Hawkhurst Fishery. The Match Lake. October 23rd, 2010.

Mick the Chippy’s Knock Up.

Back at the end of July Mick the Chippy placed a post on Maggotdrowning.com informing us that he’d booked the whole Match Lake at Hawkhurst for today. Needless to say the whole 20 pegs were soon filled for a day on a venue that has the potential to throw up some huge match weights, With a good Café on sight serving an excellent breakfast and a load of like minded anglers fishing it’s a match that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. However after a couple of days of real cold temperatures I was rather saddened to hear heavy rain beating against the bedroom window as the alarm went off and a quick glance out of the window confirmed it was pouring down. A mug of strong coffee soon had me functioning and having fed the cats and loaded the car it was off to Hawkhurst. It wasn’t the best drive down, rain and heavy spray persisting till I got the other side of Tonbridge, where it started to ease off, however by the time I pulled into the fishery car park it had stopped.

Quite a few of the usual suspects were in attendance and a number of ‘Golden Nuggets’ had been wagered on todays outcome. Mick had set up a rolling draw so that we could get set up before partaking of breakfast in the fishery Café. Peg 5 was mine for the day about half way up the roadside bank, and I was off to a good start when it was draw out as todays lucky peg, meaning that I just had to catch a fish to receive £10.

I soon had myself settled in, the pegs are a decent size and allow you plenty of room to get set up. Just 3 top kits to cover the options today. 2 Malman 4×12 Champer’s on 0·16 Power Match with size 18 QM1 hooks, the 1st to cover lines at 4mtrs at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, and the 2nd to cover 6mtrs straight out in front, while a 0.2 HB Grizzly on 0·16 Power Match with a size 18 QM1 took care of the margin line against the boards. Bait today was my usual selection of GOT Baits soft hookers, expanders and hard pellets while feed would be the fishery 6mm hard pellets.

 

So with everything ready to go it was time to adjourn to the Café. Lots of banter and mickey taking ensued as always while a Full English ( double sausage, double bacon, double eggs, mushrooms, beans/tomatoes, fried slice + toast and tea or coffee for £5) set things up nicely for the five hours ahead of us.

With everyone fed, watered and back at their pegs Mick called the All-In at 10·30am and the match was underway, and if I’m honest that is where I went wrong. Quite simply I overfed it. It may be a renowned big weight water but I didn’t take into account the two hard frosts on Wednesday and Thursday followed by the heavy overnight rain. Rather than feel my way in I stuck 2 big potful’s on the 6mtr line and a big potful on both my 4mtr lines. I wasn’t the only one however. I finally managed my first fish after 30 minutes, a welcome Common that at least guaranteed me £10 for the lucky peg. Indeed the only person that seemed to be catching with any regularity was Ian Harper next door on peg 4, but even so it was far from fast and furious for him.

Looking around I could see Mick who had placed his faith in ‘Mary Q’ as he refers to the new Marukyu baits, but he didn’t appear to be having his faith rewarded today……

Keith was struggling as well and was already having an early look down his margin line in an attempt to winkle out something ……

While Bill was suffering from one of those nightmares that we all suffer with on occasion…… unmissable bites that he simply couldn’t connect with ……

A couple of hours in and I was going nowhere fast with just 3 carp in my net to show for my efforts. I decided that the time was right to have a stroll and try to see what others were doing and maybe give me some inspiration. S Dyball on peg 7 had a few but didn’t really appear to be doing much different from what I could see……

Jeff on peg 8 had around 8 carp to show for his efforts, while Clive on peg 9 was owning up to something like 7 fish in the net, but was into another as I arrived which he soon had safely in the net ……

Al was fishing just a little longer than those around him and was slowly starting to put a few fish together, despite having thrown his pole in earlier having got confused about which hand he was feeding with ……

Bill was still having a struggle and appeared to be in danger of parting with a few ‘Golden Nuggets’ in the side bet stakes ……

Then there was Nick, and quite surprisingly he was fishing at 13mtrs with a pot on the end of his pole, however he’d not had as much as a bite on pellet and had switched to maggot fished shallow ……

Mick was still struggling to find fish to put in the net, but still had a smile on his face.

… thanks to the fact that his brother Richard on the next peg was having an even harder time of it than he was ……

Tony was tucked away on peg 1 and was having a slightly better time of it, but his bites were very finicky and he felt that he was having to wait far to long between them to do any real damage ……

Mick McMillan was on peg 4 on his first time at the fishery, a very good angler, the venue should have suited him down to the ground, but he couldn’t match Ian on the next peg ……

Unfortunately my peg was no better on my return the rest of the match turning into a real grind for me and quite a few of the others. Greg over on peg 17 started to pick up a few toward the end of the match, and Nick’s maggot fished shallow had started to produce for him as well. I managed 3 carp in the last half hour meaning that I had 9 carp in the net when Mick called the all out at 3·30pm.

Thankfully the scales didn’t take long to arrive. Tony’s 36½lbs and Mick McMillan’s 41½lbs both being comfortably beaten by Ian Harper’s 64¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for the win on the day. Jeff Driscoll saw his 44lbs edged out by Al Loader’s 45lbs to give Al 3rd on the day. While Nick Gilbert took 2nd place with 47½lb after his switch to maggot fished shallow produced for him late on.


Thanks to Mick for organising a nice smoothly run day, not his fault that the fishery hadn’t produced like it can on the day. At least I got a tenner for the Lucky Peg, and while I had to hand over a ‘Golden Nugget’ to Al and Clive, I got 3 back from Mick, Keith and Bill.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 4	Ian Harper	64lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 14	Nick Gilbert	47lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 11	Al Loader	45lbs 00ozs
4th=	Peg 8	Jeff Driscoll	44lbs 00ozs
4th=	Peg 17	Greg Andrews	44lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 3	Mick McMillan	41lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 7	S Dyball	38lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 1	Tony Roberts	36lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 9	Clive Pritchard	31lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 5	Peter Morton	23lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 16	Andy Bench	21lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 2	Graham Franklin	18lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 10	John Chambers	17lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 18	Mick Pearson	15lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 19	Richard Pearson	11lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 13	Bill Gibbins	9lbs 04ozs
17th	Peg 12	Rich	8lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 15	Keith Powell	6lbs 00ozs
19th	Peg 20	Toby Wells	2lbs 04ozs
20th	Peg 6	Pete Bolt	DNW

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. October 16th, 2010.

Marsh AC club match.

It’s off down to Hartleylands fishery at Cranbrook in Kent for another club match today. We’ve booked the whole of Nick’s Lake and invited a few guests so hopefully all will have a decent day. A dark damp picture greeted me as I looked out of the window this morning and as I loaded the car there was a definite chill in the air, Autumn had well and truly arrived. By 7·15am I was sitting down in the Knox-Bridge Café for a ‘Full English’ and I was soon joined by Mick the Chippy who was my guest for the day while John, Martin & Zack were soon followed by Graham, Al, Keith and Pete Thompson, all in search of some pre-match sustenance. So with breakfast taken care of it was back to the cars and off to the fishery for the draw.

Most of the usual suspects were present and with the sun beaming down hopes were high for a decent days fishing, though a cool north easterly wind made sure that everyone was glad that they were well wrapped up. Into the draw bag and peg 4 revealed itself as my home for the day at head, a nice short walk once I’d moved my car and I would have the sun on me all day to take the edge off the chill. I had Martin for company on my right on peg 2, while to my left I had Dave Collier along with daughter Chrissy and her partner Nick on pegs 7, 8 & 9.

Set up for the day would be nice and simple. Feeder rod with a small method feeder to fish to the island and 3 pole rigs. the 3 pole rigs were all Malman 4×12 Adam’s on 0·16 Power Match with size 18 QM1 hooks set at various depths to cover from the margins where I had around 2ft out to 5mtrs were there was around 4ft. I wasn’t planning to fish any further out on the pole as the wind would make it awkward. Bait today was my usual selection of GOT Baits soft hookers, expanders and 6mm hard pellets while feed would just be a mix of 4 & 6mm hard pellets and some groundbait for the method.

While I waited for the All-In I had a few misgivings in that I hadn’t seen many fish showing on what is normally a very prolific venue and the water had what I can only describe as a cloudy look to it as the algae was starting to break down with the onset of the cooler weather. Anyway at 10am Dave blew the whistle for the All-In and I cupped 2 pots of pellets in on the 5mtr line and fed both margins before going out to the island with the method feeder. Ken seemed to be straight into a few fish on the waggler ……

…… while Dave, Chrissy and Nick all seemed to be into fish as well. Twenty minutes in and I hadn’t had as much as a knock on the method which was very unusual, however I noticed a couple of bubbles on the 5mtr line and soon swapped over to the pole line.

A couple of lift and drops and the float slid away, the culprit being a mint little Common of around a pound to get me underway.
Now I wish I could say that this was the start of a major bagging session but if I did I would be telling porkies. I did start to put a few fish together but it was far from fast and furious despite Jean arriving with a welcome mug of coffee. Two hours in and I’d only managed 10 small Carp from the 5mtr line and despite another couple of looks across on the method, had still not had as much as a tap on it.

Going nowhere fast I re-fed both pole lines and went for a stroll with the camera to try and suss out how others were catching, if indeed they were. Dave was dropping a bait by the young willow in his left margin and was soon into a fish as I watched ……

Chris was a picture of concentration and while he was getting quite a few small silvers had only had 2 small carp to go with them and boost his catch …….

Keith was having a bit of a struggle, but being comfortably ahead in the points table was using the day to experiment fishing paste which was producing some very positive bites but little in the way of fish ……

…… while Clive wasn’t fairing much better, and I’m sure I heard him telling his drawing hand that he’d be teaching it another sharp lesson after today ……

Carrying on round I came to Colin who I knew had been down a couple of times practising during the week along with Tony, Terry and Dave. He’d caught well on paste (no surprise there) but the drop in temperature looked to have scuppered his plans as he was having a struggle today ……

…… on the next peg Kevin had been struggling too, but he was just in the process of landing a small Carp, so hopefully things would start to pick up for him ……

 Al was ticking along and owning up to around 15 Carp in the net and Pete was a little frustrated that his plans for a days skimmer bashing was being thwarted by the fact that the skimmers were too small and Carp kept muscling in on the act ……

Mick seemed happy enough with his lot and was getting a few fishing the method but felt that he was waiting just a little to long between bites to do any real damage ……

Terry was another of those anglers who was finding that the fishing today bore no resemblance to that which he’d experienced earlier on in the week ……

Ken’s bright start had slowed somewhat though he was still picking up the odd fish on the waggler and Graham was another of those who was finding to many small silvers and not enough Carp in the mix ……

Back at my peg it was just a case of getting my head down and getting the most from my peg for the rest of the match ……

It was far from fast and furious but by working away at it, constantly lifting, dropping and dragging the rig I kept picking up the odd Carp nothing bigger than 2 pounds and mostly smaller. My feeder line just refused to produce a fish despite another couple of looks and neither margin line produced a bite either. Dave’s fish had slowed right up on him as well, but he’d got off to such a good start that I knew he was out of my reach. John and Zack came round to collect Martin as they were leaving early and John took the honours in the 3 way car sweep with his 18½lbs. I managed a bit of a spurt with 10 Carp in the last hour and when Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm I’d managed 36 Carp.

So to the Weigh-In and my fish gave me a weight of 45¾lbs which would be good enough for a section win on the day. Chrissy’s 35½lbs had beaten Nick’s 27lbs, but Dave had won the family battle with a very decent 72¼lbs for 2nd overall. Keith had suffered his worst result of the series with just 12¾lbs to show for his efforts, while Clive’s 45¾lbs tied my weight. Tony’s 55½lbs secured 3rd on the day, but todays winner was Al with a fine 84½lbs. Pete ended with a creditable 53½lbs for 4th on his first ever visit to the fishery, while Mick managed 41¾lbs and Ken took the honours from the car park bank with 32½lbs.

So that’s it for this years Marsh AC matches. Thanks to Dave for organising yet another enjoyable series of matches.
Well Done to Keith, Mr Consistent topping the points table. Thanks to all the members and guests who have fished, you’re the ones who make it such an enjoyable day out each and every time.

Finally a special Thank You to Jean for those mugs of coffee during the matches, they were much appreciated.

 

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 23	Al Loader	84lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 9	Dave Collier	72lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 22	Tony Roberts	55lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 25	Pete Thompson   (guest)	53lbs 08ozs
5th=	Peg 4	Peter Morton	45lbs 12ozs
5th=	Peg 15	Clive Pritchard	45lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 26	Mick Pearson     (guest)	41lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg 8	Christine Collier (guest)	35lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 36	Ken Walker	32lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 30	Simon Watkins	32lbs 04ozs
11th	Peg 19	Colin Sharrard	28lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 31	Terry Goff	28lbs 00ozs
13th=	Peg 12	Chris Withall	27lbs 00ozs
13th=	Peg 7	Nick Bondeau     (guest)	27lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 37	Graham Manning	21lbs 00ozs
16th	Peg 28	John Holdsworth	18lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 20	Kevin Loveland	14lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 13	Keith Ashby	12lbs 12ozs
19th=	Peg 34	Judy Hermite	11lbs 00ozs
19th=	Peg 32	Rod Turner	11lbs 00ozs
21st	Peg 17	Zack Johnson	10lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg 2	Martin Hucker	9lbs 08ozs

The club doesn’t operate a Championship as such but this year Dave’s collated a table of the seasons results using a 30 point system. Guests results were not included in the table. As you can see Keith has been Mr Consistent over the course of the season coming out on top with 212 points while Tony was Runner-Up with 204 points and Colin finished 3rd on 194 points.

Position	Angler	Monk	Churchgate	Colemans	Mill Barn	Blasford	Colemans	Rockells	Hartleylands	Points
1st	Keith Ashby	29	26	26	28	30	28	28	17	212 pts
2nd	Tony Roberts	28	27	30	27	21	22	21	28	204 pts
3rd	Colin Sharrard	27	23	15	29	26	21	30	23	194 pts
4th	Clive Pritchard	30	30	28	24	d.n.f.	27	22	27	188 pts
5th	Dave Collier	21	28	29	d.n.f.	23	25	29	29	184 pts
6th	John Holdsworth	23	20	24	23	19	18	24	19	170 pts
7th	Kevin Loveland	25	14	22	22	22	19	16	18	158 pts
8th	Peter Morton	20	24	d.n.f.	27	d.n.f.	30	27	27	155 pts
9th	Terry Goff	18	19	23	21	d.n.f.	24	25	22	152 pts
10th	Martin Hucker	17	18	18	17	26	16	26	13	151 pts
11th	Ken Walker	d.n.f.	21	17	d.n.f.	29	29	20	25	141 pts
12th	Jim Boase	26	25	19	20	27	d.n.f.	19	d.n.f.	136 pts
13th	Judy Hermite	16	16	21	d.n.f.	28	20	17	16	134 pts
14th	Chris Withall	19	d.n.f.	27	d.n.f.	24	27	d.n.f.	21	118 pts
15th	Zack Johnson	22	15	14	18	18	15	d.n.f.	14	116 pts
16th	Al Loader	24	29	d.n.f.	30	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	30	113 pts
17th	Graham Manning	13	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	25	d.n.f.	23	23	20	104 pts
18th	Roger Noakes	14	22	25	19	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	18	d.n.f.	98 pts
19th	Eddy Dobson	d.n.f.	17	20	d.n.f.	20	13	15	d.n.f.	85 pts
20th	Rod Turner	5	5	d.n.f.	5	17	14	14	16	76 pts
21st	Simon Watkins	16	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	17	d.n.f.	24	57 pts
22nd	Ron Mannister	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	16	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	12	d.n.f.	d.n.f.	28 pts

(d.n.f. = Did not Fish.   30 pts = Match Winner.)