Dawns Vale. Wethersfield. Essex. October 3rd, 2008

Well today promised to be a little different as Dawn, the owner of Dawns Vale had invited some of the lads from the Maggotdrowning.com forum down to her fishery for a small match. This had turned into a weekend event for some though, as anglers from as far afield as Scotland, Yorkshire and Wales had accepted Dawn’s invitation. Having met up with Dave and Colin at Dave’s house we made our way out to deepest Essex arriving at the fishery just after 9·30am.

Parking the cars up it was obvious that a couple of the lads had already arrived. Dai, who was staying for the whole weekend had already pitched his bivvy and Mick and Vince were already tucking into egg and bacon rolls and a cuppa that Dawn had cooked up in the little 2 berth caravan at the side of the pool. As Dave, Colin, Tony and I unloaded our tackle, Webbo (and his lunatic boxer dog Max) and Geoff pulled in, Geoff having travelled down from Scotland the previous day to meet up with Webbo in Leeds.

Dawn soon had us all fed and I took the opportunity to take a first look around. Dawns Vale as the fishery’s called is a small natural pool (about an acre I’d estimate) that’s fed by 7 springs set in woodland that’s situated on the side of a hill. Thankfully the trees shelter it to a degree from the wind, which was starting to get a bit of a blow on.
They’d had their 1st frost of Autumn overnight and a heavy grey sky held the promise of rain at some point. Today we were going to have a friendly little 6 hour Knock-up between the nine of us, and Dawn had even gone out and got a Trophy to present to the Winner………

Now the pool isn’t a venue that is match fished, it’s normally fished by carpers and pleasure anglers, and with only about 12 pegs we decided to draw and have a walk off picking our own swims. Most opted for the shortest walk possible, leaving Mick and I to stroll to the far side and I ended up opposite the caravan, allowing me to keep an eye on everyone except Mick.

Settling into the swim I was happy to realise that I was pretty sheltered and would have the wind off my back. Dave has fished the pool once before in the summer and had told me that the margins were deep at around 4-5 feet with depths up to 25 feet in parts of the pool. There were some decent Carp present, along with Crucians, Tench and thousands of small Rudd that would rob any bait they could. I’d already made my mind up based on what I’d heard to target the Carp, but the frost and conditions were making me wonder if I’d made the right choice.

 Plumbing up down the right hand margin there was 5 feet of water with a similar depth at 5mtrs straight out so I settled for those 2 lines with a simple rig incorporating a MW Diamond to 0·18 to size 16 Drennan Carp Match hook, and also set up the feeder as a back up. Bait wise it was going to be 6mm pellet for feed and 8 and 11mm hard banded pellet to deter the Rudd.

At 11·30am I called the All-in and dumped 2 big pots of pellet into both pole lines, then chucked the feeder with soaked 6mm pellets and a hair rigged banded 11mm on the hook. After 30 minutes without a flicker on the tip it was onto the pole but neither of the 2 lines produced a bite just tiny little knocks from Rudd attacking the pellet and from my vantage point I could see that nobody was doing any good apart from Geoff and Dai who were both happily taking a succession of small Rudd.

With 2 hours gone I re-fed the margin swim heavily and went for a stroll to see how everyone was doing. Webbo was on the pole trying to tempt a Carp with Max keeping a careful eye on proceedings and probably glad that he wasn’t relying on him to catch his dinner ………

Tony was ruing parting company with a decent fish earlier on the method feeder and was sticking at it hoping for another bite at the cherry ………

Geoff and Dai were still getting amongst the Rudd making the most of their foresight in bringing some maggots with them, It was good to see Geoff on the bankside and catching a few as he hadn’t been out since May and was quite content just catching and not bothered about the size of fish.

Vince was fishless, but concentrating on the job in hand (not losing a £1 to me in our usual side bet)………

Birthday boy Colin(66) was biteless but determined to stick at it and if possible sneak a Carp out on the paste, though with the wind howling into his chosen swim which was one of the shallower ones, it wasn’t looking to hopeful.

Dave was happily settled into the swim he’d fished before, and was taking it easy as his arthritis was playing him up in the cold and was only owning up to a couple of liners but nothing in the way of fish………

Finally I came to Mick, yet another Birthday Boy (50) who was getting a few Rudd on the waggler to christen his new rod ………

…………….Yes there is a fish there, as a close up proves ………

Back to my peg and I opened a tin of corn that Geoff and kindly let me have, and slipping a grain onto the hook I shipped it out to the margin line. After about 10 minutes of lifting and dropping the rig the float finally slid under and a firm lift met with a pleasing resistance as the elastic stretched from the top-kit. The fish stayed down but didn’t tear off (probably due to the depth of the venue?) but steady pressure soon saw me get the upper hand and a couple of minutes later a nice plump Mirror of around 6lbs was safely in the net.

15 minutes later my 2nd bite of the day produced a similar result, though this time the fish was a little smaller at around 4lbs.

With another half hour gone and no further action I re-fed the margin and looked up to see Webbo with yards of pink Drennan bungee pouring out of his pole, so I grabbed the camera and strolled down to watch the action ………………

……..Webbo was getting nowhere fast with the fish and soon had quite a crowd watching and giving him helpful advise and encouragement. I even phoned Malc and put him on the loudspeaker to see if The Jinx effect would work long distance. Finally after what seemed like 10 minutes the fish was on the top and safely heading for the net………

and you could tell from the grin on Webbo’s face that all the micky taking had been worth it in the shape of a cracking Mirror what tipped the scales at 12lbs 4ozs.

Back to my swim, and the sky was getting darker and the wind was increasing. Back out to the margin and a change to double corn produced a 3rd bite after half an hour and resulted in a 3rd Carp, smaller again this time, a mint little Common of no more than 2lbs. Shortly after that Webbo popped round as he took Max for a stroll and he was soon followed by Dave and Colin, with Dave taking a few grains of corn away with him in an effort to get himself off the mark.

 No more fish followed for me, but Dawn appeared with a freshly cooked double cheeseburger and a hot cup of coffee to lift my spirits. Obviously the corn had the desired effect for Dave, for not long after I looked over and just caught him netting a decent fish……

With around 1½ hours to go I decided to go back onto the feeder as I had seen a couple of fish crash out to my right. After about 20 minutes I had a couple of tentative knocks followed by a 6 inch pull and the strike met with a firm resistance and I could feel the fish kite out into the centre and judging by the angle of the line to the water it had obviously sought the deeper part of the pool. A couple of minutes of steady pressure saw me gain the upper hand though and I soon had my best fish of the day, another Mirror around the 9lbs mark. I only had one further bit of action before the end of the match, and that was when Bill G phoned, we were chatting away as the rod tip wrapped violently round!!!!!!!!!  I wasn’t connected for long however and the hook returned embedded in a scale.

So 5·30pm and I called the All-out just as the 1st drops of rain threatened to fall. A quick weigh-in confirmed just how hard it had been on the day. Dai was 1st to weigh and put plenty of the pools small Rudd on the scales which weighed in at 20lbs………

……. and with Geoff weighing another 15lbs of them for 2nd and 3rd places respectively, they had kept themselves busy and warm, however bags of Rudd like that may be the last for sometime as Dawn told me that they’re being netted out at the end of this month. They’ll never get them all though, so it’s just a matter of time till they return.

My 4 Carp weighed 21lbs 8ozs to take the honours on the day and another £1 from Vince, and receiving the Trophy from Dawn was a nice end to the day.

Soon the kit was loaded up and farewells said. I have to say that I didn’t envy the lads that were staying on overnight (Webbo, Geoff, Dai and Mick) but it will be interesting to see how they did overnight and Sunday before heading home.

I’d just like to say a big THANK YOU to Dawn for putting up with the Maggotdrowning Mob and making us feel welcome, I’m sure we’ll be finding our way back sooner or later.

Position	Angler	Weight
1st	Peter(Mugger)Morton	21lbs 08ozs
2nd	Dai(daifish)Thomas	20lbs 00ozs
3rd	Geoff(Capt Birdseye)Palmer	15lbs 08ozs
4th	Dave(Webbo)Webster	12lbs 04ozs
5th	Tony(spamwham)Roberts	10lbs 08ozs
6th	Dave(TheFish)Collier	9lbs 04ozs
7th	Mick(TheChippy)Pearson	5lbs 00ozs
8th	Colin(ThePike)Sharrard	08ozs
9th	Vince(Vince G)Gould	04ozs

For anyone who fancies a trip to Dawns Vale, you can find the details of the fishery on their website at http://www.dawnsvale.co.uk/

The Pool at Dawns Vale is quiet and secluded, set in about 2·5 acres of woodland it’s the perfect place to get away from it all. While it doesn’t have the high stocking densities of a commercial pool, there’s a decent head of fish to target that are all in tip top condition, including Carp (Common. Mirror and Ghost) that run to 20lbs+, Crucians, Tench, Eels and the odd Bream.

Please note: you can’t just turn up to fish, you MUST phone or contact the fishery via E-mail 1st to book a day or nights fishing as swims are limited.

It’s a charming little fishery, and one that I have no hesitation in recommending as worth a visit if you get the chance and fancy a bit of peace and tranquillity.

Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Hailsham . August 25th, 2008.

August Bank Holiday Monday and with Maria having to work I’d accepted an invitation from Bill to join him and a few of the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum down at Falkenville Mushroom Farm for a session on the new lake there. It was over 5 years ago that I last fished at Falkenville on the same lake as today when it 1st opened when it looked as it appears in the photo above. However in the intervening time it has been changed with 1 arm cut off and the rest widened, and now looks something like the image I’ve created below.

Pulling into the car park I was greeted by Pete, Ryan and Mick and after a brief chat Bill pulled into the car park to join us, that just left Al who was obviously running late. Rather than wait Bill got the gate key and we drove over to the lake. No draw today, just a fun day out so we just unloaded the gear and plonked ourselves in the nearest pegs.

Now on Saturday there had been some discussion about Bill being a JINX, and maybe there’s something in it. When I had left home the sun was shining but as I got closer to the fishery the sun vanished to be replaced by grey clouds and by the time we had set up the wind had risen and there was the threat of rain.

Plumbing up I couldn’t find much more than 3ft of water in front of me, so set up a paste rig comprising of a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match and a Malman 4×12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match to fish pellet on the deck. Starting off at around 6mtrs I soon had a bite that rewarded me with a nice plump Common of around 3lbs while most of the other lads were still setting up. A ringing on Bill’s phone revealed a slightly lost Al needing to be talked in by Bill, and most of us were off the mark by the time that Al finally arrived to join us.

Well the wind increased and some rain arrived and soon it resembled early winter rather than late summer. By about 1pm I’d managed half a dozen Carp, Ryan had just the one but was determined to get a few more………….

Pete was getting a few by chucking the feeder across ……………….

Bill was doing best of all and had been catching regularly fishing paste at around 5mtrs, but even his action had slowed……………

while Mick was struggling despite trying the pole and feeder…………..

and Al had a few fishing out in front of him but just couldn’t interest the fish that were obviously feeding in his margins …………

By 1·30 I’d had enough of the struggle, I tipped back my fish and moved over to a swim at the end of the arm that had been cut off. Reed lined on both sides it offered a little bit of shelter from the conditions and just looked as if it was good for a few fish.

A few pellets down both sides and a lump of paste on the hook and I was into fish straight away and from then on a regular succession of Carp provided great entertainment right up to the point when the lads came round with the scales at the end of the session, indeed I hooked a final fish as they arrived, but with a crack the rig vanished. It turned out the Black Hydro had snapped!!!  I can’t really complain though, as it was 4 years old, so I’ve had my monies-worth out of it. 43½lbs of pristine Carp showed what an enjoyable afternoon I’d had, so with those I’d tipped back earlier I’d had a good 50lbs+ on a challenging day. Bill had 67½lbs for the bragging rights on the day and Pete managed 40lbs+ as well, indeed we’d all had a few.

All in all not a bad day given the conditions, Thanks to Bill for organising the day and to the lads for their company, it won’t be 5 years before I visit again.

Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Hailsham .May 18th, 2003.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Today was the first match of the new club season,and the venue was Falkenville Mushroom Farm just outside Hailsham in Sussex.
Now we’ve fished Falkenville before, normally on the main lake or the matchlake, but today we were trying a newer lake on the complex.
It’s a canal type lake about 12mtrs wide supposedly stocked with a bit of everything.
Unfortunately to say that it’s exposed would be an understatement and with a grey sky and strong winds everyone opted for the cooked breakfast in the barn before the draw, as it promised to be the best part of the day.
Well into the drawbag and peg 17 stuck to my hand, slap bang in the middle of the stretch, totally exposed and with just a few stick-ups to fish to, I just knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it.
The View from Peg 17 looking towards the low numbers…

As is usual on one of our club matches the wind dropped as we were setting up, lulling us into a false sense of hope, but as soon as the all in sounded the wind sprang up again,never to drop away again. 
Now most of the fish in the lakes at Falkenville are reared at the owners own fish farm and the killer bait is normally pellet or paste, and with no cover and a very shallow margin on my side the line of attack had to be across at 12 mtrs where I had a small shelf and about 3 ft of water.
Micro pellet with a few maggots and bits of sweetcorn were potted in with a Kinder cup and an expander pellet on the hook.
Bites were mere knocks, and trying to fish a dotted down float at 12 mtrs in a howling wind isn’t my idea of fun, but by chopping and changing I was able to nick a few little blade skimmers and Chublets.

Nearly everyone except the 2 end pegs were struggling when with an hour to go I had a run of 4 bites and 4 Carp. Alas they departed almost as soon as they had arrived, but I did have one more fish before the final whistle, a bit of a surprise ……… a small Barbel

Those 4 bonus fish boosted my weight at the end to 6lbs which was good enough for 4th on the day and  7 points towards the club championship. 

Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Match Lake.June 23rd, 2002

Hawthorne AC club match.

The venue today was the Mushroom Farm at Falkenville, just outside Hailsham in Sussex for the 4th Hawthorne club match of the season.

The Racetrack.(looking from the bottom towards the top end)

The match was to take place on the fishery match lake called The Racetrack, and the target species on this lake is Carp, but there is also a prolific head of Roach and skimmers if the Carp don’t show, an interesting addition however are a number of Wels Catfish up to about 15lbs .

After a superb cooked breakfast in the barn it was time for the draw. The favoured swims with the wind as it was, were at the top end of the lake. So as you can guess out comes 23, at the opposite end.

On previous matches at this venue I’ve dabbled with paste for bait, with varying degrees of success. Today I had decided that come what may I would stick with a pellet and paste attack .
With the wind gusting and making presentation awkward at 13mtrs, I just set up the one rig to fish pellet over paste at 7mtrs. This consisted of a Drennan Carp2 float on a length of Trilene XT and a Drennan Carbon Carp (size 10). No weight on the rig, just the weight of the paste to cock the float.

Sport was never fast and furious, but the bites when they came were either a definite lift or sailaways and I finished the match by putting 41lbs 14ozs (all Carp) on the scales, which was top weight on my bank, but only good enough for 3rd overall.

This is the best result I’ve had fishing paste,and I shall be trying it a lot more in the coming season and putting some of Malc’s recipes to the test.