Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake. August 31st, 2011.

A phone call from Dave Collier was the catalyst for todays trip out. Did I fancy a days fishing on Wednesday with him and Terry Goff? He was thinking of a day down at Hartleylands and was also going to pop down to Hawkhurst at some point and pick up a couple of sacks of pellet as he was running short. “Tell you what Dave, I’ll meet you at Hawkhurst around 9am, and we can pick up some pellet and have breakfast as well before heading off to Hartleylands”. So that’s how I came to be driving down to Kent on a pleasant sunny summers day and pulling into the car park at Hawkhurst. Dave soon had his pellet and I decided to get a 25Kg sack of 6mm’s as well as I was running a bit low.

Over to the café, to find that it’s been extended since my last visit. A large ‘Full English’ was soon dispatched and as we made our way back to the cars Terry phoned, he was already at Hartleylands, but The Reservoir which we planned to fish already had lots of anglers on, so it looked like a day on Nick’s seemed favourite. Ten minutes later we pulled into the car park at the fishery to meet up with Terry, and with the roadside bank of Nick’s being free of anglers it didn’t take long to decide that Pegs 33-35 with walks of a maximum of 10 yards from the cars would do today.

We soon had a gear down at the pegs, with me on Peg 35, Dave on 34 and Terry settled into 33. First things first though, and Dave soon had his stove out and the kettle on for a cuppa. With a refreshing brew sorted it was time to set the kit up. A nice relaxing day today so nothing to complicated. A 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the 5mtr line, a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the margin and another 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG for paste at the bottom of the shelf. Bait for today was simply 6mm pellet and GOT Baits Atomic paste.

I suppose it was about 11am by the time we started and I fed some pellet into the margins and a small pot of pellet at 5mtrs and followed that out with a banded 6mm. It didn’t take long before the float slid away and a feisty little Common of around 1½lbs kicked things off for me. Dave and Terry were soon in as well, and the tone set for the day ahead.

After a couple more Carp I then started to get a run of skimmers and Roach, much to Dave’s amusement, but as it wasn’t a match I have to say that I didn’t mind, just as long as I kept getting bites. Terry was just happy to be getting a few fish after a bit of a torrid time recently down at Rolfs. He was fishing paste today and in his own words was using up all the bits and bobs of paste he’d accumulated in the freezer, and whatever they were the resident carp seemed happy enough to accept his offerings…

A few years back Paul (The owner) stocked 17 Barbel into the Lakes around the fishery, indeed I caught one back in 2004 when they were no more than 6 inches long, but they hardly ever show, and supposedly there are only 11 of them in Nick’s. Dave was having a rare old tussle with a fish and lo and behold what should it be, but one of those elusive Barbel ……

 After the photo, another cuppa was called for by way of celebration, while back at my peg some Carp had obviously moved into the margins, among them a little golden Ghostie that kept drifting in and out. These margin fish can be a bit finicky which is why I’d set up a paste rig for down the shelf later on, but I thought I’d see if I could get a couple from the margin. I banded up an 8mm pellet on the margin rig and first put in the float buried, the culprit needless to say was the little golden Ghostie……

 By now Dave was offering paste under the overhanging willow to his left and while he was catching steadily, you could hear the odd muttered curse when an apparent sail away bite was missed, but such are the joys of fishing paste……

 I was treated to another sail away bite, the culprit shooting off as soon as it felt the hook, and I have to say that I was more than a little surprised when the culprit popped up to be netted and revealed itself to be another Barbel ……

 As the afternoon wore on another brew up was called for, after which Dave and I took a stroll up to the Reservoir to see how it was fishing, leaving Terry happily fishing away down his margin……

 There were quite a few anglers there and it seemed that most were catching on a wide variety of methods. We cut down to take a quick look at Finches Pond before continuing round Nick’s. where yet again people were catching on a wide variety of methods and bait. Back at our pegs Terry was still happily plundering the margins, a Common being the latest to take a liking to his paste……

 Unfortunately a couple of mishaps then befell me, firstly my elastic snapped on one top kit, then a rig snapped. However I was soon back in action and catching steadily on paste at the bottom of the shelf using just a top two. Sport was steady for the rest of the session and I called it a day at around 5pm when I’d used the last of my paste. I’d finished up with 49 Carp, 1 Barbel and a fair few skimmers and Roach, Dave had a similar catch, but with one more Carp, but Terry had the best of it with 60+ Carp today.

Soon we were packed away, after what had proved to be a very pleasant and relaxed session, and farewells bid. However we’ll be seeing each other again on Saturday as we have a club match on a Private Lake in Sussex. Hopefully we’ll have a similar day then.

 

Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 21st, 2011.

Morefax AC club match.

Well I was awoken from my slumbers this morning when a car pulled up next to mine in the car park. Getting out of the car I found Kev strolling across the car park to enquire if I fancied a cup of coffee? Silly question really, and I soon had a steaming cuppa firing up the grey matter thanks to Jean. A few weeks ago Dave C had been asked by the Morefax club whether he could rustle up 10 members of Marsh AC to make up the numbers in their club match today, so a few members of The Jinx Squad were granted temporary membership to make up the numbers so they could fish today.

The Morefax lads had planned an early draw (8·30am) but with a few being delayed a 9·30am draw and fishing from 11am – 4pm was settled on. Soon those of us that had stopped over had packed away our overnight gear, bivvies etc and the discussions had started about where would be a favourable draw. The only thing most agreed on however was nobody wanted Pegs 19 or 20. These however would be in the draw as there were 24 of us fishing today. No Minx or Jinx Jnr today though as they were off to Reading to visit their Gran.

Anyway Draw time soon rolled round and Peg 22 on the car park bank was mine for the day, a shortish walk and a bit to close to those unwanted pegs and Ady had struggled for 30lbs from there yesterday. Dai and Terry had drawn the short straws of Pegs 19 and 20 respectively, while down to my left I had Malc on 24 and Mat on 26.

I was just looking for a nice relaxing day today so decided that the rigs from yesterday would be used once more today as I hadn’t stripped them off my top kits yesterday. The 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG allowed me to cover an area at around 5mtrs straight out in front, while the 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG allowed me to fish the edge of the bush to my left and the NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG was fine for the right hand margin. No change to the bait today either, just my usual 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various GOT Baits soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

At 11am John sounded the All-In and a pot of mixed pellet and corn was deposited on the 5mtr line along with a handful of pellets by the bush and down the margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to the 5mtr line. The float soon slid away but it turned out to be what is rapidly becoming my customary foul hooker, and of course as soon as Malc saw it shed the hook.

However it wasn’t to long before the float buried once more and this time the outcome was more satisfying as after a brief tussle a nice scale perfect common of around 8lbs slid over the net. Malc was romping away however with 4 carp in as many put ins, though of course just as he felt he had it sorted he suffered a run of foul hookers leaving him with little more than a collection of scales on his side tray and a rig in the trees behind him.

Jean had brought me a cup of coffee and the news that Kevin was struggling down on Peg 30. A couple of better Bream were next along for me in quick succession, and while I could see a few fish coming out around the Big Lake it didn’t seem as if anyone was bagging up. Indeed nowhere was that truer than Pegs 19 and 20 where Dai and Terry were definitely suffering for their sport……

However Dai did pull the rabbit out of the hat, finally connecting with a decent Carp, which despite giving him a bit of a run around finally found itself safely wrapped in Dai’s landing net. Malc was still getting the odd fish though and from the banter I could hear between him and Simps on Peg 28 so was Simps.

Around 2pm Dave C strolled round with news that Nick B on Peg 5 had landed a PB Carp of 19½lbs, and shortly after Kevin appeared with a freshly cooked Sausage and Bacon roll. With that taken care of it was back to the fishing, but my next two bites proved to be foul hookers that left me with nothing apart from scales on the hook. Next put in the float buried once more, I connected with what was obviously a decent fish which just plodded off as if it didn’t realise it was hooked. At first I feared it was another foul hooked fish, but soon realised it wasn’t. It was just a big fish that didn’t want to get it’s head up, every time I felt I was getting somewhere with it, it would just head off in another direction. After 6-7 minutes I had it in close but still hadn’t seen it when it headed of toward the bush to my left. I piled on as much pressure as I dared to stop it and it suddenly popped up right by my nets, a big Common. Luckily I managed to net it first time, but it wasn’t till I lifted it clear that I realised what a good fish it was.
On the scales it registered 19¼lbs, a pole caught PB for me, and fortunately Malc was on hand to do the honours with the camera……

 As I returned it Terry asked what it had weighed, and when I told him he said that he’d be happy with the ¼ at that point. Of course that was his cue for his float to dip and for him to find that the culprit was a small foul hooked Roach.

As the match wound down I managed another 4 carp and one more Bream before the All-Out was called at 4pm. I thought I had somewhere around 50lbs but wasn’t unduly bothered as the big Common had made my day, and I soon had my kit packed up and back in the car before the start of the Weigh-In.

Three of the Morefax guys kicked off the weigh in with a best of 60½lbs from Peg 34. Nick W put 75lbs on the scales at Peg 40 to take an early lead. Next came Simon W with 30¼lbs and Dave C with 58½lbs. Nick B had a good day with 116lbs to take the lead and start a row of Morefax weights, the best of which were Tony Moore on peg 13 with 49lbs and Gary Smithers on Peg 14 with 72¾lbs. Dai managed 22¾lbs, but poor Terry could only muster 2 Roach for 4ozs. My weight was 51¾lbs, but Malc put 91lbs on the scales. Mat had 36¼ but Simps cracked a ‘Ton’ with 100½lbs. Kev managed a tie with Terry on 4ozs and Dave M was last to weigh with 68½lbs.

Back to the hut and Dave C sorted the results. Winner on the day was Nick Bondeau, taking his first ever match win with his first ever ‘Ton’ and a PB Carp. Second on the day was Simps with the days only other ‘Ton’ while Malc finished the day with 3rd place. Thanks to the lads of Morefax AC for the invite today, so an enjoyable couple of days at Rolfs came to an end, not the best of weekends in terms of weights caught, but if it was easy it wouldn’t be such a challenge, still great fun all the same and a credit as always to John and Pauline.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 5	Nick Bondeau	Morefax AC	116lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 28	Simon Mound	Marsh AC	100lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 24	Malc Doyle	Marsh AC	91lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 40	Nick Williams	Marsh AC	75lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 14	Gary Smithers	Morefax AC	72lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 32	Dave Moore	Marsh AC	68lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 34	Hugh McCulloch	Morefax AC	60lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 4	Dave Collier	Marsh AC	58lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 22	Peter Morton	Marsh AC	51lbs 12ozs
10th	Peg 13	Tony Moore	Morefax AC	49lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 9	Brian Richardson	Morefax AC	38lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 26	Mat Edwards	Marsh AC	36lbs 04ozs
13th	Peg 10	Ken Sherrington	Morefax AC	31lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 2	Simon Watkins	Marsh AC	30lbs 04ozs
15th	Peg 7	Geoff Powell	Morefax AC	28lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 36	Scott Smith	Morefax AC	26lbs 00ozs
17th	Peg 19	Dai Thomas	Marsh AC	22lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 18	Steve Jenkins	Morefax AC	21lbs 04ozs
19th=	Peg 17	Andy Power	Morefax AC	10lbs 08ozs
19th=	Peg 38	Gary Bird	Morefax AC	10lbs 08ozs
21st	Peg 15	Ray Wager	Morefax AC	1lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg 8	Sean Moore	Morefax AC	12ozs
23rd=	Peg 20	Terry Goff	Marsh AC	4ozs
23rd=	Peg 30	Kevin Loveland	Marsh AC	4ozs

 

Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 20th, 2011.

Jinx Match 5

Well an earlyish start for me today as it’s the fifth Jinx Match in this years Series. I’m not having the best of Series myself this year, but as always it’s been a great set of matches to fish. However as an added bonus this weekend I’m stopping over and fishing as a guest on a club match on Sunday. Anyway a look through the curtains revealed a sunny start to the day, so having fed the cats and demolished a couple of cups of coffee, I soon had the car loaded up with my gear and a few extra bits (sleeping bag, pillows etc) and was on my way. It wouldn’t be a trip to Rolfs with out my customary stop in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy’s Griddle café and a ‘Full English’ soon had me set up for the day ahead before I climbed back into the car and headed for Rolfs.

I pulled into the car park just after 10am to find that it was already quite full. A number of the lads had arrived on Friday and had fished the night match which Simon has won with 136¾lbs from peg 16. Discussion as always focused on how it would fish today, and with it having fished relatively hard last night I wasn’t expecting it to produce any mega weights today.

11·30am and time for the draw. Webbo wasn’t fishing today and young Liam (Jinx Jnr) at just 8 years old would be fishing his first 5 hour match in his place, and it was agreed that Malc (The Jinx) would have the next peg to keep an eye on him. Well Liam drew Peg 31 meaning Malc had Peg 32, Steve drew Peg 13 but seemed more than happy with that, probably because he’d fished it on Wednesday in the open and had a ‘Ton’ off of it. My dip into the bag yielded Peg 10, a swift return to a peg where I’d had a mare on the Sunday of the MD’s Pairs Weekend. Take a look at the picture below to see where everyone ended up……

So with my kit collected I made my way round to my peg. I had Neil Riddy for company today tucked behind the bush on my right on Peg 9, and club-mate Tony to my left on Peg 11, while across from me I would have the perfect view as The Jinx and Jinx Jnr went head to head. The set up today wouldn’t be to dissimilar to the way I fished it the last time. Two 6mtrs lines (a tad further out than last time) at 10 and 2 o’clock to the platform taken care of by a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG. A 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used on top of the ledge tight to the bank on my left, while a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be used to fish by the bush to my right. The bait on the sidetray was 6, 8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various GOT Baits soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and paste.

 With a few minutes to kill prior to the off I had a quick stroll round to see how my Pairs partner Fred(Milo) was doing, and as usual he was his laid back self catching up with the news in the paper. However the finishing touch was The Pink Elephant proudly adorning his head as the latest victim of The Minx  ……

 So at 1pm the All-In was called and we were underway. A pot of mixed pellets and corn were shipped out onto both 6mtr lines and a handful of pellets to the bush and margin swims. An 8mm banded pellet followed out to the right hand 6mtr line. Not a lot happened straight away but Malc was into a fish almost straight away as was Steve. My first action saw the float bury, but the fish bolted off, the rig returning with a scale embedded on the hook, surely I wasn’t going another day like the other Sunday.

The wind was blowing down into the Little Lake today, but despite that I heard a YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!! from down on Peg 40, so that was The Minx up and running……

 Forty five minutes in and my float slid away, obviously another carp, but it felt right and after a short but spirited scrap it was safely in the net, I weighed it to be on the safe side, but at just 8½lbs I needn’t have bothered. Liam had seemed to get off to a cracking start with Richard, one of the Rolf’s regulars keeping an eye on him.

Tony had got of the mark with a couple of fish and then lifted into another only to have improbable lengths of elastic stripped from his top kit, obviously a foul hooker but slow steady pressure saw Tony sliding the net under it after a few anxious minutes, a big 15lbs+ fish and he repeated this next put in with another weigher that went about 10lbs.

My next fish wasn’t quite of the same stamp, a Bream of around 3½lbs but welcome none the less, which was soon followed by a roach. Liam however was having a rare old tussle over on Peg 31. He played it really patiently though and with it safely in the net it was obvious that it was something special. Onto the scales with it and it weighed an even 20lbs!!!!!!!! A PB for Liam and thankfully caught on camera ……

 Jean had arrived with a welcome cup of coffee, and while I took a few moments for a much needed caffeine hit I could see that Neil was having a bit of a mare with foul hookers and lost fish, and Steve was suffering too ……

 Rumour had it that Simon, fresh from his win in the night match was really struggling to avoid a Minxing from his better half as well. As the match wore on I was falling further back, I did manage another couple of Carp and another couple of Bream, but Tony was steadily pulling away, as were Liam and Malc, but a glance up toward Pegs 19 and 20 revealed that I was probably having a better day than Jon and Dave on what have become 2 pegs that nobody wants to draw in this Jinx Series .

 Malc as per usual was doing his best to provide a bit of entertainment, one fish storming off into the distance before diving under the platform on Peg 33 before snapping him up ……

The next one did the best job however diving under his platform and making drop his landing net into the lake before Malc was on his knees and threading his top kit under the platform and retrieving his landing net in the process ……

 …… Somehow though through all this Malc somehow managed to stay connected with the fish and finally got it into the net.

With around an hour to go Paul had taken over from Richard keeping an eye on Liam who was steadily putting a good bag together …….

 ……. but it was Neil on Peg 9 who seemed to have finally sorted things out and was steadily putting a string of weigher’s together in a late run. I did manage to add another 2 Carp to my tally in the last hour, but it was to little to late as the All-Out was called at 6pm.

As I was stopping over it didn’t take to long for me to get packed away and get my kit back to the car park and as I walked round it was obvious that C section in particular had fished hard today. Soon the Weigh-In was under way with Clive on Peg 34 kicking off with 110¾lbs, which would prove to be enough for the section and 2nd overall today. Dave had 78¾lbs while Gem set The Minx Mark at a level 65lbs. Nick W had 51¼lbs to be her first victim but Budgie scraped though after matching her 65lbs. Paul followed with 70¼lbs and Geoff had 102lbs 10ozs for his first ever Jinx Ton and 3rd overall. Kev could only muster 20¼lbs though. Neil had indeed sorted it out weighing 113½lbs for the section and the win on the day. My 57¾lbs ensured another Minxing for me while Tony had 102¼lbs for 2nd in section. Steve weighed 51½lbs while Simon’s 24lbs ensured Gem took the bragging rights today. Terry had 38¼lbs while Fred with 62½lbs and Mitch with 44¾lbs took 1st and 2nd in section. Jon weighed 21½lbs and Dave M 32¼lbs  Ady had a level 30lbs, Mat 21¼lbs but Dai had suffered a real mare on Peg 25 with just 7¼lbs to show for his efforts. Simon W had 48lbs and Pete T a fine 95lbs and Nick W-P 30¼lbs. Which brought us to young Liam who weighed in a magnificent 100lbs in his first ever match beating 21 of us on the day. Finally Malc weighed 84½lbs and was delighted to be beaten by his son off the next peg.

So back to the hut where Malc sorted the results and monies. With todays results Clive has won The Jinx Series for a second year in a row, this time with a match to go. Well Done Fella. The Star of the day however was young Liam (Jinx Jnr), and there’s no doubt that he’ll take plenty more scalps in the years ahead.

So with the days events over some departed, while some of us stopped on to fish tomorrow. Dave Moore and I grabbed a Chinese takeaway, and spent the rest of the evening chatting by the hut to Kayley, Matt and Malc and I have to say it made for an educational and hilarious evening before I climbed into the car around 11·30pm for a few hour kip ahead of tomorrow.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 9	Neil Riddy		113lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 34	Clive Pritchard		110lbs 12ozs
3rd	Peg 7	Geoff Palmer		102lbs 10ozs
4th	Peg 11	Tony Roberts		102lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 31	Liam(Jinx Jnr)Doyle	Guest	100lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 28	Pete Tapp	Guest	95lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 32	Malc(The Jinx)Doyle		84lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 38	Dave Collier		78lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 5	Paul Roberts		70lbs 04ozs
10th=	Peg 4	Marcus Burgess		65lbs 00ozs
10th=	Peg 40	Gem(The Minx)Doyle		65lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 17	Fred Parker		62lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 10	Peter Morton		57lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 13	Steve Wilson		51lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 2	Nick Williams		51lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 26	Simon Watkins	Guest	48lbs 00ozs
17nd	Peg 18	Mitch Auger		44lbs 12ozs
18rd	Peg 15	Terry Goff		38lbs 12ozs
19th	Peg 20	Dave Moore		32lbs 04ozs
20th	Peg 29	Nick Watkins-Price		30lbs 04ozs
21st	Peg 22	Ady Williams		30lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg 14	Simon Mound		24lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 19	Jon Hatch		21lbs 08ozs
24th	Peg23	Mat Edwards		21lbs 04ozs
25th	Peg 8	Kevin Loveland		20lbs 04ozs
26th	Peg 25	Dai Thomas		7lbs 04ozs

Names in Pink are those that were “MINXED”

Section A
Position	Peg	Angler		Weight	Points
1st	Peg 34	Clive Pritchard		110lbs 12ozs	1
2nd	Peg 7	Geoff Palmer		102lbs 10ozs	2
3rd	Peg 38	Dave Collier		78lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 5	Paul Roberts		70lbs 04ozs	4
5th=	Peg 4	Marcus Burgess		65lbs 00ozs	5
5th=	Peg 40	Gem(The Minx)Doyle		65lbs 00ozs	5
7th	Peg 2	Nick Williams		51lbs 04ozs	7
8th	Peg 8	Kevin Loveland		20lbs 04ozs	8
Section B
Position	Peg	Angler		Weight	Points
1st	Peg 9	Neil Riddy		113lbs 08ozs	1
2nd	Peg 11	Tony Roberts		102lbs 04ozs	2
3rd	Peg 31	Liam(Jinx Jnr)Doyle	Guest	100lbs 00ozs	0
4th	Peg 28	Pete Tapp	Guest	95lbs 00ozs	0
5th	Peg 32	Malc(The Jinx)Doyle		84lbs 08ozs	3
6th	Peg 10	Peter Morton		57lbs 12ozs	4
7th	Peg 13	Steve Wilson		51lbs 08ozs	5
8th	Peg 26	Simon Watkins	Guest	48lbs 00ozs	0
9th	Peg 29	Nick Watkins-Price		30lbs 04ozs	6
Section C
Position	Peg	Angler		Weight	Points
1st	Peg 17	Fred Parker		62lbs 08ozs	1
2nd	Peg 18	Mitch Auger		44lbs 12ozs	2
3rd	Peg 15	Terry Goff		38lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 20	Dave Moore		32lbs 04ozs	4
5st	Peg 22	Ady Williams		30lbs 00ozs	5
6th	Peg 14	Simon Mound		24lbs 00ozs	6
7th	Peg 19	Jon Hatch		21lbs 08ozs	7
8th	Peg 23	Mat Edwards		21lbs 04ozs	8
9th	Peg 25	Dai Thomas		7lbs 04ozs	9