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

Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2 & 4. May 3rd, 2010.

Faye’s Match

Organised by Maggotdrowning.com
With all proceeds going to support

Around this time last year Bill G organised a fund raising match in aid of PostPals.co.uk in support of a young lady called Faye, who has become very close to the hearts of a lot of the members who use the forum on the website Maggotdrowning.com and you can read the story of just how that day went HERE.

 It was such a success, that Bill has taken up the reins once more and we’re back down at Monk Lakes today to do it all over again. So having risen at some ungodly hour to take Mrs M to work for 6am, I couldn’t help noticing just how cold it was outside, so the first job after another coffee and toast was to dig the thermals out and climb into them before loading the car. With one thing and another it was just gone 7 am once I set off, but a smooth run down saw me pulling into the car park around 8am. Evidently I passed Clive and Tony on the way down, but they were unable to pick up my slipstream and arrived a little later.

A good turnout seemed assured as people assembled and various breakfast goodies were devoured as introductions were made to new faces and friendships renewed. People had come from far and wide for this match, notably Geoff and his better half Mags, from Motherwell in Scotland, while Arkwright and his good lady Pat had trekked down from Lancashire along with a few other ‘Monkeys’ from above the Watford Gap  and the ‘Pink One’ that is Jessebobs escaped from Bristol for the day.

Faye’s Dad, Dave T had come down for the day to offer his support, as unfortunately Faye was still in Adenbrookes with Mum Liz keeping her company. With the draw rolling round it was also good to see Vince putting in an appearance. Unfortunately he’s been suffering from a bout of pneumonia, preventing him from fishing, but he still found the time to come down to meet everyone and lend Bill a hand with the draw. So in for the draw and peg 145 stuck to my hand. Up on Lake 4 and I was quite happy as with the islands and a fair bit of vegetation it may offer a bit of shelter on what promised to be an absolute grueller of a day weather wise……..  yeah right.

Well the peg looked great, but the wind was howling in, but at least it was at my back. It meant that I could comfortably fish at around 7mtrs on the pole and with a decent 2½ft in the margin and a nice level 3ft+ at 7mtrs those would be my 2 lines utilising 2 rigs that were still in my box from an earlier club match on the lake back in March. I also set up my feeder rod as I had it with me in its ready sleeve. Bait for the day was maggot, pellet and corn with some groundbait for the method. For company I had Bill’s club mate John to my left while to my right was ‘Mermaid’ Linda’s husband Chris and Al. Did I mention the wind??? 1st job was to retrieve my seat box cover that went flying past me and then navigated half the lake before docking in Jessebobs swim, mind you he was going to need all he could get if he thought he was going to fill 3 nets today ……

So 10·30am and Bill called the All-In, feed onto both lines and out to 7mts with double maggot on the hook, a bit of lifting and dropping and 5 minutes in a nice fat Gudgeon broke the duck. The next hour saw just a couple of small Carp and a few skimmers for me, but John seemed to be finding a few as was Steve (spots) Potter up on peg 149……

Dave T came along for a chat and I gave him my camera with instructions to take a few pictures on his travels. Bill put in an appearance a little later, but word was that while most had caught, very few were catching regularly as the wind was doing its best to make life difficult for most on both lakes.

Next up Kevin’s partner Jean and Pat (The Raffle Ticket Mafia) arrived and with their subtle charms had soon extracted cash from us all in exchange for 1000+ raffle tickets.

Meanwhile over on Lake 2 it was starting to look more like an audition for ‘Deadliest Catch’ than a fishing match as the wind , rain and occasional bouts of hail interspersed with sunshine was making conditions more than a tad difficult for a lot of the anglers. However tucked away behind his brolly on peg 67 Jon (Mutley) Reed was having one of those sessions we all dream about……

 Now Jon is no match angler but a combination of simple feeder tactics and regularly pinging feed over the top kept fish coming to his rod virtually all match.

Further up on peg 73 Keith (shallowman) Haynes was making the most of it fishing chopped worm & caster for anything with fins and was slowly building a good weight.

I’d invited a work colleague, Dave Janes along today to fish his 1st ever match, he’s not long started pole fishing, and struggled a bit as the concept of a match was so new to him……

but he was delighted to get his best ever carp on the pole which weighed in at 12½lbs…

For a lot though it was just a case of battling through and nicking the odd fish where possible Geoff had told me that Mags always brings the rain with her when she leaves Scotland …………… He wasn’t wrong. Arkwright must have wondered why he’d travelled all the way down from Lancashire, as us southern lads had obviously lied to him about these Southern ‘Baggin’ waters, but he stuck at it and had a few ……

Mick was under severe pressure as he had granddaughter Rosie for company on the next peg ……

 No that’s wrong as Mick really doesn’t ‘do’ pressure, being one of the most relaxed anglers you could ever hope to meet……

…… and between nicking a couple and helping young Rosie, honour remained intact at the end with Mick getting the decision by a clear 10ozs.

Gary (garycatch) Catchpole had drawn the fabled peg 45 and was slowly putting a few together ……

Linda aka Mermaid was also getting a few, and it was just a question of whether it would prove to be enough to give her the bragging rights over husband Chris who was over on Lake 4……

Meanwhile back on Lake 4 Trevor was getting a few towards the island when the wind dropped, but it was never for long enough……

Al was battling on and getting the odd fish, but couldn’t put a run of them together……

So with a couple of hours to go I decided that enough was enough with the pole and reached for the feeder rod. 3 grains of corn hair rigged and lobbed towards the island. Within a minute the tip wrapped round and a small Mirror was safely into the net. That set the pattern for my last 2 hours, regular fish, but a few hook lengths were claimed by various snags that seemed to litter the area, but at least it kept me reasonably busy till Bill called the All-Out at 3·30pm.

Al and I had the scales for Lake 4 and thankfully given the conditions the Weigh-In didn’t take to long as the weather started to close in once more. Steve (spots) Potter taking the section with 56½lbs ahead of Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess’s 42¼lbs.

So with the gear packed away it was back to the car park for the results. Overall the day belonged to Jon (Mutley) Reed  with a fine 101lbs to take the win ahead of Keith (shallowman) Haynes’s level 85lbs, while Steve (spots) Potter’s 56½lbs filled 3rd place.

Bill G then said a few words of thanks before announcing that the total raised for Post Pals on the day had come to £853 and with another £270 still to come from an auction for a day at Rolfs Lake should take the total to over £1100.

Dave T  then thanked everyone for their efforts and read out the following letter that Faye had sent as she was unable to attend …

Thanks to everyone for coming to the match.
  We know many of you have travelled a long way. I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. I was hoping to be there but Addenbrookes won’t let me come home yet.
Me & my mum will be thinking of you all today. Hope you all caught lots of fish & have enjoyed yourselves. Thanks for supporting my charity Post Pals. The money raised helps many other seriously ill children.
Thank you for all your messages on the MaggotDrowners site.
A special thank you to Bill for organising everything again.
Hopefully I will see you all at the next one.

Love to you all
Faye.

Well after that all that remained was to draw the raffle, and with that out of the way farewells were bid. I’d just like to say a word of thanks, firstly to Bill G for all his efforts organising the day, and to all those anglers that took part, and Monk Lakes who donated a sizable part of the peg fees back to the cause. Same again next year folks?

Overall Results

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 67	Jon (Mutley) Reed	101lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 73	Keith (shallowman) Haynes	85lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 149	Steve (spots) Potter	56lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 45	Gary (garycatch) Catchpole	44lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 154	Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess	42lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 146	John Manktelow	39lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 151	Trevor (MT Net) Little	35lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 145	Peter (Mugger) Morton	31lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 152	Steve (badpegpicker) Oswick	31lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 77	Dave Janes	26lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 64	Michael (mickeym) McMillan	25lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 62	Jay Lay	24lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 142	Al Loader	23lbs 04ozs
14th	Peg 52	John (arkwright) Anderson	21lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 143	Chris (mr mermaid) Billington	21lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 68	Linda (mermaid) Billington	21lbs 02ozs
17th	Peg 146	A Ellis	21lbs 00ozs
18th	Peg 46	Alan (Genus 9) West	18lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 59	Brian (indiginous3556)	16lbs 08ozs
20th	Peg 58	Clive (black hydro) Pritchard	15lbs 08ozs
21st=	Peg 76	Simon Elsey	15lbs 00ozs
21st=	Peg 155	(pegg)	15lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 74	Tony (spamwham) Roberts	14lbs 00ozs
24th	Peg 56	Russell (Russ G) Graves	13lbs 04ozs
25th	Peg 63	Michael (redspike) Ashby	13lbs 00ozs
26th	Peg 49	Keith (keith 74) Powell	12lbs 00ozs
27th	Peg 65	Andrew (greentura) Green	10lbs 04ozs
28th	Peg 57	Geoff (geoff p) Palmer	8lbs 00ozs
29th	Peg 148	John (old tart) Ashby	7lbs 08ozs
30th	Peg 70	Chris Withall	7lbs 00ozs
31st=	Peg 66	Kevin (kev the catch) Loveland	6lbs 08ozs
31st=	Peg 51	Toby (vassago) Wells	6lbs 08ozs
33rd	Peg 69	G Flynn	6lbs 04ozs
34th	Peg 54	Mick (the chippy) Pearson	3lbs 12ozs
35th	Peg 48	Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff	3lbs 04ozs
36th	Peg 47	Dean (Marvin Waggler) Kershaw	2lbs 04ozs
37th	Peg 75	Sven (svenc) Castle	08ozs

Section Results

Section A
1st	Peg 45	Gary (garycatch) Catchpole	44lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 52	John (arkwright) Anderson	21lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 53	A Ellis	21lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 46	Alan (Genus 9) West	18lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 49	Keith (keith 74) Powell	12lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 51	Toby (vassago) Wells	6lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 54	Mick (the chippy) Pearson	3lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg 48	Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff	3lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 47	Dean (Marvin Waggler) Kershaw	2lbs 04ozs
Section B
1st	Peg 64	Michael (mickeym) McMillan	25lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 62	Jay Lay	24lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 59	Brian (indiginous3556)	16lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 58	Clive (black hydro) Pritchard	15lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 56	Russell (Russ G) Graves	13lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 63	Michael (redspike) Ashby	13lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 65	Andrew (greentura) Green	10lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 57	Geoff (geoff p) Palmer	8lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 66	Kevin (kev the catch) Loveland	6lbs 08ozs
Section C
1st	Peg 67	Jon (Mutley) Reed	101lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 73	Keith (shallowman) Haynes	85lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 77	Dave Janes	26lbs 12ozs
4th	Peg 68	Linda (mermaid) Billington	21lbs 02ozs
5th	Peg 76	Simon Elsey	15lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 74	Tony (spamwham) Roberts	14lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 70	Chris Withall	7lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 69	G Flynn	6lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 75	Sven (svenc) Castle	08ozs
Section D
1st	Peg 149	Steve (spots) Potter	56lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 154	Steve (Jessebobs) Burgess	42lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 146	John Manktelow	39lbs 12ozs
4th	Peg 151	Trevor (MT Net) Little	35lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 145	Peter (Mugger) Morton	31lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 152	Steve (badpegpicker) Oswick	31lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 142	Al Loader	23lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 143	Chris (mr mermaid) Billington	21lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 155	(pegg)	15lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 148	John (old tart) Ashby	7lbs 08ozs