Lindholme Lakes, Don Farm, West Carr, Doncaster.

Maggotdrowning.com

MD's at Bennys Lake.

So the time had finally arrived to venture out fishing "up North" and the venue for this adventure was to be Benny's Lake at Lindholme Lakes Country Park where I would be meeting up with some of the lads from the Maggotdrowning.com forum for a friendly knock up. Thankfully although I had never fished there I had visited there a few weeks earlier to show my support for The Nick Clark Memorial Match that had been organised by Steak (Steve Akal) so I'd gained a bit of an insight to what was present there and how to go about tackling the place. As usual for me the excitement of visiting somewhere new meant that I was wide awake long before the alarm went off and after a couple of cups of coffee and feeding the 2 cats I had my gear loaded up and was on the road towards Lindholme. It's not that far for me and after 40 minutes I was rolling into the fishery car park at around 8.30am. A few of the lads had beaten me to it but it was particularly good to see Tony (gingert76) who I hadn't fished with since way back in 2005 when we fished The Eastern Intersite Match at Barford Lakes and Norm who I hadn't seen since 2008 when we fished the River Ebro in Spain, so as you can imagine there was a bit of catching up to do over breakfast. With that out of the way it was just a question of waiting for Dave to turn up and get on with the draw which duely happened around 9.30am. The weather looked set to do it's best to put a dampener on the day as after a lovely week the forcast for today was for strong winds and showers with the possibility of thunderstorms which had obviously detered a few that were due to fish today. So to the draw and with just 13 of us fishing it was time to dip into the bag which revealed peg 36 was going to be my home for the day. So a short drive up to the lake and find my peg. Thankfully you can park behind a lot of the pegs on Benny's and although I couldn't it was just a short walk to the peg. I just had Norm for company along on peg 39 and it looked like we had drawn the short straw in that we were horribly exposed to the elements with the wind blowing strongly from left to right and no shelter from it to speak of. Setting up was a bit of a challenge with top kits being blown around and off the roosts. It was obvious that fishing anything more than a top 2 + 2 line in the wind was a non starter so I just set up a couple of shallow jigger rigs on 0.15 N-gauge finishing with a 18 Super MWG and a couple of depth rigs for the 4ft of water that I had on my chosen line consisting of 0.4g chianti style floats on 0.15 N-gauge finishing again with a 18 Super MWG. To keep things simple I would just lock up the jigger rigs to fish the margins when the time came. Bait for the day was the question, pellet over slop had seemed to be the chosen way of tackling things, but having never used that approach I decided to do things my way and keep it simple so was just going with 6mm banded pellet over 4mm fishery pellets with some red maggots as a change bait if my approach needed a tweak. So waiting for the All-In I couldn't help wondering how things would go. The target species on Benny's is very much F1's and I have to admit that I don't really like fishing for them as I find them to be very finicky and frustrating fish, but there's a lot of fisheries up this way that stock them so one way or another I'm going to have to get my head around fishing for them. So 12 o'clock and All-In and a handful of pellets down both margins then out on a 2+2 with a banded 6mm at depth. It didn't take long for the float to bury and the first F1 was safely in the net but the wind was proving to be a real pain, sport wasn't fast and furious but at least it was steady. Maggot was getting bites but only producing small roach and perch so after an hour I decided to stick with pellet as it was accounting for a better stamp of fish. Looking across it appeared that the others were less troubled by the wind with Norm and I suffering the worst of it on our bank and from what I could see Paul N on 24 and Big Stoo on 27 appeared to be the lads to beat today as they were both catching steadily. After a couple of hours I took a stroll up to Norm to see how he was doing and it just confirmed that he was suffering with the wind just as much as I was. So I took a further stroll round to see how others were doing only to find Webbo tucked away in peg 18 with a flat clam swim and what appeared to be a shoal of Pirana boiling in his swim every time he loose fed!!!! Tony (ginger t) was also nicely sheltered in peg 30 and starting to put a few together. So back to my peg and if anything the wind had increased and it was starting to look more like rain so as far as I was concerned it was time to take a look at the margins. A quick plumb up revealed around 18 inches so i locked up one of my Jigger rigs to that and took a look with a banded 6mm pellet. First put in resulted in a Tench of around a pound and this was followed by a few F1's. The next bite resulted in quite a bit of black hydro streaming from the kit and after a spirited fight the culprit was revealed as a nice Barbel of around 3lbs. Showers dotted the rest of the afernoon and while the sport was never fast or furious I was catching steadily enough to keep me happy, mostly F1's with a couple of small commons to add a bit of variety. As always seems to be the case the weather relented just as the All-Out was called. I was reasonably happy with my day and felt I had something close to a "Ton" in the nets leaving me feeling that I hadn't disgraced myself in my first venture out "up North" and with the kit packed away in the car it was time for the scales which revealed that I actually had 116lbs 11ozs. After the weigh in we congregated round Dave's truck where he had fired up the barbecue and over an impromptu burger the results were read out. Paul N had taken the honours onthe day with 178lbs 05ozs closely followed by Big Stoo with 175lbs 11ozs, a new PB match weight for him. I was 5th and Brandon had taken his first match "Ton" while young Blake won the Juniors with 34lbs 15ozs. All in All a good day and great company. Lovely to catch up with friends both old and new with a few fish caught between us it really doesn't get much better. Here's to the next one.

Alders Farm Fishery, Great Brickhill, Buckinghamshire. July 29th-July 31st 2016

Maggotdrowning.com

Alders Farm Pairs Tournament 2016.

Friday 29th July.

Well where to start? Back in January a clash of dates reared its ugly head meaning that the annual Pairs Tournament needed to be moved from its spiritual home of Rolf's Lake after 10 years there. I suggested Alders Farm to Dave and gave Trevor Price a ring at the fishery to explain our predicament and with Trevor's customary helpfulness plans were put in place to allow us to have Ash lake for the Saturday and Sunday and Pines Lake for Dave the Fish's customary warm up match on the Friday.

For my part having not fished at all since the previous Maggotdrowning Pairs Tournament due to a number of reasons, not least being a move up to Yorkshire having spent nearly my whole life in London, it was a weekend that I was looking forward to immensely, especially as I had fished at Alders previously and knew it had the potential to produce the goods for those taking part.

So to the Friday and with all the kit loaded into the car by 7-30am it was time to kiss the wife goodbye and set off on my 135 mile trip to Alders. Geoff caught me up as we made our trip down the M1 and after a quick stop at Watford Gap services for tea and a quick bite to eat it was onwards to Alders Farm. We arrived just after 10am and found that we were not the first. Trevor greeting us with his usual beaming smile and anxious as ever to ensure that we would all have a great weekend, dispensing advice to those that didn't know the place to ensure that they enjoyed their stay. Charlotte introduced herself and showed us where we could camp for the weekend so it was time to set up our tents and bivvies before we got down to the serious business of fishing Pines Lake.

Now Dave the fish has been running a Friday match as a warm up to the main event since 2009 but unfortunately due to a bout of pneumonia laying him low he would be missing this weekend along with his daughter Chrissy. However with things already booked Tony (spamwham) stepped into the breach to run Dave's match for him, so with everything taken care of it was time to set off with our gear to the lake having stopped to dip our nets and collect our bait from the tackle shop first. Now it has to be said that it's a bit of a treck round to Pines Lake but the new owners are in the course of making improvements all around the complex and all 15 of us that were fishing made it in the end. Even before I had a chance to tackle up Terry,Simon and Tony came round for a chat and we mulled over what to expect......

Peg 12 was my home for the day on the far side and looked quite inviting with what appeared to be a decent margin and the end of a small island to my right. Having only fished Ash lake before on my visits before I didn't really know what to expect, however having had a year off it was good just to be wetting a line again so was planning on keeping it simple with just a top 2+ 2 line out front and a couple of margin lines. Well plumbing up revealed just 10 inches in the margins and just under 2 ft at the top2+2 mark, quite shocking on some waters but knowing Alders Farm I was quite confident that fish would be there as they seem happy enough to feed as long as there is enough water to cover their backs. Rigs were just a couple of 0.2g Drennan Crystal dibbers for the margins and a 0.3g chianti for out front on 0.17 N-gauge finishing with a 14 Super MWG's. I had in the back of my mind to fish the waggler to the point of the island but Trev appeared for a chat and with one thing and another I never did get round to setting it up. Bait was to be a combination of maggots, corn and 4mm fishery pellets + some 6mm pellets soaked in Marukyu Unami Amino+.

So at 1-30pm it was time for the All-In, a handful of pellet and corn was dispatched to the left margin and a similar quantity of maggots to the right. A handful of pellet thrown out front swiftly followed bu a rig with a banded 6mm pellet at which point a couple of ducks which would prove to be a right pain all match long proceeded to mop up all the feed in the left hand margin!!!!!! About 5minutes in and the float slid away, the culprit being a small tench of around the pound that soon found itself in a keepnet.

To my left on peg 11 was Gary (turkish67) and he was targetting his right hand margin and those darn ducks.......

while opposite me was Dave (red leader) on 10 and Tony (spamwham) on 9 and to my right Terry (Auto) on peg 13.......

Everyone seemed to be catching a few, mostly carp and thoroughly enjoying themselves with a bit of banter flowing between pegs. Steady away was the order of the day for me, but in hindsight I made one mistake. Terry appeared to be catching well from his margin and it tempted me to have a go at my right hand margin as I could see signs of fish present. They were there but probably to many of them. Nearly everytime I laid a rig in it resulted in a foul hooker charging off or tangling in branches hidden just under the surface. I must have wasted an hour before I decided to give it up as a bad job and continue on the line out in front where I managed to keep a few fish coming till the end of the match.

6-30pm and the All-Out and I soon had my kit packed away as I waited for the scales, Alex (bagger J) was leading with 156lbs from peg 1 and wouldn't be overtaken. My fish took the scales round to an even 106lbs and I was more than happy with that, a "Ton" on my first days fishing in a year. The full results table is shown below and represents a good return from a venue most of us had never tackled before......

Back to the campsite having left our gear by The Pumphouse Café overlooking Ash Lake ready for the morning. While most got ready for a barbecue it was a quick change for me and into the car over to Aylesbury where Trevor was celebrating his 60th Birthday with a party for friends and family. It was good to see him let his hair down and relax and provided me with an opportunity to catch up with some people that I haven't seen in far to long. However after a couple of hours it was back to Alders for me and a couple of beers with the lads before retiring to my bivvie and a good nights sleep ahead of the start of The Pairs Tournament tomorrow. 

Saturday 30th July.

A bright and sunny morning greeted me as I popped my head out of the bivvie along with a fresh cup of coffee supplied by Geoff, so after sorting various bits and pieces out it was time for a gentle stroll down to the tackle shop to collect the bait for today. Strangely Trev wasn't present after his party the night before (must have eaten a dodgy prawn or something) leaving Lewis to man the shop but he coped admirably. So a short stroll down to The Pumphouse Café was in order to check over the gear before a spot of breakfast at 8-30am where the ladies behind the counter did their usual sterling job of getting us all fed and watered ready for the day ahead and I have to say that an Alders breakfast is just what's needed to set you up for a days fishing  ......

So onto the draw and first it was the draw for the Pairs over the two days and when I pulled out Adam and Alex as a pair they were installed as immediate favorites!!!!! Two very good anglers who together made for a formidable team. I was drawn with Clive and we would give it a go but we've been drawn together before over the years and it hadn't been kind to us. As there was an odd number of anglers fishing Adam was also drawn with Terry (Wily Coyote) to make up 10 pairs giving us 10 teams for the weekend......

So onto the draw for todays match and peg 26 was to be my home for today, tucked in a corner almost directly opposite The Pumphouse and if I'm honest not one of the pegs I really wanted, but with plenty of fish in every peg I was happy to give it a go for 5 hours.......

It's a little tight in all honesty, the bushes to the left and right not giving you a lot of margin to work with. A depth in the marin of around 12 inches and double that at around 2 feet on the top 2+2 line meant that I st up the same rigs as yesterday on Pines,  0.2g Drennan Crystal dibbers for the margins and a 0.3g chianti for out front on 0.17 N-gauge finishing with a 14 Super MWG's with top kits containing purple hydro and orange vespe hollow. Yet again b ait was to be a combination of maggots, corn and 4mm fishery pellets + some 6mm pellets soaked in Marukyu Unami Amino+.

With nobody close to me on my left my company today would be terry (Wily Coyote) to my right on peg 25 and he wasn't overly chuffed as this is an area of the lake he's frequently drawn and not had a great deal of success from, but perhaps today would prove to be different.

11-30am and the All-In was called, Pellet to the left and corm and maggot to the right hand margin, a handful of pellet onto the top2+2 line followed by a banded 6mm and after a couple of minutes the float vanished followed by several yards of purple hydro streaming out as a hooked carp took off in the direction of The Pumphouse. The carp at Alders are amongst the fittest anywhere and with the shallow water they are prone to taking off like rockets. Having tamed the initial surge things calmed down a bit though and soon a nice little Common of about 3lbs was safely on the landing net. Steady probably describes my first 2 hours as they were proving finicky meaning I had to keep swapping baits and depths to keep in contact with the fish.

At around the halfway mark I let my frustration get the better of me and refed all my lines and took a stroll with the camera. Terry(Auto) was on peg 22 and was starting to put a run of fish together from his left hand margin..........

Further along on peg 20 Dave was starting to have a bit of success targeting his margin......

As was Geoff Palmer who was next up on peg 19 and engaged in a spirited battle with one of his pegs residents........

However most of the action seemed to be happening over on pegs 11 and 12 where Adam and Alex seemed to be  to be trying their best to make the Pairs result a forgone conclusion on the first day, both steadily putting together a run of fish.......

As I returned to my peg my neighbour Terry was into one, but he was frustrated as he was suffering from to many finicky bites that he wasn't able to convert into fish in the net.........

Back at my peg and it was more of the same, there were fish in the margins and although I managed to winkle a few out it took me to long to figure out how they wanted it to maximise the opportunity presented and at the All-Out I knew I hadn't got anywhere what the peg was worth out of it. When the scales came round my 28 fish weighed in at 78lbs and Clive had fared no better with just 61lbs 10ozs from peg 5 meaning we already needed snookers. In fact everyone else did as Adam had won with 212lbs 12ozs and Alex had backed him up with a 3rd place weight of 128lbs...... 

So back to the campsite to mull over the results and make plans for tomorrow aided and abetted by burgers off the barbecue and a few beers. A great way to wind down with all manner of things discussed amongst the assembled company before we retired to get ready for what lay ahead tomorrow.

Sunday 31st July.

Awake at 7am and greeted by a bright and breezy morning, I made my way down to the loo for the mornings ablutions. Trev was back on site getting ready to open the tackle shop (He'd obviously recovered from that dodgy prawn that had laid him low yesterday) Back at the campsite Geoff provided a welcome coffee and I quickly packed my bivvie away and packed all the bits and bobs in the car before driving down to the tackle shop to collect the rest of my bait for the day ahead.

Once that was sorted it was back to The Pumphouse for breakfast which was excellent as always. If you ever visit Alders I recommend that you treat yourself to one, at £6 you'll be hard put to find a better breakfast to set you up for a days fishing.

So onto the draw and today I would be fishing peg 23 which Colin had yesterday managing 75lbs 08ozs from, so that was my target to beat. Arriving at the peg it had a bit more space to work with making the margins a bit easier to fish and a bit more depth to work with on all the lines which was a bonus. Rigs were once again very similar,  0.2g Drennan Crystal dibbers for the margins  But I changed over to a couple of 0.3g pencil floats that Geoff had made for me for out front and I had stepped up the line to 0.19 as I'd suffed a couple of breaks yesterday as better fish had shot off out of the margins. Bait was the same as the previous 2 days.......

To my left I had Steak for company on peg 25 and to my left was Dave Hart (fatpike) on peg 22. Now Dave has been a member on the site for 10 years but this was his first time at a Maggotdrowning event and he was wondering why he'd left it so long as he'd had 2 PB match weights and was wondering if he could make it 3 in a row and he had every chance as his friend Terry (Auto) has fished that peg yesterday and had given him all the info on it.

So All-In and with a similar feeding pattern to yesterday I once again started on the 2+2 line with banded pellet. Dave was quickly of the mark and I was into my first fish after 5 minutes. Once again they were surging off in the shallow water but that little bit of extra depth made things much easier to control. As the day wore on I couldn't help noticing that while my catch rate was steady but not spectacular, Dave appeared to be catching in spurts, he would get 4 or 5  fish in quick succession them suffer a lull  before they returned........

Steve was getting to grips with Terry's peg from yesterday despite the fish giving him the run around in the shallow water.......

Dave was exploring the delights of using sloppy groundbait round on peg 27........

Simon was enjoying himself on Peg 21 and was starting to put a steady run of fish together from the margins.......

Alex was on Adam's peg from yesterday and once more catching well......

While Adam was on peg 9 and again catching well, though he felt he had almost to many fish in his peg to get the best from it.......

Back at my peg I spent the last 2 hours targeting the margins, finding a slightly better stamp of fish there, Unfortunately I couldn't buy a bite in the last half hour despite there being fish present and at the All-Out I'd managed 30 fish which I hoped might give me a "Ton" when thay arrived the scales gave me a weight of 114lbs 08ozs and Dave (fatpike) did me with 119lbs 08ozs meaning he had indeed done a Third PB match weight in a row. Adam had won on the day once more with 172lbs 08ozs followed closely by Alex with 170lbs 04ozs.......

Back to the Pumphouse and the results were in and the winners of The Maggotdrowning Alders Farm Pairs Tournament 2016 were..........

Alex Clark-Akal (bagger J) and Adam Daniells (dumdum).

Congratulations to them both. Worthy winners with a super consistent set of results over the two days. The overall Pairs Results were as follows......

I'd like to say a big Thank You to Dave for organising a great weekend that I'm sure was enjoyed by all that were present.

Another Big Thank You to Trevor Price, Lewis, Charlotte and all the rest of the staff at Alders Farm who couldn't have done more to make us welcome at their fantastic Fishery. 


Finally Thank You to all that attended over the course of the three days, you are the people that make it the weekend that it is and without you it just wouldn't be the same. See you all again next year.