Colemans Cottage Fishery. Wood Lake. July 7th, 2012

Marsh AC club match.

Well it’s off to Essex for me today for another Marsh AC club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake. That first glance out of the window didn’t look too promising though there was a bit of sun among the clouds but the forecast wasn’t that good for the day ahead. Anyway with the two cats fed and the kit loaded up it was time to go. Through the Dartford Tunnel and down the A12 proved to be straightforward and I arrived around at 7·30am to find Simon just returning from a walk round the lake with his brother Tony who had come along as a guest today.

First things first and it was into the clubhouse for one of Colemans Big Breakfasts, a great way to fortify yourself for the day ahead.

Terry and Rod were already tucking into theirs and slowly but surely the rest arrived and the banter started to flow. A few were concerned that the weather may have unsettled the fish making for patchy sport, but I was fairly sure that given the quality of the venue most would have a decent days sport. Chairman Dave had daughter Chrissy along for company today and fishing as a guest, she’s not a bad angler and having had a bit of coaching from Tommy Pickering at Lindholme recently there were a few that were worrying about the possibility of being CHRISSIED today.

By 8·45am it was time for the draw and having dipped my hand in I found peg 12 was to be mine for the match, just a couple away from the one I’d had in the corresponding match last year.

With the gear collected I made my way to my peg, Al was on peg 6 a strongly favoured peg and he would be looking to make it five wins out of five on this years club matches. With just an hour to set up it was make your mind up time as there are so many possibilities on the pegs with the islands running down the centre, The carp in woods run to a good size and the barbel keep growing and fight like hell. I opted for just 3 pole lines. so the rigs would be similar to those I use at Rolfs to take any possible wear and tear. One straight out in front at around 6mtrs where I had around 5 feet of water, one at the end of the bush to my left with around 4 feet of depth and the final one for the right hand margin which had 18 inches of water close in. All the rigs were freshly tied and made up with NG XT Mugger HD’s in sizes 0·3gm and 0·4gm on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X’s. Bait for today was a mix of 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some 6 and 8mm pellets for banding along with some corn and GOT Baits soft hookers.

The All-In was called at 10am and I fed a large pot of mixed pellets with a few grains of corn at 6mtrs, a handful at the end of the bush and another handful down the margin. I banded a 6mm and shipped out to 6mtrs where some bubbles were already coming up and was hopeful of some quick action. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be the wind had picked up a bit and was blowing into me and bringing with it the odd shower (no surprise there then) but I was just getting little digs and dips on the float and only managed to connect with a couple of small roach that I bumped off. despite swapping through the hook baits I couldn’t tempt a thing and while nobody that I could see had got off to a flyer Tony had taken a couple of carp as had Graham next to me on peg 11.

After half an hour of total frustration I gave it up as a bad job and swapped over to target the end of the bush with a banded 8mm. Still a bit slow but the float finally buried and a lift saw plenty of elastic stream from the top kit as the fish powered off and after a minute the culprit popped up by my nets, a barbel of around 3lbs. Not the expected carp but very welcome none the less to get me off the mark. Jean had also brought me a mug of coffee so things were starting to look up despite the showers. A couple of small carp followed and an F1 before yet another barbel put in an appearance and it was these that kept me ticking over for the next couple of hours.

 I could hear a bit of banter between Kevin and Al that suggested that Al was catching reasonably well on peg 6 but from what I could see Tony opposite on peg 29 had made the best start but nobody seemed to be heading off into the distance, though …….

By about 12·30 I got a shout to bring my mug round to Jean if I wanted another cup off coffee and with sport remaining slow took the opportunity to fill in the bush and margin and take a stroll with my camera.

Terry was still tucked away under his brolly and didn’t look like he was having a particularly good time of it despite having the fun of watching Dave trying his best to get the better of Chrissy on the opposite bank ……

A quick chat with Al revealed that he was struggling though it didn’t look like it to me when he shipped out, gave a couple of taps and he shipped back with an F1 attached that was soon netted ……

Mick was being a bit cagey as to just how well he was doing on peg 2, but it was obvious that he fancied his chances of taking home the Milton Keynes Nugget today. As I got to the car park I stopped to take a picture looking down the lake so that those reading this who aren’t familiar with Colemans can get some idea of Wood Lake……

Carrying on round Chris’s guest Gary Luck on peg 38 was playing a bream and soon had it safely in the net …….

I soon reached Jean and collected a fresh mug of coffee, while Kevin seemed to be relatively happy with the way his match was progressing. Chrissy on peg 32 had just dropped her rig in short of the bush to her left to see if she could tempt something.

While Dad Dave next up on peg 31 seemed to be targeting silvers fishing maggot down his left hand margin, and although he declared himself confident of being ahead of his daughter at that point, it looked like the actions of a desperate man to me. Tony seemed to be going along steadily with his favourite method, fishing up in the water.

Keith wasn’t looking to happy with his lot and was struggling to get to grips with peg 25, though he probably had one eye on how fellow GOT Bait angler Vic was doing over on peg 17……

Tony Watkins on peg 22 seemed quite happy taking carp on the method feeder, which was more than could be said for his brother Simon on peg 20 who was really struggling to get a bite from anywhere in his peg ……

Keith Powell was on peg 18 and had just started to have a look down his right hand margin as he’d started to see signs of fish there ……

Vic was trying hard to sort his peg out but reckoned it wasn’t really happening for him today and he would be lucky if he had 30lbs to show for his efforts so far. Ken on peg 14 was fishing his usual relaxed match on the waggler and was into a carp as I passed by……

When I returned to my peg Graham was catching from his margin, but he had the advantage of a reed bed there and I could see fish there. I flicked some more feed to the edge of the bush and the margin, but with no sign of fish in my margin targeted the end of the bush first off. The rest seemed to have done the trick as a couple of minutes in the float buried as a carp picked up the bait and after a spirited tussle was soon in the net.

 It wasn’t fast and furious but I started to pick up regular fish for around an hour. All the while I was feeding the margin and with an hour and a half to go I finally saw a couple of tail patterns there. First put in with a banded 8mm produced a positive bite and another barbel of around 3lbs, but from then on it was carp all the way. A good common had me thinking I was back at Rolfs, giving a really good account of itself and it was obvious why when I finally slid the net under a big common that must have been close to 15lbs which was to be my best fish of the day. This was followed by a stunning Ghostie of around 10lbs and a few smaller fish.

Graham was having trouble connecting with bites and I suggested that he changed to 8mm pellet and let him have some to try and it seemed to do the trick for him in the last hour. I finished with another five carp including another double before Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm. Shouts of Fish-On came from Graham and Chrissy and I couldn’t help wondering if Chrissy had done enough to beat her Dad……

The gear was soon packed away and I was pretty confident I had around a ‘Ton’ in the nets despite having lost track of just what was in them at the end. I soon had my gear back in the car and had a chat with Gerry before following the Weigh-In Round.

 Mick set a good target with a first weight of exactly 100lbs followed by John with 84½lbs. Next up was Rod with 59½lbs a new PB match weight. Al had a storming end to the match getting decent carp lined up in the margin on paste for 194lbs. Jimmy had 32½lbs and Terry 43½lbs. Graham put 84½lbs on the scales while my fish came to 113lbs. Ken had 80½lbs another PB match weight and Roger 29lbs. Vic had managed 64½lbs. Keith Powell weighed 83lbs while Simon’s meagre 24lbs left the bragging right firmly with brother Tony who also recorded a new match PB of 70lbs. Keith’s 65½ meant he was waving farewell to the MK Nugget today. Jim’s 53lbs and Martin’s 45lbs brought us round to Tony with an excellent 126lbs. Next up was Chairman Dave with a weight of 67½lbs, but he didn’t look to confident, and rightly so when Chrissy put a new PB match weight of 93lbs on the scales. Sympathy for Dave? ………………. No Chance, it was like a pack of hounds with a 3 legged fox ………… Merciless. Kev was next with 62lbs followed by Zack with 79lbs while Chris was the fifth angler to claim a new PB match weight today with 118lbs. Gary had 28lbs while Ron was last to weigh with 14lbs.

Back to the clubhouse for drinks and sausage rolls while Dave worked out the results. Todays winner was Al (his fifth on the trot) with Tony taking second place and Chris third.
The sections today went to Al, Myself, Keith Powell, Tony and Chris.

Next up for the club is Rockells in two weeks time. Can Al make it six in a row or will someone else get a look in? Time will tell.

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 6	Al Loader		194lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 29	Tony Roberts		126lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 37	Chris Withall		118lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 12	Peter Morton		113lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 2	Mick Wright		100lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 32	Christine Collier	Guest	93lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 11	Graham Manning		85lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 3	John Holdsworth		84lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 18	Keith Powell	Guest	83lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 14	Ken Walker		80lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 35	Zack Johnson		79lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 22	Tony Watkins	Guest	70lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 31	Dave Collier		67lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 25	Keith Ashby		65lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 17	Vic Nugent		64lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 34	Kevin Loveland		62lbs 00ozs
17th	Peg 5	Rod Turner		59lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 26	Jim Boase		53lbs 00ozs
19th	Peg 28	Martin Hucker		45lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 9	Terry Goff		43lbs 08ozs
21st	Peg 8	Jimmy Etherington	Guest	32lbs 08ozs
22nd	Peg 15	Roger Noakes		29lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 38	Gary Luck	Guest	28lbs 08ozs
24th	Peg 20	Simon Watkins		24lbs 00ozs
25th	Peg 40	Ron Mannister		14lbs 00ozs