Blyton Ponds. Lincolnshire. June 24th-26th, 2005.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fish-In.

Time once more for another Maggotdrowning.com Fish-In with the chosen venue for this one being Blyton Ponds just outside Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. I arrived around lunchtime and Les directed me to Maggotville and provided a welcoming cuppa. I decided to get my bivvie up post haste as the heavens were threatening to open, Dave the Fish providing a handy mallet to help with the pegs. 

After a stroll round to meet and greet faces both old and new I decided that I had enough time for an afternoon dabble, so getting my gear I eased into a swim on pond B, next to Dai, his good lady Anne and son Daniel.

A hand full of pellets to the pads on my left and an expander on the hook was soon producing a mix of bream, barbel and roach with a few carp thrown in for good measure and much to Dai’s delight a GOLDEN TENCH. At least having had a good look at one, Dai shouldn’t have any trouble identifying one if and when he eventually catches one of his own. Perhaps Dai and The Hat should have a session at Monk lakes down near me? one of them is bound to catch one there.

Just as I was packing up Anne managed to catch her 1st ever Tench ……

A quick wash and brush up and off to the local pub for a meal and a couple of pints was merely a prelude to the cabaret round at Dai’s bivvy as Ady kept us all entertained as only he can.

Saturday morning arrived sometime around 9am and again I found myself on pond B, but this time between Ady and Teepee. Pole across to the island found all of 9″ of water and a succession of chub and barbel, all in super condition and thriving in their natural environment……………………….WATER.

Ady to my left decided to try and choke a few carp with a selection of improbably large hookbaits and appeared to be having some success, despite the attentions of Ghillie Geoff and ‘evil’ Amy……

Here’s one of them that survived the ordeal ........

While Red Leader was adding to Coshida’s profits opposite me to tempt an eventual 10 carp. Dave the Fish and Colin were fishing either side of the bridge dividing pond B from A with them both putting fish regularly in the net.

Big Brian arrived and introduced himself, and it was obvious where he got the name from, but he was showing some class by being attired in a BURGUNDY MD’s sweatshirt

I meanwhile elected to fish paste in the margin, to see if I could get a carp. I soon hooked a good common, but after a fair old fight it slipped the hook. At this point I’d like to say that all those that witnessed this commiserated with me over my misfortune, I’D LIKE TO, but true to form the p**s taking was mercy-less, B******S!!!!

Stu was fishing my peg from the previous day with a pole that he makes look like a whip and was happily getting amongst a few…

While Dave assumed the Ghillie's duties as Teresa managed to catch her 1st carp ....

Simon R was managing to catch a few carp from under a bush on pond A when he wasn’t foulhooking errant free swimming top kits ......

Reading this you could be forgiven for thinking that the place was fishing it’s head off, but some were struggling and I’m sure I heard snoring coming from Teepee’s direction on more than one occasion.
Michelle seemed to be taking great delight, strolling around and announcing that Nick was being battered by her in no uncertain terms.

Superb skill and ability finally yielded a reward for me though in the shape of a nice 11½lb Mirror, despite certain allegations of ‘Mugging’ from some quarters that should know better .....

Just prior to packing up for the day, I decided to feed a margin swim on the other bank that I fancied fishing Sunday AM. Unfortunately Red Leader decided this was a cue for a catapult war, and was only persuaded to desist as a result of a direct hit with a 14mm halibut pellet, though how I managed to hit so small a target at that range is a bit of a mystery.

Back to the pub for a meal and liquid sustenance which led to another cabaret session round Dai’s bivvy, though Ady did seem a little subdued as he was issued with a charity challenge. Should he choose to accept, both Dave and I have pledged £50 to a charity of Ady’s choice, should he furnish proof of completing the challenge.
Will he succeed? Frankly I think that in this case our money is as safe as houses.

Sunday morning and for some strange reason I was up at 6am to be greeted by blue sky and sunshine, the 1st since arrival, so decided to grab a couple of ours before packing up for the journey home.
Popping down to the ponds I found only Colin and Haydn had beaten me to it, with only Haydn putting a couple of carp in the net during the quiet of the early morning.

9am saw Stu and I invited to partake of a cup coffee on the veranda of Red Leader’s IKEA bivvy prior to breakfast and after that it was time for me to pack away ready for the 200+ miles down the motorway to home.

All packed away it was time for a last stroll round to say my farewells. Despite the warmth of the day, the fishing remained slow.
Nick was still getting battered by Michelle, this time with his own pole ………

Ady however was grinning as an 8½lb mirror grabbed a bit of flake to reward his efforts and happily posed for a photo despite doing his best to juggle it back into the water 1st.

Scouse was found hiding in the bushes with only 1 bream having fallen for his paste, and bemoaning a distinct lack of hubcaps, now that most cars have alloys and locknut’s.

While the final site was of Red Leader standing back in admiration of the ease with which Teresa handled 11mtrs of his pole .......

So that was my Blyton Fish-In, Good laughs, Great company and a few fish as well, not a bad way of spending a weekend.
 

Drayton Reservoir. June 18th, 2005.

The JINX Series 2005

Match 2.

Drayton! Well what can I say? It was hot, Boy was it HOT The fish were still spawning, and did I mention it was HOT? At the start we were told you would need a peg in the 30′s to catch and the further away you were, the more you would struggle. They weren’t wrong.  My 1 fish, a 10lb mirror came with 15mins to go. The winner was Malc THE JINX Doyle (peg36) with a great bag weighing 118lbs The runner up was young Daniel Thomas (peg35) with a bag weighing 95½lbs, just one fish short of his 1st ‘TON’ and including a new PB Mirror of 15½lbs Dan’s new PB……. Individual Results.   1st    Malc(The Jinx)Doyle          118lb 00oz   2nd  Dan Thomas     95lb 08oz  3rd  Paul Roberts     89lb 00oz  4th  Matt Nutt     45lb 00oz  5th  Mark Causer     19lb 00oz  6th  Steve Wilson     11lb 08oz  7th  Derek Robothan     11lb 00oz  8th  Peter(Mugger)Morton     10lb 00oz  9th  Tim Westmoreland               8lb 08oz  10th  Dai Thomas       6lb 00oz  Nick Jones       DNW    Nick Watkins-Price                      DNW  Keith(Gandhi)Ashby       DNW  Roy Ravenhill       DNW  Eric Robothan       DNW  Dave Moore       DNW  Nick Williams       DNW  Geoff Eggison       DNW  Dirk Williams       DNW

Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. June 11th, 2005.

The JINX Series 2005

Match 1.

Since finishing with my club, I’ve entered a small match series run by a certain Malc Doyle. This series is known as THE JINX Bag-up Series, though in other seasons it’s been anything but, but then Malc isn’t known as THE JINX for nothing. 

This is my account of the 1st match in the series…………………………..

Well I arrived at the services at junction 8 on the M40 in plenty of time to meet up with the rest for the short jaunt to Rolfs.

Malc was early, didn’t appear to have forgotten anything and the sun was shining!!!

A quick 10 minute trip from the services following Matt Nutt and there we were, pulling into the car park at Rolf’s, Already present were a mix of old and new faces and soon the banter was flowing.

Now I’d read and heard a few reports about Rolf’s, but the reality is something else and something that I wasn’t prepared for. It’s only small, but quite picturesque with just 40 pegs that are all solidly constructed and nice and low to the water.

 The real shock though was the sheer number of Carp cruising the surface basking in the sunshine, all apparently commons, and seemingly unconcerned, well at least till the start of the match.

Back to the car park for the draw and I drew peg 23 with young Dan drawing peg 24 to my left, Matt having voiced a preference for peg 7 promptly drew it and the general consensus was that we were all fishing for 2nd as Matt wandered off with a happy grin on his face.

Setting up didn’t take me long as my main pole was in need of a refurb, and probably not up to the stress and strain, so it was margin pole or nothing with 3 rigs, 1 shallow, 1 at depth for the 7mtr line and 1 for paste in the margin as I had a nice bush to my right. All the while the carp were still cruising and I swear a couple even winked as they passed.

Rolf the owner insists on a minimum of 2 nets, 1 for small carp up to 4lbs and 1 for carp weighing between 4 & 8lbs. Anything larger has to be weighed and returned immediately. This is achieved by having tanks containing a salt water solution (to kill any parasites) with a weigh sling in it behind every 4th or 5th peg along with a set of supported scales and a clipboard and pen to record the weights which you get a neighbouring angler to witness. It sounds complicated but works very well.

11am and the All-in and having started at 7mtrs, the float buried and I was attached to my 1st Rolfs carp! To say that these fish are fit doesn’t do them justice, especially as Rolf insists on anglers using top kits that allow a bit of elastic to be pulled out. Into the net and at probably 7lbs a nice start.

It wasn’t fast and furious and I was having problems avoiding the roach and skimmers that don’t really count, though I did spot Nick (polepot) weighing a couple to record them, but he was struggling, and had experienced the full power of THE JINX in previous seasons and was taking no chances.

Opposite me TA’s Neil McCurran & Eric(ejayar)Robothan were having their own match within a match , I think Neil McCurran won, well he certainly won the stretchiest elastic competition .

Young Dan to my left was having a bit of a grueller, finding bites hard to come by but had managed to get off the mark with one early on, it was just adding a second that was proving elusive.

 

Halfway through I’d managed 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones, so had a look at paste down the margin. Plenty of bites but only one carp as it seemed to be solid with small skimmers that ripped the paste to bits as soon as it hit the water. With hindsight I spent far to long trying to make it work, and with an hour to go went back to alternating shallow and deep for another 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones.

At the end I’d had just under 60lbs of weighers with those in the net taking the total to just over 88lbs, which as it turned out was enough for the section money.
The weigh in is well practiced here with lots of weigh slings and with all the fish getting a dip in the salt solution before being returned.

 Now for the comedy section, during the match Nick(Neo1)Williams had lost a pole section, so Malc needing no encouragement stripped off to his swimming trunks to retrieve it. He soon found it, but it turned out to be a section lost by another angler earlier in the week, however another paddle soon found Nick’s section.  
Back to the car park for the raffle and results, and with 5 tons including Matt’s winning double ton, as well as a good number of weights in the 60 – 80lbs range nobody could really believe that it had been a JINX match, mind you I’m sure that we’ll all come down to earth with a bang at Drayton next Saturday. 

Individual Results.

1st	Matt Nutt	211lb 04oz
2nd	Mark Causer	116lb 02oz
3rd	Keith(Gandhi)Ashby	113lb 00oz
4th	Malc(The Jinx)Doyle	112lb 08oz
5th	Roy Ravenhill	105lb 02oz
6th	Neil McCurran	90lb 06oz
7th	Peter(Mugger)Morton	88lb 13oz
8th	Dirk Williams	77lb 00oz
9th	Geoff Eggison	75lb 01oz
10th	Eric Robothan	71lb 12oz
11th	Dai Thomas	69lb 06oz
12th	Steve Wilson	69lb 04oz
13th	Paul Roberts	55lb 08oz
14th	Nick Williams	52lb 10oz
15th	Nick Jones	42lb 15oz
16th	David Ashby	41lb 12oz
17th	Derek Robothan	32lb 04oz
18th	Pete Thompson	11lb 00oz
19th	Dan Thomas	10lb 08oz
20th	Nick Watkins-Price	DNW

Sumners Ponds. June 3rd-5th, 2005.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Southern Fish-in.

Well I arrived at Sumners Ponds at around 10·30am on Friday to find a few of the participants already ensconced for the weekend ahead.
Already in situ were Geoff and his grandaughter Amy, Dai and Daniel, Ady (BigLadWigan) , Sven C (with Gemma to follow on Saturday), Alex(Fish-Fingers), Dave(Scouse) with Neil(bluenose), Larry, Terry(Wily Coyote) and Jess & Szabi (Jackcatcher & Tincabelle)

I decided to drop into the swim next to Scouse and Neil so that I could keep an eye on my hubcaps, and as I was setting up my bivvy Dave(theFish) and Colin (thePike) arrived, and the usual round of greetings and abuse ensued.

Strange things these bivvies and bedchairs, No drawers for your tackle and only available in a rather drab green or heaven forbid CAMO!!!!!! You could lose them on the bankside.
I set up my 2 carp rods and baitrunners with method feeders and placed them on my pod, not quite a PUPSS but it would have to do.

So time to start fishing? Well not quite, a quick tour round the pond to meet and great everyone, and try out the new camera consumed another hour before I was settled in, with Sven obliging with a well timed bream as a subject ……

Pineapple & Tutti antbait softee’s on both rigs gently lobbed to midway were greeted after a while by a couple of respectable Bream, both around the 4lb mark, so off the mark and cause for a celebratory beer.

Wind and squally showers were doing their best to put a damper on the day, and Jason (NoFinPhish) arrived late on and managed to slide into a swim between Geoff & Dai.
Neil finally managed a carp on his pole between phone calls and texts as can be seen in the pic below……
Unfortunately, not being fishery members we weren’t allowed to nightfish (apart from Sven who’s a member) so most adjourned to the local hostelry (The Queens Head) to sample a few pints, before the evening soiree round Geoffs bivvy.

Saturday, weather wise brought more of the same, with the odd fish for most and Jason probably winning the numbers game with a good run of fish in the morning and Szabi showing up Jess, who in his defence spent a fair bit of time showing Fish-Fingers the ins and outs of various rigs. The morning only provided a single bream for me almost identical to the pair from Friday.

With the day moving on Jess, Szabi and Wily departed citing other engagements for the Sunday, while a few of the lads were tempted by the lure of the small pond, which appeared to have a higher stocking level than the main lake. Daniel brimming with confidence went for a £1 side bet with Jason on who would have the largest carp of the day.

3pm and I had a screamer on the rod I had cast close to the marginal tree on my right, and I thought I was winning the tug of war till the fish turned 180° and buried itself into the roots.
Having to retie the rig I could resist no longer and set up a waggler to see if I could mug anything in the margins. Sure enough after a few small skimmers and roach an unsuspecting tench obliged, not big at a couple of pounds, but most welcome none the less..
Once more the pub won the battle of the early evening, but after a curry and a couple of pints I sneaked off to return for a last hour before dusk. No action I’m afraid but we ended with a small gathering at my peg over a coffee before decending on Dai for the evening entertainment. Biglad was in his usual superb form, if a tad restrained by the presence of young Amy, while Jason thoughtfully checked out the depth of Dai’s Margin and Dan waved farewell to his £1.
June it may be, but Flaming it certainly wasn’t and with a cold dew forming the party was curtailed earlier than it could have, though probably much to the relief of those in the mobile homes and campers on the other bank.

We had been warned that a real gale was expected overnight, but thankfully it never materialised. First thing Sunday morning a few of us decided to take a quick trip up to look at the new match lake that’s just been opened on the site. It’s still very new with construction still in progress, but plenty of planting has taken place, I can’t say that it inspired me to make a visit, but who knows, maybe in a couple of years when it’s more established.

With it still being grey and overcast and very few fish showing, most were thinking of getting bivvies packed away ready for the trip home.
I was just starting to pull my bivvy pegs when a steady run developed on my rod baited with 4 bits of hair rigged corn and after a short but spirited fight I was rewarded with a plump common weighing in at 14lbs, a lovely end to the weekend.
Having packed all my kit up, it was time for farewells, and is always the case at these sort of meetings that tends to take a couple of hours in itself. Dai had managed to bag a carp as I passed.
Dave and Colin were packing away his bivvy, while the final site as I headed to the car
park was of Geoff and BigLad trying for a final fish before departing as Amy looked on……
The end of another MD’s weekend away in good company, some great laughs and a few fish caught by everyone. Well done to Dave the Fish for organising it all.
The only Mystery? Where was Beebs? Comatose under a Duvet somewhere no doubt.