Hawkhurst Fishery. The Match Lake. April 14th, 2012.

Al’s Match.

Marsh AC club mate and fellow Maggotdrowner Al Loader had booked the Match Lake at Hawkhurst for a knock up today and with a good few booked on for it everyone was hopeful of a good days sport. Unfortunately the view from the bedroom window was a bit bleak when I looked out, dull grey and overcast with rain falling, but with the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee to fortify me I soon had my waterproofs on and the car loaded up and headed for Hawkhurst. Thankfully the rain soon stopped, but with the temperature showing just 6°C and some fog outside Tonbridge it looked like a none to glorious spring day ahead.

I pulled into the car park just before 8am to find most already assembled and the last couple followed me in. A cool North easterly wind was noticeable as Keith collected the match fees for Al, before we headed to the fishery Restaurant for breakfast before the draw. The breakfast served at Hawkhurst is one of the best (2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, mushrooms, beans/tomatoes, fried slice + toast and tea or coffee) which sets you up nicely for the day ahead, and as we chatted over this, Mick the Chippy was adamant that the Golden Nugget would be returning to him today.

With breakfast taken care of it was back to the car park for the draw. With 16 anglers present all 20 pegs were in and when my turn came peg 3 was mine for the day. Collecting my kit I chatted to Mick McMillan who was happy to have drawn peg 5, though he wasn’t quite so happy when he found out that I’d drawn peg 6 for Al.
A short walk to my peg revealed Tony on peg 1 while Brodie was on peg 2 and Dave Hough to my right on peg 4. Happiest angler on the day should have been Derek Lockwood on the other bank as he had one empty peg to his right and three to his left. You can see where everyone else drew on the peg plan below ……..

My set up for Hawkhurst was pretty simple. 3 top kits loaded with black hydro and the first 2 rigs were identical, made up of a 0·3 NG XT Power Pencil Mk 2 on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for a 5mtr line (top 2 + 2 sections) on the deck where I had around 4ft of water, while the third was a 0.2 NG Edger again on 0·14 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for a margin line against the boards. Bait for the day was going to be hard 6mm fishery pellet along with some 6mm GOT Rippers .

With the match being fished from 10·15am till 4·15pm I had a bit of time before the start to have a stroll round and have a chat prior to the All-In so I strolled along the top of the banking behind the pegs to get a better view. Mick McMillan and Al were settled into pegs 5 and 6, a couple of the favoured pegs and would be hard to beat today as they’re both more than capable of doing a big weight……

On peg 7 Mick was hoping that the power of Beechams powders would hold his cold at bay in his quest to gain back his Golden Nugget and Clive obviously had a cunning plan that was focused on the contents of a tin……

I had a quick chat with Keith who wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on Mick today, while Terry was having a chat with Paul on peg 10, picking his brains as Paul has a very good record fishing here ……

John seemed happy enough on peg 12, as he had Dave for company today on peg 11 and the 3 empty pegs to his right……

Derek was in splendid isolation on peg 16, Rod was going with the waggler from peg 19 and Mick Wright was tucked into the corner on peg 20 and hoping to get the bragging rights for the trip home to Milton Keynes with travelling companion Keith today, while over in the opposite corner Tony seemed lost in contemplation of the day ahead ……

10·15am and the whistle was blown signalling the start of the match. Before I could even pot in a cup of pellet Mick was netting his first fish of the day!!!!!! and was netting a second before I shipped out a rig with a 6mm banded pellet on the hook. The hoped for instant bite didn’t materialise for me and others were already into fish before a bit of lift and dropping of the rig was rewarded with the float jagging under. A quick lift resulted in a pleasing resistance and a small common of around 1lb was soon in the net to get me off the mark. That set the tone for me, a pinch of pellet every put in and keep working the rig produced the bites and kept the small carp coming and I ended the first hour with 14 fish in the nets. That north east wind was really chilling despite the sunshine, but kept a decent ripple on the swim.

In the second hour the wind dropped a couple of times but it was noticeable that without the ripple the bites dried up, only returning with the wind. This was especially noticeable as Terry opposite me had the wind off his back leaving his peg a lot calmer, which resulted in him really struggling for a bite ……

Despite the lulls in sport when the wind dropped I managed to maintain my catch rate and at the end of the second hour I’d added another 17 fish to the nets, and felt that I was holding my own with Tony and Brodie, though Dave to my right seemed to be catching at a slightly faster rate ……

Steady away was the story of the third hour for me though Brodie felt that he needed to try a different approach to maintain his catch rate and switched to fishing shallow in an effort to keep them coming ……

Derek over on peg 16 was getting his head down, catching regularly and was obviously profiting from having those empty pegs around him ……

…… as well as being able to keep an eye on Mick and Al who, according to the grapevine were neck and neck and both catching well, though Al did have to take a break to go and get some more pellet as he had run out.

Strangely though I hadn’t seen Dave having his customary stroll during the match and looking up toward his peg I could see him hunched over and concentrating on his right hand margin, so he was obviously catching well ……

into the 4th hour I had 50 fish on my clicker when a bit of a disaster struck. As I netted another carp which thrashed around and broke the line on the rig, and despite going straight back out with a second identical rig I couldn’t buy a bite, no apparent reason for it, but I decided to take a couple of minutes to retie the original rig and once I’d done that had a bite first put in with it.

Mick was still plundering his right hand margin over on peg 20, but the fish that he was getting seemed to be quite small ……

However it was soon apparent that all was not well as sport seemed to slow down for most around the lake, The margins beside the boards were devoid of fish for me and I couldn’t get a bite when I tried there, indeed in that 5th hour I only managed to put 8 fish in the net.

The final hour was no better for me either, and in all honesty I was quite relieved when the whistle sounded the All-Out leaving me with 65 fish to weigh-in.

I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car and chatting to others they had all seemed to suffer a poor last couple of hours.

First to weigh-in was Paul on peg 10 putting 97¾lbs on the scales. Keith and Clive had 66½lbs and 71½ respectively while Mick the chippy’s cold had finally caught up with him as he weighed 31½lbs. Al placed a fine 139lbs on the scales but it would only be good enough for second today as Mick McMillan topped that with 148½lbs to take the win on the day. next up Dave Hough’s 123½lbs would give him 3rd. I weighed 105lbs, Brodie 87½lbs and Tony 81lbs. Round to the opposite bank and Mick secured the bragging rights over Keith with a level 98lbs. Rod recorded 23lbs and Terry 34½lbs. Derek recorded a fine 114½lbs to finish just out of the frame. John put 91½lbs on the scales and Dave was last to weigh with a decent 104½lbs.

So Thanks to Al for organising the day, just over 1400lbs of fish put on the scales averaging over 80lbs per man can’t be a bad days fishing on a cold spring day, and Thanks to Mick the Chippy for another Golden Nugget.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 5	Mick McMillan	148lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 6	Al Loader	139lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 4	Dave Hough	123lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 16	Derek Lockwood	114lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 3	Peter Morton	105lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 11	Dave Collier	104lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 20	Mick Wright	98lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 10	Paul East	97lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 12	John Holdsworth	91lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 2	Brodie Vowles	87lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 1	Tony Roberts	81lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 8	Clive Pritchard	71lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 9	Keith Ashby	66lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 18	Terry Goff	34lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 7	Mick Pearson	31lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 19	Rod Turner	23lbs 00ozs

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

Hawkhurst Fishery. The Match Lake. April 10th, 2009.

“Easter Friday Hawkhurst Fish Farm. I’ve just been up there and the bailiff tells me it’s free on this day, with everyone being off anyone fancy a knock up?” That’s the post that Paul(paulvis69)Slater put up on the Maggotdrowning forum which has led to 19 of us travelling down to Kent today.

Loading up the car it appeared to be pleasantly mild, which considering the previous weeks weather forecasts was a bonus as they had been promising rain. A smooth trip down saw me pulling into the fishery just after 8am to find almost everyone already there and eager for the draw.(Unfortunately Kevin had been called into work at 4am forcing him to miss it) With the on-site café not due to open till 9·15am Paul soon had the draw underway so that we could get set up and then have breakfast before the start of the match at 10·30am.
Dipping my hand into the bag peg 1 was my reward. Some regard it as a flyer as it’s an end peg in a corner, but I’m not so sure as everyone seems to congregate round it during and prior to the draw which must disturb the fish there and in all the matches I’ve fished there it’s never framed yet alone produced the winner.

Settling in I had Vince for company on peg 2, so the battle for our customary £1 coin was going to be up close and personal today, while opposite on peg 20 was Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff coming out of hibernation for his 1st outing of the year. Vince must have thought that I wasn’t all that confident because he took the following picture thinking that I was praying to the fishing gods, however he had only caught me pumping some expander pellets……

My set up was pretty simple today, just 3 top kits, 2 rigged with 4X12 Malman Champers on 0·16 to 0·14 bottoms with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hooks, one for 4mtrs straight out in front where I had around 4ft of water and the other for up against the boards to my left where there was around 2½ft, while the third was a Malman MTD2 dibber on 0·16 direct to a size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook for the margins where I had around 18″ and would also double up as an up in the water rig. Bait for the day was simply 6 & 8mm fishery pellet (Skrettings) that would be banded and some 6mm GOT expanders as a change bait, with feed taken care of by more 6mm fishery pellet.

With the kit all set up most of us made for the café and a Full English. 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, Mushrooms, beans/tomatoes, fried slice + toast & marmalade and tea or coffee for £5 setting everyone up for the five hours ahead. So with everyone full it was back to our pegs……………

and at 10·30am Paul called the All-in. A large pot of pellet was dumped at 4mtrs and another spread along the boards to my left while I fed some more by hand down the left hand margin into the corner where there was a build up of scum. Out with the 4mtr rig and a banded 6mm pellet produced a couple of lightning fast bites without connection which I’m sure were Roach just snatching at the pellet, while Vince was soon into his 1st fish of the day and putting a Carp safely into his net. A more positive bite soon saw some Black Hydro coming from my top kit and a nice little Common of around 1½lbs get me off and running. After around an hour I had around 10 fish, no great shakes but at least I was getting fish regularly unlike Terry opposite who appeared to have got off to a bit of a slow start and having a bit of a struggle ………

Just after the half way mark I was starting to struggle on the 4mtr line so after dumping another large pot of pellet in I had a look over to the boards on my left, taking 4 Carp in 4 put in’s before the Roach turned up, a look to the corner proved fruitless, so I decided to stretch my legs and see how the others were doing.


 It was soon obvious that the middle pegs were the place to be with Paul (nomorelongwalks) who always seems to do well here at Hawkhurst catching steadily, Tony was into a fish…………………

………as was Dave………………

……… though as usual they were both cagey as to just how well they were both doing. Clive who had made the trip up for the day as he always enjoys it here had settled on a margin attack……

……… as had the match organiser, Paul (paulvis69) over on the other bank on peg 13………

Back to my peg and onto the 4mtr line and the fish were ready for it once more, though I was still getting some of those lightning fast bites that I couldn’t connect with. By keeping the pellet going in I was keeping fish going into the net, even taking a few shallow, but I was having to wait to long between fish on the shallow rig so reverted back to the deck to keep my catch rate ticking over.
Vince however was starting to struggle a bit having to wait a bit to long between fish to keep pace with me 

With around an hour to go I had 50 fish in my nets but the sky had darkened and it was obvious that we would be finishing the match in the rain. Terry on peg 20 had started to put a run of fish together playing catch up after his poor start, and looking a bit further across I could see that Nick(pastie)Allen on peg 16 and Keith(Disco)Driscoll on peg 15 were having a good old battle with both anglers taking fish regularly.

With the arrival of the rain however my bites dried up while Jay to Vince’s right on peg 3 seemed to have a great last hour ………

I really struggled and only managed to put another 2 fish in the net in the last hour, leaving me with 52 fish when Paul called the All-out at 3·30pm. I was first to weigh in and 86½lbs was my reward for the day, not good enough for the frame but more than enough against Vince’s 32½lbs to see yet another shiny £1 coming my way. Paul on peg 7 took the win on the day with 125lbs (Told you he likes it at Hawkhurst) while Keith had edged Nick out to third with 112lbs to 101lbs in their peg to peg battle.

So that was it for another day, A Nicely organised match by Paul(paulvis69), Thanks fella,  and Paul(nomorelongwalks) kindly treated us to coffee’s in the café from his winnings before we bade our farewells and set off for home.


 Next up for me is a Club match at Pea Lane in Essex in 2 weeks time, a new venue to me. How will it go?????????? not got a clue, but all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 7	Paul(nomorelongwalks)East	125lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 15	Keith(Disco)Driscoll	112lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 16	Nick(pastie)Allen	101lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 4	Graham(franklin)Franklin	94lbs 12ozs
5th	Peg 3	Jay Lay	92lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 5	Tony(spamwham)Roberts	88lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 19	Derek(derekl)Lockwood	86lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg 1	Peter(Mugger)Morton	86lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 8	Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard	85lbs 04ozs
10th	Peg 18	Pete(btpt)Allen	83lbs 00ozs
11th=	Peg 9	Greg(splitshot1)Andrews	81lbs 00ozs
11th=	Peg 6	Dave(The Fish)Collier	81lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 12	Trevor(M.T.Net)Little	70lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 20	Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff	67lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 13	Paul(paulvis69)Slater	40lbs 00ozs
16th	Peg 2	Vince(Vince G)Gould	32lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 11	Chris(nagap)Pagan	31lbs 00ozs
18th	Peg 17	Chris Withall	23lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 14	Ben Franklin	DNW