Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2. June 21st, 2014.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it was back on the bankside for me today for my first match for 11 months. It's no secret that I'd lost my mojo when it comes to fishing recently, my only outing last year being 3 days at Rolf's Lake for Dave Collier's Friday Invitation Match and The Maggotdrowning.com Pairs weekend. However a couple of weeks ago Al invited me to guest on this match at Monk Lakes and I decided to take him up on his kind offer.

 What is it that they say? Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance, well my preparation consisted of a quick message to Mick McMillan on FaceBook to find out the score on the venue as it was 2 years since I'd last fished there and renewing my rod license on line at 10 pm the previous night Tackle prep amounted to removing two top kits from my rod bag that I'd broken at Rolf's last year, Hardly ideal to say the least. There must have been some unconscious anticipation however as I woke up before my alarm clock went off on Saturday. Sunshine and the promise of a warm day ahead greeted me as I took a peek through the curtains. A cup of coffee kick started the old grey matter and meant that I was ready and waiting downstairs at 6·15 when Al arrived to pick me up.

With my kit loaded up the first port of call was The Oakdene Café where I treated Al to breakfast and we were joined by Simon and Gino. Keith Powell was going to join us but a phone call confirmed that he was feeling a bit delicate this morning, so he was now going to meet us at the draw. So with breakfast taken care of it was off to Monks, though a road closure and subsequent diversion meant that it was just after 8·30 when we arrived at the lakes.




I have to say that it was nice to receive such a hearty welcome back after my absence of 21 months since I last fished with the club and the subsequent banter soon had me feeling like I'd never been away. Anyway with money paid to Tony in Dave's absence (a victim of "ManFlu" on his return from a recent cruise) it was time to dip into the draw bag. Peg 67 was my destination today, an end peg at the far end of the spit. I couldn't complain at that. Tony (as Dave C's stand in) certainly had some of his luck as peg 45 (the Barbel flyer) was the last peg left in the bag for him.So off to the lake with our kit and over the bridge to the spit and I found Keith on peg 77.....



.......and Clive on peg 56.......

both very good pegs capable of throwing up a winning bag on the day. A few of the lads on the left hand bank had to move up one peg as Gino who had draw peg 66 found it unfishable as the platform had collapsed meaning he ended up fishing peg 65.

Settling into my peg I set about sorting my kit out. 3 top kits were found that had what appeared to be suitable elastics and among the collection of rigs that hadn't seen the light of day for far to long were some Nick Gilbert handmade Power Pencils in 0·5g and 0·4g sizes that were made up on hat looked like 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s,These were set up for a 5mtr line out in front where I had about 3 feet of water and a line 6mtrs down to my left where it was just a bit shallower. Bait was simply 6mm hard pellet for feed and hookbait and some 8mm's and GOT Baits soft hookers as a change bait.

Everyone appeared to get set up quickly and word filtered down that we would be starting 15 minutes early, so the All-In was called at 10·15. A handful of pellets were fed onto both lines. A banded 6mm was shipped straight out to my 5mtr line. After lifting and dropping the rig a couple of times the float slid away and a small Skimmer was on it's way to the landing net. The next fish ripped the elastic out at an alarming rate. obviously one of the resident Barbel that fight far harder pound for pound than Carp. I was also getting trouble with foul hookers and despite varying the depth and playing around with the shotting patterns couldn't really find an answer to it.

Unfortunately the sun and ripple on the water combined to make it really tiring on my eyes and as I couldn't find my sunglasses meaning I was missing a few bites probably from F1's and after about an hour with around 10 lbs in the nets I swapped over to my left hand line.

 Troy to my right on peg 69 had a similar slow start to me, also suffering with a few foul hookers but had managed to pick up a couple of Carp. Al was on the opposite side of the spit on peg 63 and had started on the 5mtr line but hadn't been able to resist the lure of the open water in front of him and was soon fishing his favorite method ...... 13mtrs shallow and was starting to steadily take fish. Pete Thompson was targeting the silvers on peg 61 while Keith Powell was trying to tempt a few lumps from the bush to the left on peg 59. Gino was having a bit of a mare however having lost his first decent fish when it wrapped itself round the platform leg before he got a chance to land it.

Word had it that Keith was catching a few from 77 and that Tony and Simon were going well on 45 and 47. Poor Chris on peg 55 had one of those moments all anglers dread when a fish ripped into his bait so hard that it pulled his pole out of his hand and he could only watch helplessly as the fish towed it out into the lake. Thankfully it didn't sink and the breeze finally blew it back to the margins were he could retrieve it. My left hand swim started to produce almost straight away, not quick but steadily with a mixture of Carp, F1's, Barbel along with the odd Tench and Skimmer. However I was still suffering with the odd foul hooker and these led to a few trashed rigs. These cost me in the end and it was probably due to their age having sat in my box on winders for so long (remember what I said about preparation) I really should have tied some fresh rigs prior to the match as I wasted far to much time today tying fresh ones during the match, which resulted in me not feeding and having to work to get the fish back each time.

 Troy was convinced that I was sacking up, but he obviously wasn't aware that I wasn't landing any of the foul hookers, just seeing the elastic being pulled out and not the collection of scales on my sidetray. Al kept going on about the lumps that Keith P was getting from the bush, but he was catching steadily and would be hard to beat unless one of the flyers produced. I kept plugging away and towards the end had a Golden Tench which made my day as I think they're one of the nicest fish that we catch ......

4·15 and Kevin called the All-Out. I felt that I had around 70lbs in the nets, not enough to win, but given that I hadn't fished a match for nearly a year and my level of preparation (NONE) I'd done OK and enjoyed myself. I packed the kit away and realised I had time to take it back to the van before the Weigh-in. As I got to Keith's peg I noticed he had three nets in so he'd obviously had a good day, although he wasn't admitting to it, being his typical cagey self but we would see what the scales said.



With my kit back at the van I caught up with the weigh-in Chris had tied up his section with 65lbs from peg55 and it would be interesting to see what Tony had managed off peg 45, 70lbs 04ozs was the answer leaving him a little frustrated as after a good start he'd lost the fish for periods during the rest of the match.

 Round to the spit where Clive was first to weigh with 63lbs 08ozs. Now Keith P and Al are a little competitive and had been ribbing each other all match so there was a good bit of it going on as Keith put his fish on the scales, 97lbs 08ozs was the final call, just short of a "TON"....

..... but a great result as like me Keith P hadn't fished for nearly a year, Al however took the bragging rights as his fish came to 115lbs 08ozs allowing him to take the section and the lead so far. My fish weighed in at 90lbs 04ozs which I was more than happy with. Nobody threatened Al till we finally got to Keith waiting patiently. Needless to say he'd had a very good day especially as he'd never fished this lake before and 167lbs 08ozs gave him his section and a comfortable win on the day.

 Back to the car park for a drink from the snack wagon and Tony announced the results and handed out the section money, I'd finished 4th overall on the day and was more than happy with that. Farewells were said and we all departed for our various destinations.

  I'd like to say Thank You to Al for the invite today and providing the transport, much appreciated, and a big Thank You to the Marsh AC members for making me so welcome on my return. I don't think it will be 11 months till the next time,

	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 77	Keith Ashby	167lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 63	Al Loader	115lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 59	Keith Powell	97lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 67	Peter Morton	90lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 45	Tony Roberts	70lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 55	Chris Withall	65lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 56	Clive Pritchard	63lbs 08ozs
8th=	Peg 57	Tony Watkins	51lbs 00ozs
8th=	Peg 69	Troy Hillier	51lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 75	Terry Goff	49lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 61	Pete Thompson	47lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 47	Simon Watkins	42lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 65	Gino Exell	31lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 49	Jim Boase	30lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 51	Rod Turner	15lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 53	Kevin Loveland	15lbs 00ozs