Hartleylands Farm Fishery. The Reservoir. August 11th, 2012.

Marsh AC club match.

I’m off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today for the seventh match of the Marsh AC year. It’s a match that I really look forward to fishing as it’s one of my favorite  waters with the potential for a cracking days sport. An early start was in order as I was meeting a few of the lads for breakfast at The Knoxbridge Café and with the promise of some decent weather for today it didn’t take long to get the gear loaded into the car and set off.

A nice smooth drive down saw me pulling into the car park at around 7·30am just as Al and Keith Powell who was guesting today arrived. Kevin and Jean were already there along with Keith and Mick who’d made their usual trip down from Milton Keynes and Rusty who was also guesting today and we were soon joined by John, Martin and Zack. With the pangs of hunger taken care of by a Knoxbridge Special it was time to get up to the fishery for the draw, but not before Keith Powell noticed Keith’s wallet that had dropped on the floor by his seat and phoned him to let him know he had it.

Arriving at the draw most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with our third guest today Mick the Chippy who I struck a side bet of a Golden Nugget with as usual. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw underway. Peg 25 proved to be mine today, a short stroll from the car park and shaded by trees. Kev had peg 29 and it looked good for a few today while Mick the Chippy was next up on 28 with Rusty to my left on 26 and Mick W next up on peg 23.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. I’d considered fishing the pellet wag today but with the wind blowing from right to left across the peg it was going to be very awkward, so although I set one up I was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to figure. Instead it was going to be 3 pole rigs, one at 5mtrs straight out with another for the willow to my right and a third for the left hand willow. The first two were once again Nick Gilbert’s handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s to finish off with while the third rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some hemp while hook bait would be 8mm hard pellet with some GOT Atomic paste if I needed it.

Kev provided a cup of coffee courtesy of Jean when he popped down for a chat and Dave called the All-In at 10am and I fed a couple of handfuls of hemp and pellets to the two willow swims and a handful of pellet straight out at 5mtrs before following them out with a banded 8mm to 5mtrs. I could hear that Rusty was in almost straight away but I was being plagued by sharp bites that I couldn’t connect with and I suspected that these were from roach snatching at the 8mm pellet and this was confirmed when I landed one of around 6ozs that had somehow managed to engulf the pellet.

Thankfully my first carp of the day was soon on its way, the carp in the reservoir give a good account of themselves with the deep water encouraging them to keep their heads down and making you work to get their heads up and into the net but after a spirited fight a nice mirror of around 7lbs was safely in the keepnet.

You couldn’t class the sport as fast and furious though and the general banter around the lake made it obvious that most were struggling after around an hour, apart that is from Kev who was into a steady run of fish and Mick the Chippy if the rumours were to be believed. I was picking up the odd carp on my 5mtr line but looks over at both willow swims were producing nothing apart from the odd roach and skimmer. Rusty had taken a few carp fishing shallow but they weren’t really having it either and gradually faded away.

By 12·30pm I had around 6 carp and a few silvers to show for my efforts so took a little stroll to see how others were doing on my bank. Mick W reckoned that he’d had a few but seemed to be doing OK to me judging by the amount of elastic coming from his top two as he played a carp and it was obvious that he had hopes of taking the MK Nugget from Keith today……

but the pegs in the early twenties didn’t seem to be producing as I would have expected them to. However over on the other side the one person that did seem to be getting among a few was Terry and with the wind blowing into the margins there I fancied that he had the chance of a good weight on the cards today ……

Back down on peg 29 Kev was enjoying himself taking a succession of fish from under the willow to his left……

Mick was enjoying himself as always but had suffered with a few lost fish in the course of the morning and looking to up his catch rate ……

and while Rusty was his usual jovial self, with his shallow line having dried up was looking to explore other lines in an effort to put a few more in the net……

Back at my peg it was just a question of keeping some feed trickling into the three lines and waiting for some fish to turn up, which I was certain would happen at some point given the head of fish present in the water. Dave the Fish popped round for a stroll and it obviously wasn’t going well for him and you could sense his frustration with not being able to get to grips with things today.

As the afternoon wore on things did start picking up for me. I had to rotate round the three lines, but by doing this I started to pick up carp on a regular basis, nothing big, most were around the 4-5lbs mark but good weight builders if you can keep them coming.

Others weren’t so fortunate and I could hear Al bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t reach the spot where he felt the fish were in his swim ……

Things had picked up a bit for Tony, but he’d still found time to pop along and check out what Keith Powell was doing on peg 13 as it was obviously starting to produce for him ……

Keith was having one of those matches that we all dread, putting a few fish together but having to watch travelling companion Mick W catching just a few more which would surely result in the loss of an MK Nugget today……

My afternoon was then rudely interrupted by a pain in the neck .......... I’d been stung by a bee. Fortunately Rusty came to my aid and removed the sting with the aid of a pair of styl pliers, ad hoc surgery at its finest which allowed me to resume fishing again.

Things seemed to pick up for most as the match drew to a close, unfortunately not for Dave who had to suffer more frustration as Tony on the next peg found a late run of fish to save his day while Dave got seen off by a couple of foul hookers.

The All-Out was called at 4pm and with a set of scales on our side Kevin and I decided to get the weigh-in underway before packing up. We started with Rod on peg 19 who put 26½lbs on the scales followed by Simon with 79½lbs. Next up was Graham with 33lbs and Chris with 36¾lbs. Mick W recorded 94¾lbs and my 19 carp with a few silvers weighed 114½lbs. Rusty had managed 96¾lbs but Mick the Chippy had suffered a frustrating second half to his match with just 36½lbs meaning a Golden Nugget was coming my way. Finally Kevin put his fish onto the scales and recorded 132½lbs and a new PB Match Weight……

Time to pack away the kit and get back to the car park where Dave worked out the results and sorted out the section money. First today was Terry with a fine 163½lbs, Kevin had secured second place and I had finished in third.
Today’s sections had gone to Al, Terry, Mick W and Kevin to bring an enjoyable day to a close.

The next club match is at Colemans Cottage on September 15th, but we also have a midweek match at Alders Farm a couple of days before that which Keith has kindly organised for us, so plenty to look forward to.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 15	Terry Goff		163lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 29	Kevin Loveland		132lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 25	Peter Morton		114lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 13	Keith Powell	Guest	106lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 26	Russell Graves	Guest	96lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 23	Mick Wright		94lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 20	Simon Watkins		79lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 16	Zack Johnson		76lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 9	Tony Roberts		75lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 1	Al Loader		75lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 11	Keith Ashby		68lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 7	Clive Pritchard		64lbs 12ozs
13th	Peg 5	John Holdsworth		40lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 22	Chris Withall		36lbs 12ozs
15th	Peg 28	Mick Pearson	Guest	36lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 21	Graham Manning		33lbs 00ozs
17th	Peg 4	Martin Hucker		27lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 19	Rod Turner		26lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 8	Dave Collier		22lbs 12ozs

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. The Reservoir. October 15th, 2011.

Marsh AC club match.

Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent is the venue today for the final Marsh AC match this year. The club has booked The Reservoir for today, which should make a nice change as we normally fish Nick’s Lake. It was an early start for me as I’d arranged to meet up with Mick Pearson who was coming along as my guest today for a spot of breakfast prior to the match.

There was a noticeable chill in the air as I loaded up the car, and as I made my way down the temperature was only registering 4°C on the car thermometer. I arrived at The Knoxbridge Café just after 7am to find Mick waiting for me. We were soon tucking into a hearty breakfast and catching up with events since we’d last met. Kevin & Jean along with Graham, John, Martin and Zack arrived for breakfast as well, and with that taken care of it was just a matter of a five minute drive up to the fishery.

Pulling into the car park it was the usual hive of activity as greetings were exchanged and tackle was assembled prior to the draw……

Paul East was actually fishing today !!!! complete with new shuttle, space station and pole that he’s treated himself to, but unfortunately there were a few faces missing due to a combination of work, illness and prior engagements, which meant there were just 15 of us fishing, but with the whole reservoir booked it meant that we would have plenty of space. A quick chat with the bailiff revealed there had been a frost this morning and the day before, not the best of news as it may have had an effect on the fish feeding, though it promised to be a nice sunny day with what wind there was, blowing toward the earlier pegs.

Just after 8·30am Dave started the draw and I found peg 16 sticking to my hand, probably the furthest walk, but the end of the reservoir I prefer. You can see where it is, and where everyone ended up on the peg plan below ……

As I made my way round I found Terry was on peg 18, where he’d fished a couple of weeks ago, while Zack was on peg 20, the peg I’d fished with Dave keeping him company on peg 21 along with Chris who’d come along to watch again as his hand is still in plaster. Settling my gear into the peg I planned to tackle it in a similar way to the way I’d fished peg 20 a couple of weeks ago, and that was to just fish 2 lines, the first at 2 sections and a top 2 straight out where I had around 4 feet of water and the second down the left and right hand margins. Rigs were two 4×12 CX pencils on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 14 Guru MWG’s for straight out and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 14 Guru MWG for the margin line. Bait today was simply 6mm pellet for feed and 8mm pellet and various GOT Baits soft hookers for the hook……

With a bit of time before the off, I took a stroll down to see Mick and Paul who were on pegs 12 & 10 and the side bet of a ‘Golden Nugget’ was struck with Mick who was obviously confident in the pulling power of Mary Q . Jean had provided a welcome cup of coffee which went down well as the breeze had a bit of a nip to it as we waited for the start. As I sat there I couldn’t help noticing that some of the colour seemed to have dropped out of the water, no doubt due to those first frosts, would it effect things? We’d soon find out.

10am and Dave called the All-In, I was determined to be positive and fed a good handful of pellet straight out and down the margins before shipping a banded 8mm out in front. The first couple of put ins resulted in a couple of tentative dips of the float that I didn’t connect with, but the third put in saw me connect with what was obviously a carp, they do pull a bit these reservoir carp as they seek the deeper water, but steady pressure soon took its toll as a feisty Mirror found its way to the waiting landing net, at around 4lbs a nice way to get off the mark.

Bites weren’t coming instantly like they were a couple of weeks ago, but by feeding every put in and continually working the bait there were bites to be had, and in what seemed like no time at all I’d put 8 carp in the nets. The reality was that it had taken 50 minutes as I looked at my watch which said 10 to 11. I really shouldn’t have looked though, as that seemed to be the signal for the fish to switch off.

The next hour or so was pure torture as there wasn’t a bite to be had, but from what I could hear and see everyone else seemed to be pretty much in the same boat, though I was sure I’d heard a top kit smash from down toward Paul’s peg. I could see that nothing had touched the bait in the margins as the water hadn’t coloured up at all, but I kept bait trickling in on all the lines as I didn’t want fish to move in and find nothing to hold them. Around midday I’d heard that Mick and Paul had taken a few fish, so fed a good handful straight out and took a stroll with the camera to see what was happening and take my mug back to Jean.

It appeared that Mick was alternating between a pole line and the method feeder to tempt a few fish and he was owning up to around 25lbs in the net, though as I strolled away he was into another fish on the feeder ……

Paul revealed that the earlier sound of splintering carbon had indeed come from his peg, his top kit not being up to the task of heaving a double figure carp into his landing net when it had other ideas ……

Kevin was having a real struggle as were Rod and Martin on that bank, in fact it was hard to tell if Martin was watching the tip of his feeder rod or just staring despondently into the distance ……

Round to peg 29 and there was Clive struggling for a bite on the peg that according to the bailiff had won the last match with 176lbs, talk about “You should have been here last week” added to which was the fact that the peg was in almost total shade, it would be fair to say that the moustachioed one wasn’t exactly ecstatic with the prospect of another few hours sat there ……

Ken wasn’t fairing a whole lot better on 27, another shaded peg, though he had a few small silvers in the net to show for his efforts ……

Graham was next up on the last of the shaded pegs and was just unhooking a small roach as I arrived, always positive he was hopeful that a few carp would put in an appearance later in the day …

onto 23 and Nick at least had a carp in the net to show for his efforts, while Dave had managed 3 carp early before they switched off, but he was now feeding small pinches of hemp with a tare on the hook trying to tempt some roach, and while he was getting the odd one or two, even they were proving reluctant to feed ……

On peg 20 Zack had concentrated on his right hand margin from the off and it had yielded a carp and a few silvers for him, while Terry had been unable resist a look down his left hand margin having seen a fish down there ……

Back at my peg and a glance down both margins revealed that nothing had visited for a munch so it was back out with a banded 8mm in front, followed by some pellets. A quick dip of the float followed by a lift saw me attached not to a carp but a skimmer, still it was something to add to the net even if it did slime me.

Next put in and the same again only this time it wasn’t a skimmer, obviously a substantial carp it powered off in unstoppable fashion, the rig returning with a straightened out hook. Luckily I had a second identical rig to hand and the next 3 put ins saw 3 more skimmers deposited in the net. Next put in and a lift was met with stronger resistance, a carp this time, a chunky Common around the 6lbs mark and very welcome. This was rapidly followed by a similar sized Mirror that took a bit of getting in as it was hooked in the pectoral fin, but come in it did.

This stirred the peg up a bit and led to a lull, but after around 10 minutes another skimmer joined its mates in the silvers net. By now Dave was targeting his margins and I watched as he landed a couple of carp, and I knew that if there were fish there he would give me a run for my money. Next put in and I was briefly attached to a lump that took off before launching itself out of the water like a Polaris missile and crashing back on the line smashing the rig.

Time to compose myself and tie up another couple of rigs, and with that done get back to fishing. Kev appeared with another cup of coffee, but it dropped to the floor, emptying its contents before I could reach it. Kev trundled off with the empty cup after I retrieved it from the water promising a refill. 10 minutes later and Dave came wandering along to bring me the refill and tried to convince me that I already had 100lbs in my nets………….I wish.

Unfortunately it was back to scratching for bites after that, though Dave gave us all a bit of amusement with the length of time he spent playing a Ghostie, but he had the last laugh as it ended safely in the net. Meanwhile I was just picking up the odd skimmer here and there. Terry however suddenly seemed to have the carp turn up in front of him with an hour to go, and Dave was still getting the odd fish from the margins. Thankfully I managed 3 more carp among the skimmers while Terry suffered a run of bumped bites and lost fish in the last 20 minutes.

4pm and Dave called the All-Out. it had been a hard days fishing and the reservoir hadn’t fished up to its potential. I felt I had around 70lbs in the nets, but I’d soon find out for sure come the Weigh-In.

I packed my gear away but left it at my peg and went to get on with the Weigh-In. Rod kicked things off with just 9¼lbs while Martin could only muster 6lbs. Kev had 20¼lbs and John 14lbs proving just how hard the fishing on that bank had been. Paul despite his early woes had managed to get the better of a few decent lumps down the margin and put 77½lbs on the scales and take 2nd on the day. Mick had enjoyed his day with 52lbs, but Jim had suffered a torrid day with just 5¾lbs. I was next and my carp nets came up short of Paul’s weight, but 15lbs of skimmers gave me a total of 81¾lbs and the win today. Terry had 50½lbs and Zack 29¼lbs. Dave’s 69¼lbs took 3rd overall. Nick weighed 15lbs while Graham did manage some afternoon carp to take 42¼lbs to the scales. Ken had 8¾lbs while Clive was last to weigh with a level 20lbs.

Back at the car park Dave collated the scores and monies with the top 3 taking their sections on the day and I relieved Mick of a ‘Golden Nugget’ before we loaded our gear up, bade our farewells and headed off for home.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 16	Peter Morton		81lbs 12ozs
2nd	Peg 10	Paul East		77lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 21	Dave Collier		69lbs 04ozs
4th	Peg 12	Mick Pearson	Guest	52lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 18	Terry Goff		50lbs 08ozs
6th	Peg 25	Graham Manning		42lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 20	Zack Johnson	Guest	29lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 6	Kevin Loveland		20lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 29	Clive Pritchard		20lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 23	Nick Bondeau	Guest	15lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 8	John Holdsworth		14lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 2	Rod Turner		9lbs 04ozs
13th	Peg 27	Ken Walker		8lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 4	Martin Hucker		6lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 14	Jim Boase		5lbs 12ozs

The club does run a points table over the course of the matches (Guests results are not included in the table) and as you can see Dave Collier reaped the rewards of a very consistent season that included 3 match wins, coming out on top with 218 points while I was Runner-Up with 204 points and Al finished 3rd on 194 points despite missing the final Match. I’d just like to say Thank You to all the club members and guests who’ve fished this years matches. They’ve been great company on the bankside, with some hilarious banter meaning the matches have been enjoyable as always, and I’m looking forward to next year already.

Finally, MANY THANKS to Dave Collier (Mr Chairman) for his organisational efforts on behalf of the club, we give him plenty of ribbing at times, but we do appreciate his efforts. .

Position	Angler	Monk	Rayne	MillBarn	Colemans	Blasford	Private	Rockells	Hartlylands	Total Weight	Points
1st	Dave Collier	21	30	28	27	30	24	30	28	695lbs 12ozs	218 pts
2nd	Peter Morton	29	27	29	29	17	25	22	30	628lbs 00ozs	208 pts
3rd	Al Loader	30	25	30	28	27	28	29	d.n.f	702lbs 00ozs	197 pts
4th	Keith Ashby	28	26	25	26	25	29	27	d.n.f	567lbs 12ozs	186 pts
5th	Clive Pritchard	27	28	d.n.f	25	26	30	19	24	453lbs 04ozs	179 pts
6th	Terry Goff	25	18	24	24	12	22	20	27	308lbs 08ozs	172 pts
7th=	John Holdsworth	20	d.n.f	20	20	19	23	28	23	330lbs 00ozs	153 pts
7th=	Kevin Loveland	23	19	21	15	14	19	17	25	172lbs 00ozs	153 pts
9th	Martin Hucker	d.n.f	29	15	14	23	20	26	20	350lbs 12ozs	147 pts
10th	Jim Boase	22	21	15	12	29	d.n.f	21	19	211lbs 08ozs	139 pts
11th	Tony Roberts	d.n.f	23	26	30	21	d.n.f	25	d.n.f	411lbs 04ozs	125 pts
12th	Simon Watkins	18	25	18	18	d.n.f	21	23	d.n.f	291lbs 04ozs	123 pts
13th	Graham Manning	24	d.n.f	19	22	28	d.n.f	d.n.f	26	178lbs 04ozs	119 pts
14th	Rod Turner	15	d.n.f	22	17	21	d.n.f	18	22	109lbs 12ozs	115 pts
15th	Paul East	26	d.n.f	16	16	d.n.f	27	d.n.f	29	227lbs 12ozs	114 pts
16th	Ken Walker	19	d.n.f	27	21	13	d.n.f	d.n.f	21	127lbs 00ozs	101 pts
17th	Vic Nugent	d.n.f	20	d.n.f	d.n.f	22	26	24	d.n.f	264lbs 12ozs	92 pts
18th	Judy Hermite	16	16	17	13	24	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	87lbs 08ozs	86 pts
19th	Chris Withall	17	17	23	19	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	101lbs 12ozs	76 pts
20th=	Ron Mannister	d.n.f	15	d.n.f	11	16	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	31lbs 04ozs	42 pts
20th=	Roger Noakes	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	23	19	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	63lbs 08ozs	42 pts
22nd	Eddie Dobson	d.n.f	22	d.n.f	d.n.f	15	d.n.f	d.n.f	d.n.f	59lbs 04ozs	37 pts

(d.n.f = Did not Fish. 30 = Match Winner.)