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).