Gold Valley Lakes. June 19th, 2004.

J Sainsbury’s National Angling Championships 2004.

Down to Gold Valley today for the annual J Sainsbury National Angling Championships.
This is a match that has been pretty good to me, over the last 6 years I’ve had 4 top 5 finishes.
The match is open to all Sainsbury’s employees and members of their staff association. I qualify as Maria (Mrs M) works for them and I’m a paid up member of their staff assocciation.

Normally this is a 110 peg match, but this year only 80 entries had been recieved so the match was pegged on Syndicate, Middle and Bungalow Lakes. The weather forcast for the day promised sunshine and showers, but on the drive down there was nothing but blue skies and bright sunshine although the wind was quite cold and blustery.

I arrived at 7am in plenty of time for breakfast in the clubhouse that is laid on as part of the day, and after that it was time to get the nets dipped and collect my bait from the onsite tackle shop before returning for the draw.
The Clubhouse.

Into the pot and peg 114 on Syndicate was my alloted spot for the day. I was quite chuffed with the draw as pegs 110 – 114 have a gravel bar to fish to that is about 25ft short of the ropes that run down the middle of the lake to stop anglers casting past ½ way, and once the weather warms up the carp normally move onto this bar.
Peg 114.

With an 11am start there was plenty of time to set up, so the feeder was set up to fish to the bar, set up on a snap swivel so that I could easily swop feeder size, or from a cage to a maggot feeder if needed. The pole lines were simplicity themselves as the bottom was perfectly flat and level from 3mtrs out all the way to 14mtrs with a depth of around 6ft. 3 rigs were set up, 1 at depth, 1 at a foot deep and a third that I could adjust to fish between the two. 1 other rig was set up for the margins that still had 3½ft of water, and would hopefully produce some lumps in the later part of the match.

All the while I was setting up I hadn’t seen a single fish move which is unusual on Syndicate, and with 45 minutes to the off I went for a walk around. Reaching the end pegs 99 -102 it was soon obvious where the fish were!!! sheltered and calm these pegs were alive with fish and those anglers in them all had large grins on their faces.

11am and the all in, and with a large cage feeder 20 casts were made to the bar to put a bed of groundbait down on it. Then out on the pole with a couple of balls of groundbait with pellet, corn and grated meat at 5mtrs and 12mtrs to see if there were any silvers about.
The lad to my left started on the waggler and the one to my right was on the feeder. A slow start all round and after the 1st hour I just had 6 Roach, then the lad to my right had a Carp on the feeder which he lost at the net. Out onto the bar with the feeder and a piece of hair rigged meat. The lad to my right had another Carp which looked close to double figures as he netted it which was followed by another next cast. Despite swapping between meat, maggot and corn all I was getting was the odd minute tap in the next 2 hours which resulted in another couple of Roach.

2 hours to go and the tip pulled firmly round and kept going, something had picked up the piece of meat and after a spirited fight, there in the net was a nice double figure Common Carp. “Here we go” I thought, WRONG!!!! Not another bite for the rest of the match! Just before the end the lad to my left had a large Mirror on the waggler, a good double, but placing it into his keepnet it flipped back into the lake. The language to say the least was industrial!!!!!!

The end of the match came, and I knew that I’d come nowhere even in my section, so I tipped back about 5lbs of silvers when the scales arrived. Talking to the scalesmen it appears that this year for some reason not a single decent weight had come from this swim this year which even they can’t understand (Now they tell me!) I got them to weigh the Common as they were there and it went 11lbs 2ozs, so I probably had about 16lbs in total.

The Winner? he had 102lbs from end peg 101 and reckoned that he had lost as much again.
To the Winner the spoils.

Back to the clubhouse for the presentations, with a buffet and bar laid on it soon became apparent that the complex as a whole hadn’t fished up to expectations. Having said that if it was easy we would probably get bored. I’ll just have to try harder next year.

Gold Valley Lakes. Bungalow Lake. June 21st, 2003.

J Sainsbury’s National Angling Championships 2003.

Today I  was making my way down to Gold Valley to fish the Sainsbury’s National Championship. I qualify to fish this match as my wife, Maria works for them as an Admin Manager, and I belong to their Staff Association.

I arrived at 7am and the car park was already filling up, so it was straight into the clubhouse for Brekkie and a chat over the prospects for the day. With 110 fishing spread over 4 lakes a good draw would be all important. The lakes in use today were Syndicate, Middle, Bat & Bungalow,and everyone was in agreement that you wanted to draw Syndicate or Middle to be in with a chance of some coin.

8.30am and time for the draw, and with my usual dexterity I managed to come away with peg 149 on Bungalow.
With the match being fished from 10.30am – 3.30pm I made my way round and started setting up. It looked a lovely peg with an island a gentle lob of the feeder away so I decided to make the most of it, come what may.

Peg 149 Bungalow Lake…….

As I was getting set up John Raison (the owner) walked round so I decided to pick his brains.
“Don’t waste time on the island, 10 mins at the most, if there’s no indication come inside and concentrate on the silvers.”It turned out that there was a separate match within the match for the best silverfish bag and with most people sure to target the Carp for which Gold Valley is so well known, there might be a chance of salvaging something from my draw and getting some coin after all.
So all set up and waiting for the off I phoned Trogg to congratulate him on finally getting his firdt Barbel, and then Dave to wish the lads who were fishing an Intersite Match at Stockton reservoir Good Luck.

10.30am, the All-In is sounded and we’re off, straight over to the island with a groundbait feeder containing 50/50 Sensas Gold & crushed hemp mixed as dry as I could get away with so that it would explode out of the feeder, and a piece of hair rigged meat on a 16. 10 mins later and nothing, so into silver mode feeding a walnut of the same groundbait and a few loose maggots at 4 mtrs and I’m straight into small roach skimmers and perch, nothing more than an ounce, but at least I’m getting something.

On the hour back over with the feeder, and after 10mins and nothing back to the silvers, and that was the way it was for 3½ hrs until the silvers vanished.
Over again with the feeder, a couple of knocks and round went the tip and Carp no1 is slipped into the net and in the remaining time 7 others joined it, the last hooked on the final whistle.
Round came the scales and with 11lbs of silvers and those carp I get a weight of 40lbs 11ozs, which is enough at least for me to have won my section.

Having packed up I made my way back to the clubhouse for the results to be calculated and the presentations to be made. While the results were sorted everyone tucked into a very welcome buffet that had been laid on for the competitors.
Presentation time, and 1st ,2nd & 3rd receive their cut glass trophies from John Raison…………

3rd, 1st & 2nd.

4th?………….. It’s Me, and low and behold I’ve also managed 2nd place in the Silvers match. So 2 trophies and 2 envelopes for me.

The Spoils…………

A lovely surprise and a great end to the day, Back to reality tomorrow though with a 20 peg club match on the Old Estate Lake at Old Bury Hill.

Gold Valley Lakes. Syndicate Lake. July 20th, 2002.

Gary Hamilton’s Kid’s Fishing Day.

For the 2nd year running I had the privilege of travelling down to Ash to help out at a kids fishing match at Gold Valley. This is organised by Gary Hamilton who is the Team Captain of Fox Match Banstead. It’s a fun day out, more than a serious match with the emphasis being on making sure that the kids have a good time and catch a few fish, the proceeds of which are donated to a charity of the owner, John Raison’s choice.

Arriving nice and early it was straight into the clubhouse for a full English breakfast to set us up for the day, then into the tackle shop to collect the bait.
Then it was back into the clubhouse for “The Draw”.
Now at this point we had all forgotten to allow for the enthusiasm of a group of youngsters, and by the time everyone had drawn and Gary got up to announce the rules etc, he was speaking to an empty clubhouse as the cavalry charged off to Syndicate Lake.

Syndicate Lake…..

At least we had plenty of time to set up, as the all in was at 10·15am.
Fishing with me was young Patrick Corneille 6½, and the idea was to keep it simple, just a feeder rod and a 6 mtr pole.
It was a gorgeous day, real t-shirt and shorts stuff and to start off it was straight out on the feeder to try and get an early Carp.

“Come on tip,go round”

Well !!!!!!! The best laid plans and all that . This turned out to be the day that the fish didn’t want to play, but we soldiered on, and after about an hour the tip sailed round resulting in not the expected Carp, but a Bream of about 1lb. Still we were off the mark and it was soon followed by it’s twin brother! At least we were catching, some others were not so fortunate.
15 minutes till the lunchtime break and BINGO!!! Mr Carp decides to try and take Patrick for a swim, but after a dogged tug-o-war Patrick wins with a nice 5½lb common nestling in the net. 

Next came the civilised part, all back to the clubhouse for a spot of lunch & a cold beer before the start of the 3-7 shift.

Patrick wanted to try the pole in the afternoon, first put in on the 6 mtr line and CRASH-BANG-WALLOP, Patrick was briefly connected to a real lump until the hookhold gave way.
Try as we might for another, the only fish to oblige for the rest of the session were a few hungry Roach & Perch.
Then with a ½hr to go the heavens suddenly decided to open and soak everyone, but it couldn’t dampen the kids enthusiasm come the weigh-in.

“What does it weigh?”

Young Talen couldn’t lift his net,so enlisted some help..

and he got his Dad and Gary to help show off his biggest Carp

So with the weigh-in completed, it was back to the car park for the results and Presentations.

1st	Talen Hamilton	38lbs06ozs
2nd	Rachel O’Leary	23lbs 08ozs
3rd	Joe O’Leary	21lbs 08ozs
4th	Charlie Shephard	21lbs 05ozs
5th	Robbie Clampitt	15lbs 10ozs
6th	Cameron	15lbs 08ozs
7th	Mike O’Leary	12lbs 15ozs
8th	Roxanne Finch	11lbs 12ozs
9th	Patrick Corneille	11lbs 08ozs
10th	Kenso (Belgium)	11lbs 02ozs
11th	Abbey Tingley	11lbs 00ozs
12th	Cloe Tingley	5lbs 08ozs

All the children received a reel & goody bag of tackle, with the 1st & 2nd getting landing nets and bait waiters to go with everything else. But the biggest prize of all were the smiles on everyone's faces at the end of the day.

Thanks again to Gary Hamilton for organising the whole thing, and rest assured I’ll be there to do it all again next year if needed.

Gold Valley. Syndicate Lake. May 12th, 2002

Hawthorne AC club match.

It was off to Gold Valley to fish Syndicate Lake for todays club match. The complex consists of 5 lakes (old gravel workings) 3 of which are used for matches on a regular basis.
In summer weights of over 100lbs are a common occurrence, but this early in the year they are something of a rarity.
Arriving early, breakfast in the clubhouse (£4 for a  full english ) was the order of the day, before dipping into the drawbag to find Peg 109 sticking to my hand.

  Syndicate Lake…..

Now Syndicate Lake holds a good head of Tench, Bream, Crucians, Perch & Roach, but it is the Carp that are the main target once the weather starts to warm up. The Carp in here can be real creatures so 8lb reel lines and 6lb hook lengths are called for on the advice of Will Raison (The Co-Owner & England International).
Two rods were set up, 1 groundbait feeder and 1 waggler. The groundbait was 2 bags of Sensas Gold and 1 of crushed hemp mixed on the dry side so as to explode out of the mesh feeder that was finished off with a Drennan Carbon Carp hook in a size 14 fished with 3/4 red maggots.
The waggler was a 3aaa crystal fished about 3inches over depth in about 5 feet of water at 2 rodlengths. In this swim I laid down a large bed of hemp (about 3 pints) to try and stop anything in it’s tracks that happened upon it.

Starting off on the feeder, it was quite slow with only a skimmer of 1½lbs to show for the first hour, but a number of liners encouraged me to stay with it. The next proper bite nearly ripped the rod from my hand, and after 10 mins a lovely Common,well into double figures was heading for the net, BUT a last minute dive saw it dive towards my keepnet and neatly transfer the hook to said net. Back out with the feeder and soon 3 of its smaller brothers were safely IN the net. No more bites followed so with a couple of hours to go it was waggler time.
First cast and after 10secs the float buried, and the culprit a 5lb Mirror was joining it’s pals in the net, and in the next two hours I added another 7 to the total before the whistle went.
At the scales I weighed in 11 Carp and 1 skimmer for a total weight of 53lbs 4ozs, good enough for third on the day, and 8 more points toward the club championship and I also qualified for the next round of the club Knockout trophy, so quite a satisfying day all round.