Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. December 29th, 2006.

After yesterdays trip to Monk Lakes with the lads I had a pint of maggots to use up.
Well to be honest I’d forgotten them the day before and left them in the fridge.

The weather today had definitely taken a turn for the worst, with a drop in temperature, rain and a fair bit more wind. I was in two minds whether to go but had the car loaded and set off around 10·30am. The venue today was to be Hartleylands Farm, with The Reservoir and 6 other lakes and ponds there is always somewhere on the fishery where you can tuck yourself away from the worst of the weather and catch a few fish.

Arriving at around noon I had a look round and decided to fish Nick’s lake, settling on peg 35 for no other reason than it was only 10 yards from the car, meaning I could leave the rod bag and carryall in the car and save them getting soaked.

Just the 1 top kit with white Hydro was set up allowing me to fish at the bottom of the shelf about 5 feet from the bank into around 3ft of water. In summer the fish will come in closer on top of the shelf, but with the fall in water temp and a bit of colour dropping out I didn’t feel it would be a goer.

The main line would be to my left at around 10mtrs with a throwaway straight in front just fishing the top 2. A pinch of maggot, fed every few minutes with double maggot on an 18 completed the picture for the session.

A quick chat with Dave on the phone cheered me up when he revealed that those on the MD’s Fur & Feather up at Lindholme were experiencing even colder and windier conditions.

Sport was pretty continuous throughout the session, I rarely had to wait more than 60 seconds for a bite, with a succession of Roach, Rudd and Skimmers coming to hand interspersed with the odd pastie Carp. Every time I tried the top 2 line it was a bite every 5 seconds from the hordes of Pongo’s that had settled in…………

With the light starting to fade and the weather closing in once more it was time for just one last put in down the left hand side.
Sure enough the float slid away once more, only this time there was rather a lot of white Hydro streaming out!!!!!
A couple of minutes later the culprit surfaced and showed itself as it slid into the waiting landing net……

an absolutely glorious Mirror of around 6lbs+, the perfect way to end my fishing for 2006, making me glad I had forgotten those maggots the day before.

Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2. December 28th, 2006.

Off down to Monk Lakes today to meet up with a few lads from the Maggotdrowning site. Overcast skies but a really mild 10°C on the way down held the promise of a few fish to be had.
8·45 in the car park and Nick and Tony had arrived, shortly followed by Dave(The Fish) and Colin. Vince had already told me that he would be arriving late and a quick chat with Ron the bailiff had ensured we could use keepnets for what was to be a light hearted knock up.

Making our way over to Lake 2 we passed the heavy plant that is in the process of re-excavating the old catfish lake to a deeper depth. Parking up we decided to fish the closest pegs which included the corner flyer, peg 45. We had an impromptu draw to ensure fairness and Colin ended up with the flyer, then Nick, myself, Dave and Tony. We decided Vince could tag onto the end as penance for late arrival.

A leisurely tackle up session interrupted only by Nick moaning that the cold wind was blowing towards him and why couldn’t he fish the opposite bank so the wind was off his back and there were fish topping over there, finally came to an end when Nick swung in a Gudgeon that had hung itself on his hook that was already baited.

Most of us has settled for the pole, though Nick had set up a waggler as well. Colin was soon into a fish……
……. as was Nick, while the rest of us we a little slower off the mark.

15 minutes in and Vince arrived and was soon set up and fishing…

…..Tony has started to get a few but was having to chop and change baits in an effort to keep the bites coming.

I was having a bit of a struggle, having wasted a bit to much time trying to catch close in, before moving out to 9mtrs and alternating baits to start catching with any regularity.
Dave’s arthritis was giving him a bit of jip in the cool conditions, but by fishing short and sticking at it, he was still managing to put a few together.
The beauty of the match lakes at Monk is the wide variety of fish that are stocked, Carp, F1′s, Barbel, Chub, Ide, Orfe, Tench(Green & Golden) Bream and Perch amongst the species on offer.

Colin and Nick appeared to have the bulk of fish in front of them, with Colin always seeming to have the edge, though we were all catching if not as regularly as the dynamic duo.

About 3·30 we decided to call it a day as the sun started to set…

Dave had brought the scales so a quick weigh in was done……

Vince managed 17lbs.

Tony had a creditable 49lbs.

Dave put 28lbs on the scales.

My net came to 41lbs.

Nick had 59lbs, 10lbs of that caught while we were weighing the rest in.

Finally Colin was the star of the day with a tremendous 118lbs!!!!!
(Only part of which is in the photo.) Doing justice to the flyer.

So farewells made and Happy New Years wished, we packed up for the day. Over 300lbs of fish between the 6 of us, plenty of good natured banter and great company had made for another good day.
Must do it again sometime (as if we really need an excuse).

Rockells Farm. Saffron Walden. Essex. December 10th, 2006.

Marsh AC. Christmas Match.

Well after 10 weeks without wetting a line I had received an invitation to join Dave (The Fish) Collier and the members of Marsh AC on their Christmas match at Rockell’s Farm. I had heard some good reports about the venue and duly arranged to meet Dave at the services at junction 8 on the M11 at 7·30am.

A heavy frost greeted me as I loaded the car, matching the first one of the year that had arrived on Saturday morning, and the drive up saw the temp refuse to rise above 0°C which didn’t bode well.

Now Dave had only returned the previous day from a Caribbean Cruise so may have been disorientated, but even with his sat-nav managed to take the wrong turn out of the services and lead us back towards London.

Arriving nearer to 8·30 than the planned 8am welcomes were soon exchanged with familiar faces amongst the others that had been invited including 4 of the lads from the GOT Baits Squad (Gary, Keith, Vic & Phil aka Madd) and Terry Goff aka Wily Coyote (a fellow MD’er).
Due to our late arrival the pegging was carried out in a bit of a rush prior to the draw, but a bit of misunderstanding ensued that put a spanner in the works, and although it was finally resolved, it did make things a bit rushed for the start of the match as peg numbers had to be shuffled.

I ended up pegged between Keith and Madd, and just set up a pole to fish at around 6mtrs into around 4ft of water and down the left bank around 2½ft deep.
Bait for the day was corn and pellet, though in hindsight I should have set up a bomb rod to fish to the island at around 30yds.

The heavy frost had started to knock the colour out of the water, and for me it never happened, not a single bite.
Keith and Madd however both managed to get among a few fish, Keith ending up in 1st place with 7 carp for 22½lbs.

while Madd took 8 carp for 20¾lb and 2nd overall
which had the effect of leaving me feeling like a bit of Cod (Battered both sides).

A peg draw in the car park after the match saw everyone getting a prize and these were boosted by a generous donation of goodies from Trev and Gary of GOT Baits, ensuring that everyone went home with a prize.

So not the best of days for me, but still great just to be back out on the bank in good company after a bit of a lay-off.
Thanks again to the lads from Marsh AC, I look forward to fishing with you again, though hopefully I’ll put a few fish in the net next time.