Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2. March 31th, 2007.

Marsh AC club match.

Well my 1st outing of 2007 saw me loading up the car at 6·30 am, and things weren’t looking to promising, the sky was starting to lighten but it was looking ominously grey and the wind was gusting strongly. Driving down the M20 things showed no improvement and as I arrived at the fishery the 1st drops of rain were starting to fall.

A sausage baguette and a cuppa seemed like a good idea as opposed to a walk round the lake we were fishing, especially as I knew it would be windswept anyway. Soon the rest of the lads and lass (Judy) who make up the membership of Marsh AC were arriving. I’ve fished with them as a guest on a few occasions over the last few seasons, always enjoying the days out, and for this season have joined as a member.

So once the breakfasts were over Dave collected the seasons subs’ and the day’s fees and the draw for the match was made.
Tony had the numbers in the hat and passed it round and peg 45 stuck to my hand (a noted flyer) only for a false start to be called as a couple of pairs had to draw 1st. Back in and 48 came out this time, still a nice short walk from the car park and a real bonus as the copse of trees behind it offered some shelter from the wind that was blowing onto our backs, others on the causeway weren’t so fortunate, fishing into the teeth of it, though I fancied them to do better as the carp normally follow the wind on this venue.

To my left on 49 I had John for company with young Zack next to him on 50, while to my left was Martin on 47 then a spare peg leaving Judy alone on 45. Dave(The Fish) was tucked down in the corner to my left (right out of the wind) with his former Boss for company, while Tony (spamwham) was opposite me on 58 on the causeway and Terry (Wily Coyote) was on 64 towards the end with just Jim on the end peg 66.

The wind had at least blown the clouds away, leaving a sunny and clear blue sky, but the wind was destined to stay with us for the whole day.
I had just set up my pole to fish at a comfortable 10mtrs into the 7ft of water with a second rig for the margins that could double up as a shallow rig on the main line. Bait for the day was going to be a selection of the new GOT hook pellets that had been sent to me to try, with the back up of some catmeat that had in the past produced fish for me at the venue.

At the all in a big pot of 4mm sinking pellet went in at 10mtrs and a handful into both margins.
Initially there was a fair bit of tow on the water, but laying about 4″ of line on the bottom soon cured this.
I spent the majority of the match alternating between the 3 different flavours of 6mm pellets (natural, Liver & Catmeat) and the most notable thing was that the F1′s and a lone Ghostie fell to the naturals, Liver produced nothing but Tench while the catmeat accounted for Barbel, Chub and a few skimmers. It was so noticeable that I could actually predict what I would catch dependant on what I put on the hook.

Sport was never fast and furious, but steady throughout the match, the only downside being that I couldn’t really get them to have it in the margins, though John on the next peg caught the majority of his fish from the margins.

A trip down to see Dave mid match saw him catching a few, though he reckoned he’d been struggling to put a run of fish together.

The last hour was a bit of a struggle as a slight shift in the wind coupled with the sun dropping lower produced a dazzling ripple making things awkward, thankfully I had my Polaroid's with me to save my eyesight.

The final whistle saw a pretty windswept collection of anglers packing up prior to the weigh-in.

Weigh-in time revealed that everyone had managed a few despite the conditions with my 53lbs 5ozs winning my section and putting me in with a chance of a frame place.
Tony was owning up to around the 50lb mark having fished into the teeth of the wind all day and wasn’t far out putting 49lbs 8ozs on the scales. Last but one to weigh was Terry (Wily Coyote) ouncing me out with a level 54lbs and taking the honours on the day was Jim Boase with a fine net weighing 67lbs 4ozs from the end peg.

All in all a really enjoyable days fishing in great company, despite the conditions. Looking forward to doing it all again soon.

1st	Peg 66	Jim Boase	67lb 08oz
2nd	Peg 64	Terry Goff	54lb 00oz
3rd	Peg 48	Peter Morton	53lb 05oz
4th	Peg 58	Tony Roberts	49lb 08oz
5th	Peg 52	Chris Withall	37lb 00oz
6th	Peg 49	John Holdsworth	36lb 00oz
7th	Peg 63	Roger Noakes	33lb 04oz
8th	Peg 56	Kevin Loveland	29lb 00oz
9th	Peg 47	Martin Hucker	27lb 12oz
10th	Peg 54	Dave Collier	26lb 12oz
11th	Peg 45	Judy Hermite	24lb 12oz
12th	Peg 55	Bob Sullivan	24lb 08oz
13th	Peg 60	Gareth Stevens	20lb 00oz
14th	Peg 51	Arthur Thompson	17lb 00oz
15th	Peg 50	Zack Johnson	11lb 08oz

Total weighed in by 15 anglers was 518lb 6oz an average of 34lb 8oz.