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

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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.