With a gap in the Marsh AC club calendar a knock up was arranged to fish at Hawkhurst fishery near Hastings. I have fished here before and it is carp, carp and more carp. Not big fish but the average size is around 2lb and in absolutely mint condition. I suppose its what you would expect from a fish farm. However saying that my previous best weight was only about 80lb from the venue.
Mick had arranged to pick me up at 0530 to start the 250 mile round trip and although there was more traffic on the roads than normal, it flowed and we made good time, pulling into the car park just after 0730. Terry was next to arrive after his 15minute journey and looked decidedly fresher than both Mick and I.
Al had organised the match and the plan was to have breakfast in the on site café, then draw for pegs with enough time to allow us to stock up on pellets. They sell pellets by the sack and quite a few lads took advantage of this to avoid the cost of shipping.
We had the whole lake today and decided just to use one bank on Al's advice as it always seems to fish better than if you spread the pegging out and with only 10 of us able to make it suited us to avoid the road separating the two lakes. I had drawn peg 7 and it meant nothing to me, although Al had stated it was a decent peg. Mick had drawn 9, another good peg but Al had drawn the end peg 10 and would take some beating. Either side of me I had Mick Pearson on 6 and Clive on peg 8.
My plan was to fish 2+2 with banded pellet feeding fishery pellet and both margins on a top two. I had around 4ft at 2+2 and decided to fish a .4 MW Diamond with a strung out shotting pattern to a size 16 PR 36, This would allow me to see if the fish were taking on the drop. I also set up a shallow rig just in case the fish came up in the water. For the margins, I was going to fish Stinky Corn in 2 1/2ft of water tight to the boards both sides. This time it was a .3 MW Diamond still to a size 16 PR36 but with a bulk shotting pattern set just past half way.
At the all in I shipped out a banded 8mm pellet and toss potted fishery 4mm onto the line, after 30 seconds the float buried and a small carp around 12oz came to the waiting landing net. A few more fish followed and after an hour I reckoned on having 25lb of small carp. Mick P was fishing longer at around 7m but was struggling whilst Clive was soon into the margins and picking off odd fish. I could see both Mick and Al catching and felt I was doing ok, however bites were soon becoming more fickle and I was foul hooking too many fish, a change of depth saw another couple of carp join the ones in the keepnet, but I felt it was time to rest the line.
I had been feeding corn down the edge and after 90 minutes decided to have a look. Straight away the float buries and after a brief fight a cracking common around 4lb was in the net. A few more followed and after 3 hours I reckoned on around 70lb.
A short break followed due to Dave C feeling unwell and after a bit of refreshment we were soon back underway. Mick was admitting to 60lb yet Al had reckoned that both he and Mick had a ton, so I was a little off the pace.
Starting back in the margins, I was soon getting into a rhythm and was feeding corn with a pinch of pellet and fishing Stinky Corn over the top. I would get a bite and feed again whilst playing the fish. I managed to keep the fish coming and with the average size increasing from 1 1/2lb to 2lb I was also increasing the weights in my nets. A trashed rig in the last hour cost me dearly as it slowed down my catch rate. Why is it that an identical rig never seems to fish as well as the original? But I was keeping in touch, although I felt the both Al and Mick had both beat me at the whistle. I had done well, beating my previous best at the venue, so was reasonably happy with my day. The Stinky Corn had worked well on yet another venue and I had a few fish on banded pellet, something I rarely fish.
1st Al Loader 234-08
2nd Mick Wright 173-0
3rd Tony Roberts 160-08
4th Keith Ashby 157-0
5th Clive Pritchard 109-0
6th Dave Collier 106-08
7th Mick Pearson 92-08
8th Terry Goff 84-08
9th Tony Watkins 65-0
10th Rod Turner 25-08
Mick is now leading 9-6 in the MK Nugget stakes and I think I need to start pulling back some results.
My next match is the John Tipple Memorial match on the 22nd September at Lakeview fishery near Towcester. Another new venue and hopefully I can defend the trophy and catch a few fish.
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