Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. January 25th, 2004.

Hawthorne AC

AT Supercup match.

It was off down to Hartleylands for our Supercup match this morning.
On the way down in the car and the outside temp was reading -2°C, and the fields were so white with frost that it looked as if it had snowed.
On arriving at the fishery the temp had risen to a stunning 0°C but there didn’t appear to be any signs of frost! There was a bright blue sky and just a gentle breeze while the water temp was 4°C.

Into the draw, and I found myself making my way to peg 20, with a leisurely 1½hrs till the start of the match.

Peg 20,Looks lovely doesn’t it?……
Well I’d been told that feeder (either maggot or groundbait) with a ·08 hooklength and a 22 with single red maggot was the way to go dropped about a metre away from the island, so that was set up 1st.
I couldn’t resist setting up the pole as well and the main line of attack would be at 13mtrs where I had got around 5ft,using a ·6grm Drennan Lake with a ·07 hooklength and a 22 again. Through the top2 I’d got the new Drennan green dual core (6-8) set soft, as I was expecting stockies no bigger than 12ozs max.

All-in, and after cupping in a few micro pellets and a small amount of dry groundbait on the pole line, it was out on the feeder.
Well it wasn’t happening for me but the lad to my left on peg 21 was catching steadily from the off while I couldn’t buy a bite, but all the time I’d been feeding 2-3 maggots every couple of minutes on the pole line.

After 30 minutes it was out onto the pole line and after 10mins the float dipped, and I was into a Carp at last, not huge at about 6ozs but at least it avoided the dreaded blank. Another 20mins went by without another bite, so back onto the feeder which produced another couple and that’s the way it went nearly all match for me. Even a pep talk from Red Leader had no effect other than to lighten the mood.

Well with about 45 minutes to go I was being battered by the next peg and I reckoned he must have 20+lbs while I’d got about 6lbs if was lucky.
Back out on the pole for a final look and they were there  and in the last 45 minutes I managed a fish a chuck. Why couldn’t they have turned up earlier?
Come the weigh-in and the lad to my left put 22lbs 2ozs on the scales which easily eclipsed my 13lbs 9ozs.
The match was won by Medway Tackle (blue) by 14pts to 10pts, so that’s us knocked out of the Supercup for another season. Overall the 16 of us weighed in 235lbs 6ozs, an average of over 14½lbs per man, which I feel given the conditions just goes to show what a good fishery Harleylands is to produce those sort of weights on a hard January day.

Frant Lakes. The Horseshoe. January 18th, 2004.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well today it was off to the Horseshoe Lake at Frant Lakes for a Hawthorne AC club match. Loading up the car I was beginning to wonder if I needed my brains examined, as it was blowing a near gale and lashing down with rain. On arrival the chuck wagon was closed as well, so no breakfast. Walking down to the lake for the draw it was obvious that an awful lot of cold rain water was running into the lake which wasn’t a good omen. The Horseshoe (Lake 6 in the above diagram) has one side that is wider and deeper than the other, 40yds wide and between 6-8ft deep and the other 20yds wide with a maximum depth of 4 ft. Everyone wanted the deeper side! Into the draw and it’s peg 49 for me, one of only 3 on the shallower side. Setting up in a peg that resembled a swamp, no nice paths or platforms here, a session of plumbing up revealed an even 4ft everywhere, and not a noticeable feature to be found. I settled for fishing at 8 mtrs as the wind was liable to make anything further impossible. It was going to be single red maggot or double fluro pinkie on a size 20, with a pinch of either fed via a T-pot every put in. Well after 30 minutes I got my first bite from a little Perch, and after that bites came regularly, though not rapidly from small Roach, Skimmers and more Perch. On the end peg Dave van Hegan was running away with the match as he had plenty of cover to fish to and with the wind blowing into it he was getting a few of the Carp that are in the water. With an hour to go I managed to get 4 Carp to add to the silvers, but the largest only scraped 2lbs. Thankfully when the whistle went at 3 pm the rain had stopped. Dave put 39lbs 2ozs on the scales for a resounding win, and I was pleasantly surprised that my net went 14lbs 12ozs, and was good enough for 2nd place and a little brown envelope. Hard work today, but worth it in the end.

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. January 2nd, 2004.

A Cautionary Tale……….

First a word of warning Dear Reader, If you fancy a quiet days fishing in pursuit of Perch DON’T post the idea on Maggotdrowning.com.
Hijacked?………Well at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

Last week realising that I’d be off today (friday) I posted on the going fishing section, “I fancy a day at Hartleylands on Friday the 2nd to kick off the New Year.
Anyone else up for it?”  Thinking that someone may be mad enough to fancy a trip out after the excess of Christmas & New Year.
Dave the Fish mentioned that he fancied a crack at the large Perch that inhabit Samson pond, and before you could say “STRIKE” they were all lining up to join in.

Welshmen (Dai & son Dan) were planning round trips from the valleys, while a grumpy ex-pat old Englishman, moved a doctors appointment to stow away to his homeland.
Colin joined in because he had to supply a kettle for Dave the Fish, While Mick (Weyback) tagged along on the flimsy pretence of acquiring a ring for an old rod.
Terry aka Wily Coyote decided that as he’d found his “Winter Woolies” he’d better use them, and on the day from out of the blue “The Hat” aka Andy appeared.

Vince, the bailiff on hearing of this mini invasion, suddenly found a visit to his
Mother-in-law to be preferable, in case he had to get the excavator out to extend the pond, though he did appear briefly to part us from some ££££’s for BDAA raffle tickets.

Malc? Who knows with his inherent sense of direction, he may still be wandering the surrounding lanes searching for a sign.

So to the fishing, it was soon apparent that 9 into a tiny pond that may at a squeeze take 7 wasn’t going to happen so some split to other parts of the fishery.
The Hat & Wily strolled off to the reservoir, The Hat armed with his new margin pole to try for his target of a “Twenty” on the pole, while Wily just wanted to be alone to recover from the shock that the grumpy ex-pat old Englishman (Geoff),was in fact the very same Master G Palmer that he had been at school with some 40 years before.
Mick retreated to the relative seclusion of Finches, while Colin elected to try Hennicker, though he later shifted to Nick’s Lake. The rest of us? Being Lazy Buggers piled onto Sampson, despite it being at least a 2 yard walk from the car park.

Oh yes I hear you say, what about the fishing? ………….. Well not exactly stunning.
The Hat got his Carp, just a shame that it had been on a diet and lost 15lbs, but did get a specimen Perch ............

Wily managed a few silvers towards the end, but was probably left wishing that he’d never found those “Winter Woolies”.


Colin managed to save his day with some small Carp from Nicks lake.

Dave wondered if his float tip would ever get wet, but did manage a couple of silvers at the death on some month old pinkies. Mind you he did have the handicap of seeing a beardless Geoff in the swim next door all day.

Geoff managed a couple of Gudgeon and a few silvers, but was left cursing after losing a Common Carp of about 5lbs, that smashed him having swum through some brambles, and promptly retreated under his hood and baseball cap to hide his shame.



Dai, despite the provocation of Geoff's phone playing “Sweet Chariot” at various times got a few silvers and a start in “The Fishing race 2004″, but poor Dan had a mare and despite trying with Dads pole in his swim only succeeded in bumping the 3 Roach he hooked.

Me? I managed 3 small Carp and lost another Common when the hook came out, and about 20 assorted small Skimmers, Roach and Hybrids.

And 12 points for The Fishing Race 2004 ………..



The best bite of the day? Without doubt the hot pasties and pies that Dave the Fish kindly supplied half way through the day from the farm bakery. Nice one Dave.

So that was it a nice quiet day out that became a mini fish-in.
Friendships made and renewed, and faces put to names on a forum. A laugh and a joke with the fishing becoming incidental. All in All……A Grand Day Out.