Holly Farm Fishery. Trotters Lake. September 30th, 2006.

Disabled Angler.co.uk Charities Championship. The Final.

Saturday 30th September 2006 saw 38 qualifying anglers along with family, friends and helpers descend on Holly Farm Fishery situated just outside the village of Ashby Magna in Leicestershire for the Final of the Disabled Angler.Co.Uk Charities Championship 2006 to be fished on Trotters Lake. 1st order of the day for most on arrival was breakfast served up by Rita and her staff in the excellent onsite Café, before booking in and parting with their pools money under the eagle eye of Bucko, whereupon Linda parted them from yet more cash for the after match raffle. Thankfully the weather for the day promised to be a vast improvement from the previous day when the area had been hit by torrential rain for most of the day, however all that water into the lakes would probably have an effect on sport on the day. 9·30am and the draw saw anglers dispersing to their pegs, some more eagerly than others to prepare for the 11am all in. 11am and with a few anglers landing fish on their 1st casts, things were looking good, but alas for most sport didn’t continue at anything like that pace. A couple of hours in and it was becoming obvious that most were working hard for very little reward, with each fish being hard won. Just to put a further damper on things the rain then arrived, but thankfully after about an hour abated. What fish were being caught appeared to be coming from the first twenty pegs, while most of the rest struggled on with just the odd fish. 4pm brought the all out, and while everyone managed to avoid the dreaded DNW, the weights it has to be said weren’t the greatest ever recorded. With their gear packed away, everyone assembled back in the clubhouse for an after match meal prior to the prize giving and raffle. With everyone fed and watered it was time for the prizegiving, and it was lovely to see Steve Bishop in attendance to present the prizes. For those of you who aren’t aware Steve is the main sponsor of Disabled Angler.co.uk through his company BR Electrical, so a big vote of thanks is due to Steve. First off was the presentation of the medals for the team event which this year was won by the boys that qualified at Lindholme Lakes. Next it was the turn of the section winners on the day. Finally down to the main frame and in 3rd place it was D Ribbons……… In 2nd place overall and Disabled Champion for 2006 was Wayne Panting. while in 1st place overall and Non-Disabled Champion 2006 was Bob Reed. We than found time for a surprise presentation of a silver salver to John & Linda, by way of thanks for all the time and effort that they put into the organisation of the Charities Championship, and without which it would be impossible to run the event. Finishing off with the raffle with prizes provided by Mark Pollard (one of The Danglers patrons), Holly Farm and various individuals, brought the day to an end and a time for farewells. Thanks to Del & Rita Rogers and their staff for providing the venue and superb facilities for the Final. Thanks to all the anglers who have fished in the whole series of matches. Their efforts mean that the total being donated between Macmillan (Cancer relief) & Francis House (Children’s Hospice) stands at £ 2182, which at the end of the day is what the whole thing has been about. Very Well Done to All, Let’s do it all again next year.

This is my own individual take on the day…… Well, a restless night meant that I was up and on the road nice and early on my way up to Ashby Magna in Leicestershire for the Final of The Disabled Angler Charities Championship that was being Fished on Trotters lake at Holly Farm. A smooth trip up saw me arrive at the fishery at around 7·30am to be greeted by the smiling face of Del Rogers (The owner). A quick chat and looking round saw Stuart Joy, another Southern qualifier pulling in. Welcomes over Stuart and I went for a walk round Trotters to try and get a feel for the venue before adjourning to the clubhouse for Breakfast, where we were joined by Darren (badatfishing) and a few other early birds. Soon all the usual suspects were arriving, Lucky Wayne with his good lady Sharon and the kids in tow. Bucko and Linda ready to part us all from our cash and various other reprobates, including Vince who was looking for a 2nd victory over me to follow up his success at Lemington. All to soon it was 9·30am and draw time, 31 for me and 33 for Vince with 32 vacant meant that at least a bit of fun would be had, and after helping Wayne get his kit round to his peg I was soon setting up in preparation for the match. A small method feeder for tight across was set up, though things were tight with so many pegged closely on a tight bend. Pole for 8mtrs and the margin completed the set up for the day. 11am and all in, and 1st chuck across with the method the tip wraps round and a little Tench of maybe 1lb is soon in the net. Great Start. Unfortunately that was it, not so much as another knock or even a liner was to come my way from that line for the remainder of the match. Struggle was the least of it, with just a couple of small roach coming to the various pole lines despite trying paste (2 types) maggot, catmeat, pellet and corn at various stages. Sharon came round and I asked her to have a stroll round with my camera and try and get some action photos. It says it all for how slow sport was that she didn’t manage to capture a single fish being landed. Looking round, nearly everyone in the immediate area seemed in the same boat, though reports were filtering through of others round the other side getting a few. Vince had managed a couple of carp on the method at the start and was still getting indications, though unable to convert them to fish in the net. A couple of hours in Lucky Wayne’s better half, Sharon came round with a very welcome fresh brewed cuppa, and to be honest it looked like being the highlight of the day, as soon after it started to rain. All match long I had been trickling bait under a small bush to my right, and with a couple of hours to go decided to concentrate on it. After 10 mins something made off with the corn and there was a healthy amount of black hydro heading towards the island. 5 minutes later and I gratefully slid the net under a Carp around the 8lb mark. That was it however, despite nicking a few bits of prawn off Wayne having watched him catch late on, nothing else appeared from under that bush except another couple of small roach. Weigh-in just provided confirmation of just how hard it had been, but at least my 10lbs allowed me to edge out Lucky Wayne by a couple of ounces and double Vince’s 5lb. Back to the clubhouse for a meal and the presentations, followed by the raffle, where as usual I appeared to have every number but the winning ones. All to soon it was time for goodbyes and farewells, followed by a 3 hour drive home. All in all, not the best days fishing………but it was a great day out, in fine company. Well Done to all the Series Organisers and Competitors who over the Series raised £2182 for the respective Charities. Let’s see if we can beat that amount next year.

Hartleylands Farm Fishery, Finches Pond. September 22nd, 2006.



Having a bit of time off I was pleasantly surprised when Maria suggested I might fancy a days fishing last night, as she was going over to visit a friend today. I should have known.

After my disaster at Lemington Lakes last Saturday I really needed to catch a few just to get the confidence back, so it was off to a favourite of mine …… Hartleylands Farm.

So 8·30am brought a nudge in my back as my beloved enquired whether I was going fishing today? A peak out of the window revealed it had been pouring down all night, but a hint of sun breaking through promised better for the day ahead. By 9·15 the car was loaded and I was on my way with a clearing sky, but as I reached Tonbridge the sun had vanished and the sky was getting greyer.

I reached the fishery about 10·30 but was a little disappointed to find a match on the reservoir, so that was the first plan scuppered. A steady drizzle was starting to fall as I had a look around and a chat with a couple of anglers that had already been fishing for a couple of hours with only a couple of Carp to show for their efforts between them meant that I settled for peg 8 on Finches, sheltered amongst the trees and with a comfy 8yds to the far bank it would do for me.

Before I had even finished setting up, the rain started hammering down, so just a couple of simple rigs were set up, 1 for paste and the other for 6mm expander pellet both to be fished over 4mm pellet (all G.O.T baits) both across and in the margin to my left. Both rigs were KC Carpa 2′s on 0·16 Carpteck with Fox match series2 in a 14 for paste and a 16 for the expanders.

First put in across with paste, and 30secs later the float had buried and the black hydro stretched out and safely in the net was the first fish of the day, an nice Ghostie.
A couple of looks over with expander produced a couple of Gudgeon, so back to the paste. This was definitely what the Carp wanted with most bites coming within a minute of cupping the paste in, and the bites are nice and definite, no messing about with the float just vanishing straight down the plughole.
With the rain still pouring down I got a phone call from Dave (Webbo) about 12, and he remarked that he could hear the rain, but it was lovely in Leeds. The action that I'd been having encouraged the chap in the next but one peg down from me to come over for a chat to see what I was doing differently from him. 10 mins under the brolly showing him how to prepare expanders with a pump and explaining the basics of paste and he was off back to his peg with a box of prepared expanders to give them a go.

Back out with the paste and the rain was starting to ease, but the Carp were still there.
By 1·30 the rain has finally stopped but because I was under the trees it was still coming down on me, so a move was called for if I was ever going to get anything dried out. A quick look over the back revealed that there were only 4 anglers on Nick’s Lake, so I moved all of ten yards onto Nick’s peg 3. With nobody on the adjacent pegs it was going to be margins all the way and 1st put in on the right hand margin produced an instant bite resulting in a super common gracing the net.
The afternoon proved to be fairly hectic, I doubt if I had to wait much more than 30 secs for a bite on paste, with most being so positive that the elastic just streamed out without any need to strike, smaller fish in general than those in Finches, mostly commons but occasionally a nice example of the resident ghosties putting in an appearance.
4·30 and as I was packing away after what has been a good confidence building session Paul Ward, the owner strolled round to see how I'd done. It's always interesting to have a chat with him and he told me that he’d finished digging another new lake and is just letting it fill naturally as he’s in no hurry to stock it yet.
Packing up, thankfully almost everything has dried out and on the way out I decided to stop and have a look at the new lake……..

As you can see there’s a quite wide marginal shelf around 2-3 ft below water level and it then drops to around 6-7ft, while it just rises up to the island without a noticeable shelf.
It promises to be another decent addition to the fishery once it’s up and running, probably not until next summer though at the earliest, as Paul likes to let things settle and establish themselves before he allows fishing.

Lemington Lakes. Westminster Lake. September 16th, 2006.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Individual Championship 2006.

Well what can I say? Today was a real demonstration of the highs and lows of fishing.
Last year I won this match and Steve12 packed up early having had a dire time. This year it was my turn for a grueller and Steve12 took the title.

I arrived around 8·30am to find the cast already assembling, and after one of Debbie's excellent cooked breakfasts it was draw time. Helping Vince with the draw ensured that the 2 of us had to pick for each other at the end, and while I pulled an absolute flyer (2) out for Vince, he finally managed to tuck me right up with peg30 on Dead Mans corner.

Strolling to my peg I found that I had Clive for company on peg 31, while just up on 27 & 28 were Hazel and Dave. Malc was to join us later on peg34 so the omens weren’t good even then.

Set up was relatively simple with a feeder rod for a chuck to the island, but the pole revealed a max of just 2½ft of water which was at 11mtrs, The margins were alive, however this was with RATS not FISH. All day long they were working the margins, even diving down to grab any feed that was fed.

Anyway 11am and the all in, just as Malc "The Jinx" arrives, and with a couple of pots of pellet mixed with corn at 11mtrs, I went out on the feeder to allow it to settle.
Clive meanwhile was out straight out onto the pole line.

Hazel and Dave were soon into fish (small skimmers) and remarking that thing appeared to be a tad quiet in my swim,
Quiet wasn’t the word, but after about 40 mins Clive had a bite!!!! but managed to bump the small skimmer that was briefly attached. Another 5 mins and I had a bite!!!!!! and soon had a 14oz skimmer safely in the net.

At that point in time both Clive and I should have packed up and gone to the pub, because that was the end of any action in either of our swims.
Malc was trying his best to liven things up, and to be honest the banter was to prove the best part of the whole day for a few of us.

Wayne strolled past on a regular basis doing a fine job for those lucky enough to require fish to be weighed.

Just to cap things off I got a phone call from Dirk, who took great delight in informing me that our pegs were so bad that they aren’t normally included in matches as they never produce. My reply to this information is probably best not printed for fear of offending the more sensitive amongst you.

Musky was plugging away a bit further round with his waggler and had managed to snare a couple of Carp, but other than that I couldn’t really see anyone else and only had Wayne’s updates to go on as to who was catching.

Towards the end it was painfully obvious that it wasn’t going to happen and Clive could be found with a glazed expression on his face, or was he really asleep?

Dave and Hazel continued to snare the odd fish much to their delight, though Dave did manage to lose what appeared to be a decent Carp after it had been on a tour of Hazels swim.

Finally release came in the form of the all out at 4pm though the fun was just about to begin for most in the form of let’s take full advantage and rip the p*ss out of Peter.

Back to the car park and it’s presentation & raffle time, with Wayne once again stepping in as chief ticket seller.
Dave demanded a photo of me handing over the £1 coin that I had accidently dropped into his keepnet at the end of the match. Such a rare site that he had to have a record of it……

2 sections were paid out, 1 to Bezza who had already left, and the other to Smiling Steve Wilson……..

3rd place proved to be a tie between Matt and Milo who both put 43lbs 4ozs on the scales……….

2nd was taken by LG, Dave’s travelling companion with a weight of 54lbs 4ozs………

1st on the day went to Steve12, his weight of 56lbs 11ozs allowing him to take the lions share of the winnings and trophy along with the title of Maggotdrowning Individual Champion 2006………

The raffle raised £95 on the day which is being donated to Cancer Research. Thanks to all those who donated prizes.

I would just like to offer a BIG THANK YOU to Vince who did his usual fine job of organising the day, and another BIG THANK YOU to all of you who attended on the day, which is what really makes things worthwhile. Hopefully we’ll see you all again next year, even if it is at a different venue.

1st	Steve12	56lb 11ozs
2nd	LG	54lb 04ozs
3rd=	Matt Nutt	43lb 04ozs
3rd=	Milo	43lb 04ozs
5th	SteveW	41lb 03ozs
6th	Bezza	37lb 09ozs
7th	Mouse	34lb 00ozs
8th	Bricktop	30lb 13ozs
9th	Daylewlia	27lb 08ozs
10th	Royst	23lb 13ozs
11th	Dave W	14lb 12ozs
12th	Simple Simon	12lb 00ozs
13th	Muskrat	10lb 12ozs
14th	Lake Lady	10lb 03ozs
15th	Vince	7lb 00ozs
16th	Simon (Me)	3lb 07ozs
17th	Polepot	2lb 13ozs
18th	Bucko	1lb 08ozs
19th	Arkwright	1lb 05ozs
20th	Malc	1lb 04ozs
21st=	Peter	14ozs
21st=	Fish4alarf	14ozs
	Tommy	DNW
	Clive	DNW
	MarkC Adroit	DNW