. Vic managed a level 21lbs but Keith had 32½lbs to take the section, Al’s 34½lbs proved to be the best weight on our side and took his section. Judy had managed some better fish late on for 25lbs, Tony tied with Rod on 10½lbs while Clive put a hard earned 33½lbs on the scales to eclipse my paltry 9¾lbs.
Back to the car park where Dave sorted the results and the winner today was Dave himself with 59¼lbs. Second was Jim with a level 55lbs and third overall was Mick (Keith’s guest and travelling companion) with 52¾lbs meaning that he would be grinning all the way home to Milton Keynes. Graham finished as third club member with 42lbs.
So that was it for the day, and one to forget for me and I have to say I was glad to get in the car and make my way home, however the day had one more twist left, A hold up on the M25 meaning it took an hour to go 3 miles. Pretty much summed up my day !!!
I packed up pretty quickly and knew that I would struggle to put 10lbs on the scales, but was at a loss to work out where it had all gone wrong for me today, and Tony was feeling just the same as we mulled things over. With a set of scales on our side we started the Weigh-In at peg 20 where Martin put 24¼lbs on the scales. John had a level 10lbs and Rod 10½lbs. Vic managed a level 21lbs but Keith had 32½lbs to take the section, Al’s 34½lbs proved to be the best weight on our side and took his section. Judy had managed some better fish late on for 25lbs, Tony tied with Rod on 10½lbs while Clive put a hard earned 33½lbs on the scales to eclipse my paltry 9¾lbs.
Back to the car park where Dave sorted the results and the winner today was Dave himself with 59¼lbs. Second was Jim with a level 55lbs and third overall was Mick (Keith’s guest and travelling companion) with 52¾lbs meaning that he would be grinning all the way home to Milton Keynes. Graham finished as third club member with 42lbs.
So that was it for the day, and one to forget for me and I have to say I was glad to get in the car and make my way home, however the day had one more twist left, A hold up on the M25 meaning it took an hour to go 3 miles. Pretty much summed up my day !!!
Position
|
Peg
|
Angler
|
Weight
|
1st
|
Peg 7
|
Dave Collier
|
59lbs 04ozs
|
2nd
|
Peg 10
|
Jim Boase
|
55lbs 00ozs
|
3rd
|
Peg 5
|
Mick Wright Guest
|
52lbs 12ozs
|
4th
|
Peg 9
|
Graham Manning
|
42lbs 00ozs
|
5th
|
Peg 15
|
Al Loader
|
34lbs 08ozs
|
6th
|
Peg 12
|
Clive Pritchard
|
33lbs 08ozs
|
7th
|
Peg 16
|
Keith Ashby
|
32lbs 08ozs
|
8th
|
Peg 14
|
Judy Hermite
|
25lbs 00ozs
|
9th
|
Peg 20
|
Martin Hucker
|
24lbs 12ozs
|
10th
|
Peg 17
|
Vic Nugent
|
21lbs 00ozs
|
11th=
|
Peg 13
|
Tony Roberts
|
10lbs 08ozs
|
11th=
|
Peg 18
|
Rod Turner
|
10lbs 08ozs
|
13th=
|
Peg 4
|
Roger Noakes
|
10lbs 00ozs
|
13th=
|
Peg 19
|
John Holdsworth
|
10lbs 00ozs
|
15th
|
Peg 11
|
Peter Morton
|
9lbs 12ozs
|
16th
|
Peg 3
|
Ron Mannister
|
9lbs 08ozs
|
17th
|
Peg 1
|
Ed Dobson
|
8lbs 04ozs
|
18th
|
Peg 2
|
Kevin Loveland
|
8lbs 00ozs
|
19th
|
Peg 8
|
Ken Walker
|
4lbs 04ozs
|
20th
|
Peg 6
|
Terry Goff
|
3lbs 04ozs
|
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