Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. May 12th, 2012.

Marsh AC club match.

It’s off down to Hartleylands Fishery at Cranbrook in Kent for what should have been an Inter-club match against Morefax AC but unfortunately they haven’t been able to get a team together so it’s just a regular club match today. However as we booked the whole of Nick’s Lake we’ve invited a few guests along so hopefully everyone will have a decent day. A glance out of the window offered a glimpse of what promised to be a decent day weather wise, so after taking care of the cats and swigging a couple of cups of coffee the kit was loaded into the car and off I went.

First stop was the Knoxbridge Café to take care of breakfast, Mick the Chippy and grand daughter Rosie had just arrived as I pulled up and we entered to find that Keith and Mick already there and waiting for breakfast after their trip down from Milton Keynes. John. Martin and Zack weren’t far behind and once breakfast was taken care of we made our way down to the fishery for the draw.

The usual banter was flying around as we waited. Lee was there, the sole Morefax angler who could make it, so he would be fishing as a guest along with Gary who was Chris’s guest today and fishing his first match for about 30 years. There were two areas I wanted to draw today, either the spit (pegs 7-9) or the mid twenties. Into the bag and the drawing hand didn’t co-operate leaving me with peg 16, not where I really wanted to be.

Making my way round to the peg with my gear I found that Rod had peg 13 and Al was on peg 14, while Martin had 17 and Jim 18. You can see where everyone else was pegged on the peg plan below ……

Settling into my peg it was a question of sorting out a plan of attack. The obvious approach was method feeder to the island, but it only ever seems to produce small carp of around a pound and if I’m honest it’s a style of fishing that bores me to tears, so today I was going to target the bigger fish that tend to lurk around the margins so I set up four top kits. Two had Nick Gilbert’s handmade NG Power Pencil’s, 0·4 g made up on on 0·18 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X’s for a line in front at 6mtrs where I had around 4 feet of water, while the other 2 were 0.2g NG Edger’s again on 0·18 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X’s for the margins where I had around 2½ft of water. I also set up a pellet waggler should I see fish moving around up in the water. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm coarse pellet for feed and the hook along with some 8mm’s, sweetcorn and 6mm GOT Rippers as alternative hookers.

With around 15 minutes to the All-In I took a little stroll. Al had set up to fish long and shallow on the pole along with a method feeder and pellet waggler ……

and I found Lee down on peg 7 with a big grin on his face and itching to get started……

So at 10am Dave called the All-In, a pot of pellet onto the 6mtr line and a handful down both margins was followed by a banded 8mm out to the 6mtr line, Sport was far from instant though and a good 10 minutes passed before I had my first bite which I promptly missed. Al had gone straight out on the method and was soon into a run of small carp, but apart from him sport seemed to be pretty slow up our end of the lake.

 My second bite produced a feisty little mirror of around 1½lbs so at least I was off the mark, but my next couple of fish were small skimmers and the first hour saw me add just another 3 small carp to my nets. The second hour was a little better, but only just with another 6 small carp to show for my efforts, but at least the sun was shining allowing me to ditch the fleece and sit comfortably in a polo shirt for the first time this year.

 However I was getting nowhere fast, while Al was still catching on the method, although he was complaining that fish were knocking off the groundbait as soon as the method hit the water, so I decided it may be time to get the feeder rod out. However I rigged it with a small cage feeder as opposed to the method, and was going to feed dampened 6mm’s in an attempt to stop it getting ragged. So with a couple of pints of pellets damped down I took a stroll while the pellets soaked.

Simon had started on the feeder, but it hadn’t really produced for him so he had reverted to the pole in attempt to find some action ……

Next up was Keith, another who’d started on the feeder but reverted to the pole and while he insisted that he wasn’t really getting to grips with it he was soon into a carp as we chatted……

Clive was looking a little happier with things today fishing the bush to his right and soon had plenty of elastic streaming out of his top kit, and the culprit a carp that he’d foul hooked in the tail soon found its way to his waiting net ……

Next up was Tony, back with us today having missed the Rayne Lodge match, he was targeting his left hand margin and seemed to be reasonably pleased with his progress, while down on peg 26 Rosie was having a fine old day in fact she was having such a good time that Grandad Mick had stopped fishing himself and contented himself with being Rosie’s Ghillie for the day……

Round to peg 31 and Mick W was being his usual laid back self and although he was being a bit cagey about how he was doing the large tail pattern by his float when he dropped his rig in rather gave the game away that he was probably sitting on a good few fish ……

On the next peg Chairman Dave reckoned he was having a similar day to me (I won’t call it a Grueller as I know one of my readers would take issue with me on this) but having returned from a stroll of his own had managed a couple of quick fish on paste down the margin ……

It was pretty much the same story until I got round to the point where I found Lee targeting his margin and getting among a few carp to keep him happy with his progress.

Kevin was happily fishing the feeder on peg 8 and having one of his best days of the year so far ……

Terry was also having a decent day on peg 9 although he’s lost a couple of lumps during the morning that just didn’t want to play ball and as I made my way back to my peg Al was giving the method a rest, and seeing if he could find some action on the pole line…

Back at my peg, and with the feeder loaded and a banded 8mm on the hook it was out to the island. Within 30 seconds the tip wrapped round and a regulation 1lb carp was heading to the net, this rapidly became eight in eight casts forcing Martin to get his feeder rod into the action. For the next couple of hours fish came regularly and with around an hour to go I had 50 carp in the nets. The trouble was they were like peas in a pod, all around the 1lb mark and I wasn’t enjoying it so with an hour to go the feeder rod was up the bank and I spent that final hour looking for some lumps in the margins. However it wasn’t to be, they just weren’t there and I only added another half a dozen small carp to the nets before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm.

Packing my gear away I felt that I had something approaching 60lbs to show for my efforts. I would almost certainly have topped the ‘Ton’ if I’d fished the feeder all match, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as I like to have something larger to target nowadays. I was pretty sure that Al had won the match though as it had suited his style of fishing as he just likes to be busy and doesn’t mind what he’s catching as long as he keeps busy, and he’d certainly been that today.

When I caught up with the weigh-in they had just weighed Lee in with 105¾lbs and judging by his smile he was happy with that. Kevin had 63lbs and Terry 73½lbs. Rod had 11½lbs while Al certainly had been busy recording a fine 176½lbs. Next up my estimate proved to be almost spot on with 59¾lbs. Martin managed just 13½lbs and Jim 38lbs. Simon had tipped back as he’d had to leave early. Keith had managed 85½lbs but Clive topped that with 113lbs while Tony put 106½lbs on the scales. Mick was a very proud Grandad when Rosie weighed in with a fine 77lbs, “its just like catching roach on the canal Grandad, but bigger“. Mick W bagged ‘The Milton Keynes Nugget‘ today with 113lbs but did himself no favours beating Chairman Dave’s 51¾lbs from the next peg. Graham managed a level 40lbs to Zack’s 23½lbs and John rounded things off with 39¼lbs.

So back to the car park for the results and Al had taken the win today, while Clive and Mick W had tied for second. The sections today were won by Al, Lee, Clive and Mick W. Overall just over 1250lbs of fish were weighed in, making an average of just over 66lbs per angler. Not a bad day I think you’ll agree.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 14	Al Loader		176lbs 08ozs
2nd=	Peg 23	Clive Pritchard		113lbs 00ozs
2nd=	Peg 31	Mick Wright		113lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 24	Tony Roberts		106lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 7	Lee Rose	Guest	105lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 21	Keith Ashby		85lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 26	Rosie	Guest	77lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 9	Terry Goff		73lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 8	Kevin Loveland		63lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 16	Peter Morton		59lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 32	Dave Collier		51lbs 12ozs
12th	Peg 34	Graham Manning		40lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 37	John Holdsworth		39lbs 04ozs
14th	Peg 18	Jim Boase		38lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 4	Gary Luck	Guest	36lbs 00ozs
16th	Peg 2	Chris Withall		31lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 35	Zack Johnson		23lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 17	Martin Hucker		13lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 13	Rod Turner		11lbs 08ozs
20th	Peg 20	Simon Watkins		DNW

 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. August 31st, 2011.

A phone call from Dave Collier was the catalyst for todays trip out. Did I fancy a days fishing on Wednesday with him and Terry Goff? He was thinking of a day down at Hartleylands and was also going to pop down to Hawkhurst at some point and pick up a couple of sacks of pellet as he was running short. “Tell you what Dave, I’ll meet you at Hawkhurst around 9am, and we can pick up some pellet and have breakfast as well before heading off to Hartleylands”. So that’s how I came to be driving down to Kent on a pleasant sunny summers day and pulling into the car park at Hawkhurst. Dave soon had his pellet and I decided to get a 25Kg sack of 6mm’s as well as I was running a bit low.

Over to the café, to find that it’s been extended since my last visit. A large ‘Full English’ was soon dispatched and as we made our way back to the cars Terry phoned, he was already at Hartleylands, but The Reservoir which we planned to fish already had lots of anglers on, so it looked like a day on Nick’s seemed favourite. Ten minutes later we pulled into the car park at the fishery to meet up with Terry, and with the roadside bank of Nick’s being free of anglers it didn’t take long to decide that Pegs 33-35 with walks of a maximum of 10 yards from the cars would do today.

We soon had a gear down at the pegs, with me on Peg 35, Dave on 34 and Terry settled into 33. First things first though, and Dave soon had his stove out and the kettle on for a cuppa. With a refreshing brew sorted it was time to set the kit up. A nice relaxing day today so nothing to complicated. A 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the 5mtr line, a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the margin and another 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG for paste at the bottom of the shelf. Bait for today was simply 6mm pellet and GOT Baits Atomic paste.

I suppose it was about 11am by the time we started and I fed some pellet into the margins and a small pot of pellet at 5mtrs and followed that out with a banded 6mm. It didn’t take long before the float slid away and a feisty little Common of around 1½lbs kicked things off for me. Dave and Terry were soon in as well, and the tone set for the day ahead.

After a couple more Carp I then started to get a run of skimmers and Roach, much to Dave’s amusement, but as it wasn’t a match I have to say that I didn’t mind, just as long as I kept getting bites. Terry was just happy to be getting a few fish after a bit of a torrid time recently down at Rolfs. He was fishing paste today and in his own words was using up all the bits and bobs of paste he’d accumulated in the freezer, and whatever they were the resident carp seemed happy enough to accept his offerings…

A few years back Paul (The owner) stocked 17 Barbel into the Lakes around the fishery, indeed I caught one back in 2004 when they were no more than 6 inches long, but they hardly ever show, and supposedly there are only 11 of them in Nick’s. Dave was having a rare old tussle with a fish and lo and behold what should it be, but one of those elusive Barbel ……

 After the photo, another cuppa was called for by way of celebration, while back at my peg some Carp had obviously moved into the margins, among them a little golden Ghostie that kept drifting in and out. These margin fish can be a bit finicky which is why I’d set up a paste rig for down the shelf later on, but I thought I’d see if I could get a couple from the margin. I banded up an 8mm pellet on the margin rig and first put in the float buried, the culprit needless to say was the little golden Ghostie……

 By now Dave was offering paste under the overhanging willow to his left and while he was catching steadily, you could hear the odd muttered curse when an apparent sail away bite was missed, but such are the joys of fishing paste……

 I was treated to another sail away bite, the culprit shooting off as soon as it felt the hook, and I have to say that I was more than a little surprised when the culprit popped up to be netted and revealed itself to be another Barbel ……

 As the afternoon wore on another brew up was called for, after which Dave and I took a stroll up to the Reservoir to see how it was fishing, leaving Terry happily fishing away down his margin……

 There were quite a few anglers there and it seemed that most were catching on a wide variety of methods. We cut down to take a quick look at Finches Pond before continuing round Nick’s. where yet again people were catching on a wide variety of methods and bait. Back at our pegs Terry was still happily plundering the margins, a Common being the latest to take a liking to his paste……

 Unfortunately a couple of mishaps then befell me, firstly my elastic snapped on one top kit, then a rig snapped. However I was soon back in action and catching steadily on paste at the bottom of the shelf using just a top two. Sport was steady for the rest of the session and I called it a day at around 5pm when I’d used the last of my paste. I’d finished up with 49 Carp, 1 Barbel and a fair few skimmers and Roach, Dave had a similar catch, but with one more Carp, but Terry had the best of it with 60+ Carp today.

Soon we were packed away, after what had proved to be a very pleasant and relaxed session, and farewells bid. However we’ll be seeing each other again on Saturday as we have a club match on a Private Lake in Sussex. Hopefully we’ll have a similar day then.

 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. August 6th, 2011.

Maggotdrowning.com

 

Southern Championship 2011.

 Today is the day of the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Championship which means that I’m off down to Nick’s Lake at Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrooke in Kent. Nick Gilbert had kindly taken care of organising the match this year. The early morning glance out of the window revealed a cloudy overcast morning, and the weather forecast wasn’t for much in the way of improvement. I soon had the car loaded up and by 7am I was on my way.

The first port of call today was The Knoxbridge Café, where a few of the lads were meeting for breakfast. I got there just after 8am to find most of the usual suspects were already in attendance a ‘Knoxbridge Special Breakfast’ soon had me set up for the day ahead, and it was then just a matter of jumping back into the car for the five minute trip down the road to the fishery.

As we waited for the draw word came through that Tony was marooned on a stationary M25, and a quick phone call to him confirmed that he wouldn’t be able to make it today, which left 16 of us fishing today. Prior to the draw Nick was doing a brisk trade in his floats which he had with him, but we were soon picking our pegs……

I found peg 13 was to be mine for the day, not a peg that I would have chosen, as I’ve never fished there before and it’s not considered one of the noted pegs. Nick Costar (Bag Up) had drawn peg 8, and would take some beating with his Method approach, while Al had drawn 9, another good peg. Matt and Mick had 23 and 24 and Nick Gilbert was on peg 17, on his own at the top of the lake with the wind blowing into it.

Reaching my peg I took stock, a comfy chuck to the island for a feeder, and a promising reed lined margin to the right and a overhanging bush to the left, with the wind blowing from right to left across me ……

I set up 3 top kits. The first with a 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil made up on 0·16 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 16 Guru MWG for straight out in front at around 6mtrs where I had around 4ft of water. Then a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for tight to the reeds in my right hand margin where I had 2 feet of water and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG that would be used tight to the bush on my left. I also set up the feeder rod to fish the method to the island. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with some GOT Baits soft hookers and some paste.

Kevin appeared with a welcome cup of coffee courtesy of Jean and after a brief chat made his way back to his peg for the start of the match. With everyone set Nick called the All-In at 11am. I fed a pot of mixed pellet at 6mtrs and a handful in each margin before shipping an 8mm pellet out to the 6mtr line. a couple of dips then the float buried resulting in a hand sized skimmer to get me off the mark, which was followed by a couple more identical examples. Not quite what I was hoping for especially as the two Nick’s both appeared to be off to flyer’s along with Al, in fact rumour had it that Bag Up had taken a couple of near doubles in consecutive casts within the first 15 minutes !!!!!!

Up to my left on peg 15 was Toby(vassago)Wells, and from what I could see it appeared that he was suffering with a similar slow start to the match like I was ……

After upping my feeding on the 6mtr line my next fish was a Carp, only a small one at around 1½lbs, but it gave a good account of itself before sliding across the rim of the landing net. This signalled the start of a run of Carp, but after about an hour I could tell that I wasn’t catching fast enough and was already falling behind. Time to take a look on the method. I’d previously soaked some 4mm pellets for use on the feeder, so using those in conjunction with a hair rigged banded 8mm pellet it was out to the island with the feeder. It was quite shallow out by the island and I could see fish turning toward the splash of the feeder as it landed, and while it soon started to produce fish for me, they were all small fish of around the 1lb mark. Nick on peg 17 was making serious inroads into the lake’s Carp population and still taking fish regularly……

I stuck it out in the hope that a few better examples would show up, but it just didn’t seem as if it was meant to be today. Sipping a second cup of coffee from Jean I decided to have a quick look with the pellet waggler, as I had been catapulting 6-8 8mm pellets to the island every couple of minutes while fishing the method and it was already set up in it’s ready sleeve. The set up was ideal to reach the island but after half a dozen casts it was all to obvious that the wind was making presentation to difficult for it to be effective.

I could see that Al was still catching at a steady rate, and his commentary on Bag Up’s progress kept everyone aware of how well he was catching. I could also hear plenty of splashing coming from Nick’s peg although the bush to my left stopped me from seeing quite how well he was doing. However I could see Mick over on peg 24 and he seemed to be catching well down his left hand margin ……

A quick look down both margins produced nothing apart from a solitary small Roach, so it was back to the 6mtr line for me. I was soon back among the Carp, still not large fish, but a slightly better stamp at around 1½-2lbs to those I’d been catching on the method. The problem was that I couldn’t increase the catch rate, it was just steady away. Finally with about 30 minutes to go the fish turned up in my right hand margin and I managed to take a few better fish around the 3-4lb mark before Nick called the All-Out at 4pm, but it was to little to late for me.

Packing up and chatting to Toby it was obvious that we’d had pretty similar matches, and I felt that I probably had around 70lbs to show for my efforts.
So with my gear back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In.

Mick R kicked things off with 39½lbs, but Simon recorded the days first ‘Ton’ with a fine 137lbs. Kev could only manage 37lbs 10ozs. Bag Up put 185lbs on the scales, but Al topped that with 197lbs 10ozs. My fish came to 88¼lbs, while Toby had 79¼lbs. Nick showed just what a busy day he’d had 140 Carp for a weight of 222¼lbs. Lee had 82lbs and Matt had 128¼lbs but Mick won their peg to peg tussle with 177¾lbs. Dave had 50½lbs while new boy Gino had 30lbs. On peg 32 Terry’s 112½lbs was just 4ozs better than Rusty’s 112¼lbs from peg 33, and Keith was last to weigh with 49¾lbs.

So back to the car park for the results. The Winner on the day and Maggotdrowning Southern Champion 2011 was Nick Gilbert. Al Loader took second place on the day while Nick Costar was third overall.

Thanks to Nick for organising the match and to all those that supported it on the day.

Lastly to Hartleylands Farm, what a fishery, Over 1700lbs of fish weighed in, meaning an average of over 100lbs per angler, it shows the quality of the fishing on offer.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 17	Nick(Master Baiter)Gilbert	222lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 9	Al(al)Loader	197lbs 10ozs
3rd	Peg 8	Nick(BAG UP)Costar	185lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 24	Mick(mickeym)McMillan	177lbs 12ozs
5th	Peg 5	Simon(sidev77)Watkins	137lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 23	Matt(the slapper)Love	128lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 32	Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff	112lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 33	Russell(Russ G)Graves	112lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 13	Peter(mugger)Morton	88lbs 04ozs
10th	Peg 21	Lee(LEEMANS)Rose	82lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 15	Toby(vassago)Wells	79lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 26	Dave(dave the fish)Collier	50lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 35	Keith(keith74)Powell	49lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 2	Mick(mick r)Rumford	39lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 7	Kevin(Kev the Catch)Loveland	37lbs 10ozs
16th	Peg 27	Gino(naughtycockney)	30lbs 00ozs

 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. April 23rd, 2011.

Marsh AC v  Morefax AC

Well I’m down at Hartleylands today for a small Knock Up on Nick’s Lake. A couple of weeks ago Dave Collier posted the following on my club forum…… “ Some of my son-in-laws mates have invited me and a few Marsh members for a little knock up on 23rd April. They normally fish as a small club with usually 8 or 10 of them. Between their organiser and myself we have booked the whole of Nicks lake for Saturday 23rd of April. So how many of you want to risk the wrath of SWMBO and come fishing on Easter Saturday”   Well after an invitation like that, it would be rude not to wouldn’t it.

We had been hoping to have a Marsh club match around this time, but a combination of Easter, Royal Wedding and a lack of available bookings on suitable venues meant that the invitation from the Morefax lads offered a welcome opportunity for about a dozen of us to get out on the bank .

With the weather having been so good recently, it was just shorts and a tee shirt today, and with the gear loaded into the car it was off to the Knox-Bridge Café for a ‘Full English’. Well the best laid plans and all that, I found Pete and Keith just about to pull out of the car park as the café was shut. A stop at a local petrol station meant an overpriced sandwich replaced the ‘Full English’, but at least it filled a hole.
Pulling into the fishery car park most were already in attendance and I was surprised to see a face that I work with !! Dave Janes was there with the Morefax lads as a guest of his brother in law Lee Rose. So with 22 of us present it was time for the draw. Peg 3 was mine for the day with Al on peg 4 for company. Keith strolled past with a broad grin on his face on his way to peg 9, while I could see Pete off to my right on peg 35.

With plenty of time to set up before the All-In at 10am the pellet wag and feeder rod were taken out of their ready sleeves, though in all honesty I was only expecting to fish the pole. 3 rigs took care of my options, once again all Sackup CX 4×12 pencils on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG’s. pretty much the same rigs I’d used at Monks on the previous Marsh match……

The first to fish at around 10mtrs where there was around 4ft of water and the other two to cover two margin lines. Bait for the day being a combination hard pellets and GOT Baits soft hookers.

Jean appeared with a welcome mug of coffee and at 10am the All-In was called. I fed a large pot of mixed pellets onto the 10mtr line and a handful down both margins before going out with a banded 6mm, meanwhile Al had started with the feeder to the island. Nobody seemed to get off to a flyer, but a few fish were coming out here and there. Al picked up a few early carp on the feeder but was suffering from a snag on his feeder line that was costing him a number of hook lengths. I was getting quite a bit of fizzing on my pole line indicating fish were present and it didn’t take long before I had my first carp of the day in the net to get me off the mark.


Sport wasn’t hectic, but with a bit of work the bites kept coming and at the end of the first hour I had 10 carp in the net. Pete over on 35 looked like he would take some stopping though as he was already into a steady run of fish, making the most of having empty pegs either side of him.


The second hour was steady away with Al and I matching each other pretty much fish for fish, but from where we were we couldn’t really see much of what was going on around the rest of the lake. With the recent warm weather Al was expecting the fish to come up in the water, but for some reason they didn’t seem to really want to know forcing him to fish on the deck……

Around half way through my long line tailed off, but with a look down both margins producing just a solitary small skimmer I re-fed at 10mtrs and took a quick stroll to allow things to settle. Keith was up on peg 9 and was concentrating on a line under the willow to his left……

 it was proving to be a bit of a frustrating time for him though with lots of taps and dinks on the float proving hard to hit and he felt that it was probably small skimmers causing this rather than the hoped for carp.

A bit further round I found my workmate Dave on peg 15 looking like someone from a Maver advert, he’d recently forked out on some shiny new kit including a seatbox. He was targeting the tree to his left but unfortunately it wasn’t proving to be that productive for him……

 And he felt that he was falling behind his brother in law Lee who he could see fishing the feeder to the end of the island over on peg 20……

Back at my peg I started to pick up the odd fish once more but felt that I was having to wait to long between fish compared with the rate that Al was catching. A look at the island with the feeder produced a couple of carp but not quickly enough and the waggler fared even worse without a single bite.
By now Al was struggling too and with us both trying down the margins only Al had any success with just a single carp……

Pete was still catching, but the lads that appeared to be in the box seats were Tony and Gary on pegs 7 and 8 as it seemed that every time I looked over their way they were both playing good fish and both Al and I thought they would both be on for Ton+ weights.

With an hour to go the sun vanished and was replaced with heavy grey clouds accompanied by ominous rumbles of thunder and a light sprinkling of rain, but at least I managed a final flurry of fish before the all out was called at 4pm.


With Al and I weighing in half the lake we set off from peg 1 where Roy had struggled for just over 17lbs. My catch weighed 69½lbs, a bit more than I’d expected while Al’s 78½lbs proved good enough to take the section as Tony and Gary both came up a little short with 76lbs and 73 lbs respectively. Keith put 60lbs on the scales, including a Carp of 12lbs 2ozs which would take the £10 heaviest fish money. Tony’s 61¾lbs would be enough to take this section while Chris,Sean and Dave all recorded weights in the twenties and Ian finished the section off with a level 49lbs.
Back to the car park for the final results and the honours on the day went to Pete Thompson (peg 35) with a fine 127½lbs to take the win……

 while second and third had come from adjacent pegs with Dave Collier’s 90lbs from peg 21 giving him 2nd place ahead of Lee Rose (peg 20) whose 79lbs gave him 3rd overall. Kevin on peg 24 had 64lbs to give him the section on the day while Nick Bondeau on peg 27 managed 59½lbs to take the final section and his first ever pick up in a match.

 All in all a good day, with everyone having some fish and I’m sure it won’t be the last time that the Marsh and Morefax clubs get together for a friendly Knock Up.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 35	Pete Thompson	127lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 21	Dave Collier	90lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 20	Lee Rose	79lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 4	Al Loader	78lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 7	Tony Moore	76lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 8	Gary Smithers	73lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 3	Peter Morton	69lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 24	Kevin Loveland	64lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 11	Tony Roberts	61lbs 12ozs
10th	Peg 9	Keith Ashby	60lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 27	Nick Bondeau	59lbs 08ozs
12th=	Peg 17	Ian Cooper	49lbs 00ozs
12th=	Peg 23	Terry Goff	49lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 26	Christine Collier	39lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 37	Dave ?	36lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 14	Sean Moore	26lbs 00ozs
17th	Peg 31	Simon Watkins	25lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 12	Chris Withall	23lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 15	Dave Janes	22lbs 14ozs
20th	Peg 29	Gino	21lbs 00ozs
21st	Peg 1	Roy Sargent	17lbs 06ozs
22nd	Peg 33	Rod Turner	7lbs 00ozs

Marsh AC  Morefax AC