Brookhall Lake. Tiptree. Essex. October 5th, 2003.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Brookhall Lake just outside the village of Tiptree in Essex was the scene of the Hawthorne AC club match this weekend.
This is normally a prolific venue and I’d invited my fellow Maggotdrowner Dave the Fish to join us as a guest at the venue for the day.

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that regardless how good the weather is, the 1st Sunday of October is invariably darn cold. I’m sure that it’s something to do with this day always marking the start of the Winter Leagues. Today there was a cloudless sky and a really biting North Westerly wind.

Just to make us feel better, Betty the bailiff informed us that the previous day had been very poor in terms of fish caught and that it had chucked it down overnight, so with 22 of us searching around in our car boots for fleeces and warm cloths it was draw time.
I drew peg 9 while Dave drew 23. On arrival at my peg it was obvious that the water level was down, as where the banker margin swim should be was bone dry. Plumbing up at 11mtrs where I was expecting to find at least 6ft revealed only 4ft and not a feature to be found. I had a look in what was left of the margins and could only manage 8 inches before it dropped down the ledge into about 3ft.
I set up a dead depth rig for 11mtrs and a heavy margin rig to fish paste, and a straight lead rig as a get out of jail option.

At the off nearly a pint of pellet and hemp went into the margin swim,and in such a shallow swim it wouldn’t be touched until I saw a tail pattern or mud cloud disturb it.
Out to 11mtrs over a small pot of hemp and pellet, to no avail with just the odd small silver coming to single maggot, with the ripple and rising sun just adding to the difficulty.
11mtrs and……………….not a lot!


After a while Dave strolled past on his way to retrieve some meat that he’d left in the car, by which time I’d gone over to a straight lead with a lump of paste, and as Dave came back past the tip pulled steadily round, and the strike met with……………… NOTHING!!!!!!! Guess which idiot had managed to knock the fighting drag off on the reel without noticing?  Well it cheered Dave up if nothing else.

Not another touch after that,and with very little coming out anywhere on the lake Dave returned later on, with his flask and sarnies and probably hoping for another faux pas on my part to entertain him.
So back out onto the pole line and no sooner had the float settled and away it went, a nice little Tench of about 8ozs, a double bonus as it was also the fish of the day, and if no others were caught it would pay my expenses. Dave wandered off back to his peg muttering to himself, I’m sure it was something about how skillfull I was.

Well the afternoon dragged on with just the occasional small Roach or Rudd breaking the monotony,when with 25 minutes to go I saw a tail pattern in the margin. On with a lump of paste on the margin pole and within 30 seconds it’s sailing away…………..MISSED!!
Undetered I was soon back out with another bit of paste and 30 seconds later away it went again, only this time I connected. Off tears an angry Carp, and a few minutes later a nice 9lb’er is nestling in the landing net.
Nothing more till the end of the match, but that one fish had got me out of jail.
Weigh-in time and that one Carp and a few silvers gave me a level 13lbs, which was enough for 4th on the day.
Dave had managed 7lbs 5ozs for a creditable 9th.
The inquest in the car park after the match, laid the blame firmly on the cold weather and the biting wind. Everyone had to work for their fish today.

Willow Park Fishery Big Lake and Elphicks Fishery Sandwich Lake. September 13th-14th, 2003.

Well What a Weekend!!!!!

Saturday:

The Southern Intersite Match.

This has been pretty well detailed elsewhere, so I’ll keep it brief.
I drew peg 72 on the big lake at Willow Park. You really need a good ripple on the surface, and the Culvert bank pegs were flat calm, so I knew it would be a grueller.

Looking across to the Bungalow bank from peg 72….

Pole at 12mtrs with the float at dead depth and dotted right down was the order of the day for a bag of small skimmers, roach and perch.
Onto the scales at the end for a weight of 11lbs 11ozs.
Only good enough for last in section.

11lbs 11ozs of hard earned fish……

Sunday:

Hawthorne AC club match.

Elphicks Fishery, Sandwich Lake.
Up at the crack of dawn again, and 19 of us met up for the draw, with peg 18 sticking to my hand, I have to say my heart sunk.
Peg 18 is in the far right hand corner as you look across from the car park bank, and Alan & Loz (who fished that peg on an MD‘s mini fish-in) will vouch for the fact that the average depth is about 18 inches.
Still got to make the most of it. I only set up 1 float rig for the pole fished dead depth (yes all 18 inches of it!) to fish pellet over pellet, with white hydro in the top kit, and I set up my feeder rod.(well I put it back in when I got home the previous night)

Looking over to the car park bank from peg 18….
Yet again flat calm conditions and warm sunshine turned it into hard work, but slowly I managed to get a few bites and put a few fish in the net.
Those that have fished it will tell you that Sandwich lake is a bit of an aquarium with such a wide range of species in it that you never really know what you’re going to catch next.
Well by 1pm the pole line had dried up, so it was out with the groundbait feeder with hair rigged meat on the hook which managed to keep the fish coming till the end.
It was a real mixed bag that I took to the scales, Common & Mirror Carp, an ornamental Fantail, Crucians, Roach, Perch, Skimmers, Chub and green and golden Tench.
Nothing big, but they took the scales round to 35lbs 6 ozs, Good enough for 2nd on the day, and a nice way to end a busy weekend. 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. The Reservoir & Nick’s Lake. August 30th-31st, 2003.

Well this weekend saw me spending a good part of my time at Hartleylands Fishery................

Marsh AC club match.

Saturday was at the invitation of Dave (Dave the Fish), His club Marsh AC had booked the Reservoir for one of their club matches and as all the pegs weren't taken, Steve (beebs) Jason (NofinPhish) and Myself recieved an invitation to join them.
Assembling in the car park for an 8.30am draw, it was nice to meet John (tutu) and Colin who had accompanied Dave to the Welsh Fish-in. Also present, though in a working capacity was Vince (vg1037) the Bailiff at Hartleylands. 

I drew in the high 30's and arrived at my swim to find the wind blowing in my face at what appeared to be the only shady peg on the whole reservoir, so while others sat around in tee shirts and shorts I was in a bib and brace and a fleece ! 

I started on the pole line at about 10mtrs fishing pellet and managed to winkle out 5 skimmers and a small carp before the wind made presentation too awkward. Had I not been a guest I would have gone straight onto the method feeder as this is a banker for a few Carp, but sitting in my carryall was a ball of paste. Now paste fishing is not one of my strengths, but having read a few of Malc's exploits in his forum reports it's a bait that I'm determined to get to grips with, so it was out with my margin pole and having tied a couple of rigs up I set about giving it a go.

Paste in the margin.......
Well lets just say that it was fun, trying to condition myself not to strike every dip and tremor of the float, and towards the end of the afternoon having tried endless variations of rigs I felt as if I was coming to terms with it and a few decent fish had ended up in the net . 
4pm and time for the weigh in and with Vince in charge we worked our way around the lake. Dave had set the pace with a 40lb bag and everyone appeared to have had a few.

Nice one for Dave........
Colin put just over 51lbs on the scales, all caught on the Method, which was to prove the winning weight. Steve had contented himself with using the day to practice his silver fish approach in readiness for the intersite match in a couple of weeks, and definitely caught more fish than anyone for a bag in the teens.


The Weigh-in......

Jason proved to be the dark horse, in what he professed to be his first ever fishing match, and duly put 49lbs on the scales for 2nd place. Well done Jason (I may have to rethink the team).
Last but one to weigh was me and I was pleasantly surprised to see the needle creep round to 47lbs, nearly all paste caught. 
So thanks to Dave and the members of Marsh AC for a very pleasant day as their guest. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, I certainly did.

Position	Angler	Weight
1st	Colin Sharrard	51lbs 04ozs
2nd	Jason Davies      (Guest)	48lbs 06ozs
3rd	Peter Morton     (Guest)	47lbs 00ozs
4th	Dave Collier	41lbs 12ozs
5th	Tony Roberts	30lbs 08ozs
6th	Judy Hermite	29lbs 12ozs
7th	Mike Develin	28lbs 12ozs
8th	Kevin Loveland	23lbs 08ozs
9th	Dave Wormall	22lbs 14ozs
10th=	Steve Wormall	19lbs 04ozs
10th=	John Holdsworth	19lbs 04ozs
12th	Martin Hucker	18lbs 00ozs
13th	Steve Sullivan   (Guest)	12lbs 08ozs
14th	Jim Boase	10lbs 04ozs
15th	Roger Noakes	10lbs 03ozs
16th	Chris Newton	7lbs 08ozs
17th	Tim Ford	7lbs 06ozs
18th	Rod Turner	5lbs 12ozs

Hawthorne AC club match.

So Sunday morning and I'm in the car park once more, this time for a Hawthorne AC match on Nick's Lake, it's one of 3 new lakes that have just been opened at Hartleylands and was only stocked with fingerling Carp last November, but these fish already weigh an average of 6ozs. 
A low turnout of only 15 anglers meant that we only put the even numbered pegs into the drawbag to give everyone a bit of room and peg 10 was mine. It was flat calm as we set up but as soon as the whistle blew so did the wind

Peg 10..........

Now Vince had warned me that the fish tend to follow the wind, so you can imagine my joy to find the wind blowing from behind me and blowing my fish away.
I wish I could say that I fished a blinder, but I wasted far too much time on a pellet line scratching for bites. I finally started to get a few at 12mtrs to maggot, but it was to little to late. I managed to put 15lbs 6ozs on the scales for 6th, but only 17lbs was needed for 2nd. At least I got another 3 points for the fishing race, having caught a few small Ghosties.


Mint little Ghostie....
Mike Vincent ran away with it, with 28lbs 4ozs for 1st. Everyone caught though and in a couple of seasons time this is going to be an awesome match venue.
 So that was my weekend - One fishery but two very different lakes and mixed fortunes.

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake & Samson Pond. August 22nd, 2003.

Well a day off today and it seemed a shame to waste it, so after dropping Maria at work it was off down to Hartleylands Farm near Cranbrook in Kent.

The object of the exercise was to try out one of the new lakes on the complex as our club have a match on there in the near future. Nick’s Lake is the largest of the three new lakes and has been stocked with small Common, Mirror and Ghost Carp between 8oz and 1.5lb, a few larger specimens up to 5lb and some good Roach and skimmers.
Acting on advice received from Vince the Bailiff, I headed to a peg with the wind blowing into it, and set up a couple of rigs to fish expanda pellet. Owing to the recent weather the water level on this lake is about a foot down which left me with about 2 feet of water at the top of the shelf, and 3 at the bottom of it.
Things were slow at the start, but after a chat with Paul (the owner) and a bit of fine tuning of rigs and feeding I was soon catching a steady stream of small stockies.




These fish are in mint condition and photo’s can’t really convey just how plump they are.
By 1pm I must have had about 40lbs, and decided to stop and spend the afternoon on Samson pond as I had never fished it before.


Samson pond has only 7 pegs and contains Carp to double figures although most are 1-3lb, lots of Tench between 12oz to 2.5lb, a good number of Roach, Skimmers, Perch and Gudgeon.


Setting up in a corner peg by the car park I set up 3 lines to rotate, a bush across at 8mtrs, the margin to the left and a bush to my right, feeding hemp and small expandas and fishing 6mm expandas on the hook.
A Pristine Roach.


A Darker Common.


Well from the first put in it was almost non stop. Carp to about 4lbs, Tench and Roach all getting in on the act. The Carp were a curious mix from classic golden tones to all shades, some being almost black, all being fighting fit and in great condition.

Last one of the day.

4.30pm and one last cast produced a last smashing Common, and the fish were still feeding as I packed up.
Still feeding.
Thanks to Vince and Paul for the tips and advice, if you’re in the area do yourself a favour and pay Hartleylands a visit, you won’t regret it.

Elvington Lake. Yorkshire. August 1st-3rd, 2003.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Northern Fish-in.

Well arriving on the Friday at about Noon, it was soon obvious that this was in danger of turning into a 3 day event, as numerous attendees had managed to find an extra day from somewhere.
Ray & Scouse had made it despite the suspension on Rays car going AWOL on the trip down. (Must have been the weight of kit)

After a couple of years of pounding the keyboard it was great to finally catch up with Norm, TeePee, Haydn, Mookie and others which up to that point had only been names on the Forums.

Dave & Stu had departed to get some important provisions (The Beer) so I decided to while away a bit of time, so out came the fishing gear, and I soon had a few small Roach and Skimmers, before Stan (Elvington's Owner) had parted me from the day ticket money and informed me that Carp and Poles weren’t really on his approved list.

Dave & Stu soon returned and camp for the weekend was set up with bivvies put in place. Trogg had already set up with the flag of St George, strangely topped with a small Lizard flag proudly flying next to his bivvy, and Sil the Rotty standing guard.

Les arrived to take up his post of chief Bar Steward, and around about 7pm a group of us set off for the local pub for a meal and a couple of pints, and very nice it was too.

With no nightfishing being allowed normally at Elvington, the only thing to do on our return was to go and support the cause in the beer tent, which with the beer being only a £1 a pint wasn’t to onerous a task, with some sausage baps being dished up as well, we disappeared to our bivvies to await the proper start of the Fish-in in the morning.

6.30 Saturday morning and people were rising ready for breakfast and getting ready for the off at 8am. Breakfast consumed, the Fish-in got underway as an already warm sun continued to rise in the sky.
Whether it was the hot weather or the sheer pressure of all the swims being occupied, but sport was slow to say the least with just the odd fish coming out.

Thankfully Red Leader had his rods out and these were producing fish, Just not for Dave.
It would appear that someone had drunk the beer tent dry overnight, so Dave had to jump into his car and go and get another barrel.
Stu was soon of the mark with a 3lb Eel on Dave's rod, and later I managed to get off the mark with a nice 9½lb Common Carp again on one of Dave's rods.

Just as well really as during the course of the weekend I managed to lose all 4 of the Carp that I hooked on my own rods.
I did manage a Ruffe though, for 3 points in the Fishing Race.

Dai managed to liven up proceedings by having his rod dragged in by a rather determined Carp, while Trogg showing a rather nimble turn of foot rushed to the rescue, but in trying to avoid a landing net handle, stumbled crashing down on a sleeper on the bank and ending with his head under water. Still the rod was retrieved with the Carp still attached, an 8lb Common, but at some cost as it became obvious that Trogg had cracked a rib for his trouble.

Dinner time and it was fish & chips for some and back to the pub for a few of us, prior to fishing through the night (a concession from Stan for the Fish-in)

Dave & Stu on their return tackled up for an attempt on the Cats, while myself, Simon R, Tiny and Geoff settled down to spectate.
Well the banter was good to say the least, and the hysteria was probably heard round the whole lake well into the night, until we retired and left them to it .

At this point I should probably apologise to Dave, as it appears that I managed to keep him awake the whole night, as evidently my snoring resembled a Diesel Generator working overtime. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ  Me? I never heard a thing.

Sunday morning and at breakfast a rather bleary eyed Mookie appeared, blaming Uncle Geoff for leading him astray in the beer tent the previous evening and wondering why his legs were still having trouble obeying his brain.

Dave actually managed to catch a fish on his own rod………

………. and Jack Thresh managed to get the biggest Carp of the weekend with just a ½ hour to go, a lovely Mirror of 19½lbs.

All to soon it was over and time for Troggs ceremonial beheading shaving.  Amazingly this was accomplished without a drop of blood being spilt.

The raffle was drawn and the auction was held, and for those of you that weren’t there I can only say that you missed a treat in the shape of Rose the Auctioneer, as Stu said “what a gal”

All to soon it was all over for another year, Hands were shaken, farewells said as we all disappeared in our different directions.
Thanks to everyone that made it possible, those that attended, and all the sponsors, but most of all Thanks to Dave & Stu for all their hard work in making it a Fish-in to remember.