Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2. June 21st, 2014.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it was back on the bankside for me today for my first match for 11 months. It's no secret that I'd lost my mojo when it comes to fishing recently, my only outing last year being 3 days at Rolf's Lake for Dave Collier's Friday Invitation Match and The Maggotdrowning.com Pairs weekend. However a couple of weeks ago Al invited me to guest on this match at Monk Lakes and I decided to take him up on his kind offer.

 What is it that they say? Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance, well my preparation consisted of a quick message to Mick McMillan on FaceBook to find out the score on the venue as it was 2 years since I'd last fished there and renewing my rod license on line at 10 pm the previous night Tackle prep amounted to removing two top kits from my rod bag that I'd broken at Rolf's last year, Hardly ideal to say the least. There must have been some unconscious anticipation however as I woke up before my alarm clock went off on Saturday. Sunshine and the promise of a warm day ahead greeted me as I took a peek through the curtains. A cup of coffee kick started the old grey matter and meant that I was ready and waiting downstairs at 6·15 when Al arrived to pick me up.

With my kit loaded up the first port of call was The Oakdene Café where I treated Al to breakfast and we were joined by Simon and Gino. Keith Powell was going to join us but a phone call confirmed that he was feeling a bit delicate this morning, so he was now going to meet us at the draw. So with breakfast taken care of it was off to Monks, though a road closure and subsequent diversion meant that it was just after 8·30 when we arrived at the lakes.




I have to say that it was nice to receive such a hearty welcome back after my absence of 21 months since I last fished with the club and the subsequent banter soon had me feeling like I'd never been away. Anyway with money paid to Tony in Dave's absence (a victim of "ManFlu" on his return from a recent cruise) it was time to dip into the draw bag. Peg 67 was my destination today, an end peg at the far end of the spit. I couldn't complain at that. Tony (as Dave C's stand in) certainly had some of his luck as peg 45 (the Barbel flyer) was the last peg left in the bag for him.So off to the lake with our kit and over the bridge to the spit and I found Keith on peg 77.....



.......and Clive on peg 56.......

both very good pegs capable of throwing up a winning bag on the day. A few of the lads on the left hand bank had to move up one peg as Gino who had draw peg 66 found it unfishable as the platform had collapsed meaning he ended up fishing peg 65.

Settling into my peg I set about sorting my kit out. 3 top kits were found that had what appeared to be suitable elastics and among the collection of rigs that hadn't seen the light of day for far to long were some Nick Gilbert handmade Power Pencils in 0·5g and 0·4g sizes that were made up on hat looked like 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s,These were set up for a 5mtr line out in front where I had about 3 feet of water and a line 6mtrs down to my left where it was just a bit shallower. Bait was simply 6mm hard pellet for feed and hookbait and some 8mm's and GOT Baits soft hookers as a change bait.

Everyone appeared to get set up quickly and word filtered down that we would be starting 15 minutes early, so the All-In was called at 10·15. A handful of pellets were fed onto both lines. A banded 6mm was shipped straight out to my 5mtr line. After lifting and dropping the rig a couple of times the float slid away and a small Skimmer was on it's way to the landing net. The next fish ripped the elastic out at an alarming rate. obviously one of the resident Barbel that fight far harder pound for pound than Carp. I was also getting trouble with foul hookers and despite varying the depth and playing around with the shotting patterns couldn't really find an answer to it.

Unfortunately the sun and ripple on the water combined to make it really tiring on my eyes and as I couldn't find my sunglasses meaning I was missing a few bites probably from F1's and after about an hour with around 10 lbs in the nets I swapped over to my left hand line.

 Troy to my right on peg 69 had a similar slow start to me, also suffering with a few foul hookers but had managed to pick up a couple of Carp. Al was on the opposite side of the spit on peg 63 and had started on the 5mtr line but hadn't been able to resist the lure of the open water in front of him and was soon fishing his favorite method ...... 13mtrs shallow and was starting to steadily take fish. Pete Thompson was targeting the silvers on peg 61 while Keith Powell was trying to tempt a few lumps from the bush to the left on peg 59. Gino was having a bit of a mare however having lost his first decent fish when it wrapped itself round the platform leg before he got a chance to land it.

Word had it that Keith was catching a few from 77 and that Tony and Simon were going well on 45 and 47. Poor Chris on peg 55 had one of those moments all anglers dread when a fish ripped into his bait so hard that it pulled his pole out of his hand and he could only watch helplessly as the fish towed it out into the lake. Thankfully it didn't sink and the breeze finally blew it back to the margins were he could retrieve it. My left hand swim started to produce almost straight away, not quick but steadily with a mixture of Carp, F1's, Barbel along with the odd Tench and Skimmer. However I was still suffering with the odd foul hooker and these led to a few trashed rigs. These cost me in the end and it was probably due to their age having sat in my box on winders for so long (remember what I said about preparation) I really should have tied some fresh rigs prior to the match as I wasted far to much time today tying fresh ones during the match, which resulted in me not feeding and having to work to get the fish back each time.

 Troy was convinced that I was sacking up, but he obviously wasn't aware that I wasn't landing any of the foul hookers, just seeing the elastic being pulled out and not the collection of scales on my sidetray. Al kept going on about the lumps that Keith P was getting from the bush, but he was catching steadily and would be hard to beat unless one of the flyers produced. I kept plugging away and towards the end had a Golden Tench which made my day as I think they're one of the nicest fish that we catch ......

4·15 and Kevin called the All-Out. I felt that I had around 70lbs in the nets, not enough to win, but given that I hadn't fished a match for nearly a year and my level of preparation (NONE) I'd done OK and enjoyed myself. I packed the kit away and realised I had time to take it back to the van before the Weigh-in. As I got to Keith's peg I noticed he had three nets in so he'd obviously had a good day, although he wasn't admitting to it, being his typical cagey self but we would see what the scales said.



With my kit back at the van I caught up with the weigh-in Chris had tied up his section with 65lbs from peg55 and it would be interesting to see what Tony had managed off peg 45, 70lbs 04ozs was the answer leaving him a little frustrated as after a good start he'd lost the fish for periods during the rest of the match.

 Round to the spit where Clive was first to weigh with 63lbs 08ozs. Now Keith P and Al are a little competitive and had been ribbing each other all match so there was a good bit of it going on as Keith put his fish on the scales, 97lbs 08ozs was the final call, just short of a "TON"....

..... but a great result as like me Keith P hadn't fished for nearly a year, Al however took the bragging rights as his fish came to 115lbs 08ozs allowing him to take the section and the lead so far. My fish weighed in at 90lbs 04ozs which I was more than happy with. Nobody threatened Al till we finally got to Keith waiting patiently. Needless to say he'd had a very good day especially as he'd never fished this lake before and 167lbs 08ozs gave him his section and a comfortable win on the day.

 Back to the car park for a drink from the snack wagon and Tony announced the results and handed out the section money, I'd finished 4th overall on the day and was more than happy with that. Farewells were said and we all departed for our various destinations.

  I'd like to say Thank You to Al for the invite today and providing the transport, much appreciated, and a big Thank You to the Marsh AC members for making me so welcome on my return. I don't think it will be 11 months till the next time,

	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 77	Keith Ashby	167lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 63	Al Loader	115lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 59	Keith Powell	97lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 67	Peter Morton	90lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 45	Tony Roberts	70lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 55	Chris Withall	65lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 56	Clive Pritchard	63lbs 08ozs
8th=	Peg 57	Tony Watkins	51lbs 00ozs
8th=	Peg 69	Troy Hillier	51lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 75	Terry Goff	49lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 61	Pete Thompson	47lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 47	Simon Watkins	42lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 65	Gino Exell	31lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 49	Jim Boase	30lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 51	Rod Turner	15lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 53	Kevin Loveland	15lbs 00ozs

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

 

Colemans Cottage Fishery. Wood Lake. July 24th, 2011.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it’s off to Essex for me today and a club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake. The view out of the window this morning promised a nice sunny day ahead and after a couple of cups of coffee and having fed the cats and loaded the car I was off and heading for Whitam in Essex, and a trouble free run down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·30am, where Kevin and Jean, along with Simon were already in attendance.

 Into the fishery lodge for a Large Breakfast, and we were soon joined by Terry, Keith and Pete along with Lee, Dave and a couple of other Morefax lads who were joining us today along with a couple of guests, so it should be a good turn out. Soon the rest of the gang arrived and with breakfast taken care of I went outside to discuss the prospects for the day ahead.

The club normally fishes Pathfield Lake when we visit Colemans, so this is something new, at least for me as I’ve never fished Wood Lake before, but luckily for me Paul Law (justin case) has furnished me with a detailed peg by peg rundown on the lake so I wasn’t not going into it totally blind. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw up and running and after dipping into the bag I found myself with peg 14 for the day, which according to Paul’s run down was just an average peg.

So collecting my tackle I made my way down to my peg. Terry was on peg 1, with peg 2 drawn for Paul who was running late due to a blow out on the way down. Keith was on peg 6 (one Paul had reckoned was worth running to) with Pete Thompson on peg 8. Tony Roberts was on 10, Clive on 11 and Simon on 12 with 13 not drawn. To my left was Martin on peg 15 while I could see Dave in the corner on peg 18.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to tackle it. I had a gap between 2 islands out in front I elected to cover that with a waggler and got out a Shakespeare Micro that was already set up with a 2AA peacock insert waggler. I opted for 3 pole lines. Straight out at 6mtrs where I had 5ft of water with a Sackup CX 4×12 pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG, and 2 margin rigs, both NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin’s on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG’s plus a paste rig of an NG 0·2 Margin paste float on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Fox series 2. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm hard pellet for feed with 6 and 8mm pellets for the hook along with some corn, a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and GOT Atomic Paste (green halibut).

Kevin had arrived while I was setting up with a cup of coffee and with a bit of time prior to the off I strolled back to the car to collect a bottle of water, only to find Paul arriving by Taxi (having changed his blown out tyre only to find the spare knackered as well !!!!!!!!!!! ) so helped him to his peg with his gear, then made my way back to mine. At 10am Dave signalled the All-In and we were off.

Two big pots of pellet at 6mtrs followed by a handful in each margin were then followed by a banded 8mm shipped out to the 6mm line. A couple of tentative digs then the float buried resulting in a Carp tearing off and the rig flying back with a scale on the hook, not quite the start I’d hoped for, but at least there were some fish about. Next put in the float buries and it’s fish on again, a good solid surge and it didn’t want to get it’s head up, a bit more pressure and up it popped, not he expected Carp but a Barbel and at around 3lbs a nice way to get off the mark. A couple of Carp quickly followed this, not big fish, but really solid, giving a good account of themselves which I estimated at around 4lbs each.

Looking around I could see that Martin had a fish on the feeder that he was playing and most were starting to find a bit of sport, so it was looking like it should be a good day for most, in fact I looked down toward Dave and saw that he was engaged in what looked like a tug of war with plenty of red hydro streaming from his top kit……

For the next couple of hours it was just a question of things ticking over, a couple of Carp, then a Barbel or two, still putting some weight in the net, but I couldn’t seem to up my catch rate. I’d been using my clicker as there’s a net limit at Colemans which I didn’t want to fall foul of, and reckoned I had about 35lbs of carp by 12·30pm. I’d had a look down both margins, the right hand had produced hardly anything though despite the next peg being empty, so decided to concentrate on the left hand one. With this in mind I re fed it quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle and take my coffee mug back to Jean.

Looking down from my vantage point I saw that Clive was busy unhooking a fish that he’d just netted……

While on the next peg along Tony was doing his best to get the landing net under a fish of his own ……

 Pete had left his peg, but I could see him sitting next to Keith and having a chat with him as he netted a small carp ……

 Terry was being a bit cagey as to what he had exactly, but didn’t reckon he was setting the place on fire. Paul was having a frustrating time trying to tempt some action from his margins, but Rod seemed to be enjoying a bit of sport ……

 Kev was owning up to 3 fish and hoping things would pick up for him later in the day, and looking across I could see Lee and Judy on adjacent pegs ……

 Strolling back Keith reckoned he had around 35lbs but was adamant that Pete was doing better, and I couldn’t help notice that he was fishing short just in front of his nets, and made me realise that last year I’d caught tight to my nets on Pathfield, perhaps that was the way to go today ?……

 Pete was back on his peg and of course though that Keith was just edging him as he struck into a carp just as I moved on ……

 Indeed it was starting to become obvious that the fish were starting to get their heads down, and I could see Ken on the far bank getting ready to slide a small Carp over the net ……

 Tony was attached to yet another fish, that seemed to be giving a good account of itself with plenty of orange vespe coming out of his top kit ……

 and there was Clive just slipping the landing net under yet another fish that he’d taken on the method feeder ……

 Simon however wasn’t feeling so positive, complaining that he’d never lost as many fish as he’d done today and considering that he’d lost a fair few on the last match at Mill Barn, you could safely say that he wasn’t best pleased ……

 Back at my peg I dropped my 6mtr rig in on a top 3 at the end of my nets and found just a couple of inches less on the depth, so fed a handful of pellet there and stuck a 6mm pellet on the band. This soon produced a Barbel of around 3lbs and was swiftly followed by a couple more, then a small Carp as Dave arrived with another Mug of coffee from Jean. The next fish made me jump as an acrobatic skimmer did a passable impression of a Trout leaping clear of the water as I struck. Another couple of Barbel followed and I’d noticed Al on peg 22 collecting a second carp net so he was obviously going well and from what I could see was fishing the method. Dave was still catching well and he was next to go for a second net. Another small carp followed for me before a couple of foul hookers ran me ragged and seemed to kill the swim.

Time for a look in the margin with the paste rig, a couple of knocks and the float buried , the strike meeting with firm resistance as a good fish powered of into open water. The fish stayed deep not wanting to get its head up, but steady pressure finally told as a double figure Mirror slid into the waiting landing net. With that fish I reckoned I had about 55lbs in the net so went and got a second carp net for myself.

Back in with the paste and it was obvious that the fish were there as the float buried straight away, a barbel this time with a taste for paste, and I took another 7 carp before Paul came up to see how I was doing with 15 minutes to go. Unfortunately this coincided with a spate of iffy bites and I only managed one more Carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm while he played a final fish.

Packing my kit up and chatting to Martin I was convinced that I had around 80-90lbs, but I wasn’t really sure as I’d got it somewhat wrong last year when we fished Pathfield but with the kit packed away in the car all would be revealed as I set off for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off with 63¼lbs from peg 1, which Keith topped from Peg 6 with 86¾lbs just edging out Pete’s level 86lbs to take the bragging rights on their trip home to Milton Keynes.

Tony on peg 10 put 70lbs+ on the scales with his first net, but thankfully Graham (The Owner) decreed that as long as it wasn’t over 80lbs there would be no penalty. His final tally was 143¼lbs, a total that wouldn’t be beaten ensuring he took the honours on the day. Clive managed 69½lbs and Simon just 40lbs. Round to my peg and as soon as I lifted my 1st net I knew that I’d underestimated as well, thankfully it came in under 80lbs and my total of 141½lbs that would be good enough for 2nd today. Dave had a good day as well on peg 18 with 122¼lbs and Nick Bondeau recorded a new PB match weight of 71lbs.

Al was left regretting a slow last half hour when his weight came out at 131lbs but still ended up 3rd overall. Lee Rose on peg 34 took the best weight among the Morefax lads with a level 98lbs while Roger, Ken and Graham managed 50lb weights. So back to the fishery lodge for coffee and results.

Dave soon had the results and the sections sorted and paid out, 1700lbs + had been weighed in for an average of 62lbs+ per angler so it was fair to say a decent day had been had by most. Next up for Marsh AC is Blasford Hill on August 13th.

For me however the next stop is 3 days at Rolfs Lake next weekend for Dave’s Friday Invitation match and the MD’s Pairs weekend.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 10	Tony Roberts	143lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 14	Peter Morton	141lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 22	Al Loader	131lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 18	Dave Collier	122lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 34	Lee Rose              Guest	98lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 6	Keith Ashby	86lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 8	Pete Thompson     Guest	86lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 20	Gary Smithers      Guest	83lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 33	Tony Moore         Guest	74lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 19	Nick Bondeau       Guest	71lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 11	Clive Pritchard	69lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 1	Terry Goff	63lbs 12ozs
13th	Peg 28	Roger Noakes	53lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 38	Graham Manning	52lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 37	Ken Walker	50lbs 00ozs
16th	Peg 9	Sean Moore          Guest	46lbs 12ozs
17th	Peg 27	John Holdsworth	46lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 40	Chris Withall	42lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 12	Simon Watkins	40lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 30	Dave Janes           Guest	37lbs 00ozs
21st	Peg 3	Rod Turner	36lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg 26	Zack Johnson        Guest	31lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 2	Paul East	28lbs 08ozs
24th	Peg 4	Kevin Loveland	28lbs 00ozs
25th	Peg15	Martin Hucker	24lbs 00ozs
26th	Peg 35	Judy Hermite	22lbs 00ozs
27th	Peg 24	Jim Boase	19lbs 08ozs
28th	Peg 39	Ron Mannister	14lbs 00ozs