Back on the club scene this week and a hastily arranged match on the Road Lake at Puddledock Farm Fishery in Essex. It seems rather strange to me that people say the club scene is dying, anglers are not fishing opens but are fishing the bigger matches and festivals. I look around and I see plenty of club matches on local fisheries, small opens (upto 30 anglers) having a waiting list and the larger matches having a reserve list. Our club Marsh AC is holding its own which is amazing as the most you can win is a tenner, we have a match approximately once a month, which fills out normally and allows a couple of guest appearances. Everyone gets on and offers plenty of advice and banter along the way.
Anyway onto the match. I was being chauffeured today by Mick who arranged to pick me up at 0615. Troy and Pete had accepted a couple of invites and would join us on the journey. Most of us try to catch a few fish, however these two are more concerned with the quality of the breakfasts available. We made good time along the M1 and through the roadworks on the M25 so it was pleasant to see everyone congregating for the draw at 0800. Troy and Pete both joined the club and were now members in their own right. After drawing for pegs I found myself on peg 8 in an area that will get any wind that blows, however it was close to where I was in the previous two years where I had done well. Mick had drawn peg 28 on the opposite side of the lake in the flat calm, a habit he is enjoying. Pete was a couple of pegs up from me on peg 11 whilst Troy had drawn peg 2 on the point of the island. I got myself tackled up and then called over to Mick for breakfast. A few others had already gone and returned so the tackle was safe.
10 past 10 and the all in was called. I had opted to start on the bomb tight across firing a mix of 8mm hard pellets across. Second put in and the tip goes round and a nice 2lb common was in the net. Another followed suit and after 15minutes I had 4lb in the net before the line switched off. Tony Roberts next door on peg 7 was trying to fish the long pole but the wind was getting up and he was struggling to hold the pole and float still. I had a line set up to fish catmeat at 12.5m and although I could hold the float steady by adding extra line above the float I could not connect with many bites. I even tried fishing catmeat up in the water with a sight blob push over the float bristle to stop it sinking. A look down the margins and at 5m produced a solitary skimmer but no other bites on Stinky Corn. Word was that Mick had landed a double from his margin and John Holdsworth had secured two doubles in two casts down the edge on maggot.
Another go on the bomb and another couple of carp upto 4lb on a hair-rigged hard 8mm pellet before it again went quiet. I was possibly overfeeding and decided to slow down the feed rate. Alas the same occurred a couple of fish then nothing. I kept on rotating between swims and started connecting with a few carp and skimmers at 12.5m and across.
Troy was struggling despite trying to fish long, short and middle, down the edge and tight across to the island. Pete was getting a few fish but was getting battered by John next door. Dave Collier and Tony Roberts were picking up odd fish on the method. Oh and Mick was still catching although slowly, down the edge on meat.
I decided to keep feeding the margin in the hope that a lump or two may show in the last hour. I stopped the 5m line and concentrated on across and 12.5m giving it half and hour at a time, unless I started catching well.
The remainder of the match went pretty much the same as the start. Just odd fish on both lines including a foul hooker on 12.5 which snapped me off at the hooklength and an angry carp which broke me at the clip on the bomb. Costly mistakes.
Overall the lake had fished better than the previous two years with more consistent weights across the whole lake rather than in pockets.
Overall
1st Mick Wright 57-4
2nd John Holdsworth 56-12
3rd Simon Watkins 51-08
4th Jim Boase 44-00
5th Tony Roberts 41-08
6th Keith Ashby 41-04
So another MK Nugget goes to Mick and he has managed to reduce the deficit to 7-3. No fishing for a couple of weeks now as Grandad duties are kicking in with my Grandson's birthday on the 20th and a trip to see Thomas the Tank Engine on the 19th.
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