Marsh AC Monks Lake 4 30 04 16

Two matches to report on this week, part 1 today and part 2 tomorrow after the match. Today's episode begins with a trip to Monks Lakes in Kent. We were on Lake 4 and with only 14 anglers turning up we had plenty of room. Mick had offered to drive with my still ongoing car issues (hopefully now sorted). The weather looked nice with a few clouds about but plenty of blue in the sky.
After a breakfast stick we were soon drawing, in I go and out comes 164 on the road bank. Mick has a go and out comes 161. Yet again we are in the same section, this time only separated by John on 163.
My peg looked inviting, I could reach the island with 14m and that would main point of attack. I also set up a rig for 11m in cases the wind got up,as it has a habit of doing on this lake. I also made up a margin rig and a 2+2 rig as back up lines.
Bait was simply 6 or 8mm hard pellets with 4mm as feed, a tin of meat and a few expanders. Rigs were .2 NG Diamonds for both far and near banks. A .4 DT Diamond for 11m in the deeper water and a .3 MW Diamond for the 2+2 line. Elastics were soft black hydro on all rigs which were tied to .14 Colmic Stream and B911 F1 hooks.
At the all in I cupped in some 4mm feed onto the 14m line and started off at 11m expecting the fish to back off throughout the session. After a small skimmer on expander first put in, I had to wait 10 minutes for my second bite, a nice 3lb carp. No more bites followed so I had a look right across to the reeds on the island. After 5 minutes I was into my first carp of around 1lb on 6mm hard pellet. A few more skimmers, odd tench and ide graced the net but I was not catching any more carp.Terry across from me was getting carp close in and was 2 fish in front of me but I did have the silver fish to take one of them away. John was starting off on the method and was getting a few skimmers. Tony was catching some silvers before going over to the island on the tip. This resulted in my peg slowing right down. The feed from either side of the island was in my mind stopping the fish coming round.
I decided to come closer and give the 11m line another go and although I was getting bites I started foul hooking a few fish and losing them. I re-fed and tried the inside margin. No bites for 10 minutes so back out to 14m and I started to get a few bites and carp, although only around 1.5lb I was catching a slowly building a weight. I would catch 2 or 3 then switch to 11m for 10 minutes and nick another one before going back and getting another couple. This seemed to work well up to the last hour where I got trashed by a lump. I put on another rig but it did not seem the same. Still I thought I would do alright considering it was fishing hard.
At the weigh in I was first to weigh in and I reckoned on 50lb, 25 carp and a few silvers. The scales said 47-12 and I was fairly happy with that. Terry was admitting to 45lb so knew that it would be close between us. Simon had caught well early on but seemed to slow later on. AND Mick was keeping very quiet.

Overall

1st Simon Watkins 48-04

2nd Keith Ashby 47-12

3rd Terry Goff   42-08

4th Dave Collier 42-04

5th Mick Wright 37-08

6th Tony Roberts 32-00

As said earlier the lake fished harder than expected, although there were plenty of bites to be had and some nice silver weights coming out today. I managed to pull a MK Nugget back from Mick, shame Troy and Kris were not there to see it, but they had to work. Mick 2 Keith 1.

Tomorrow's instalment should be about the last round of the Alders Farm Spring League.Lets hope its a good one.

Alders Spring League Rd4 24 04 16

Having had car trouble on the last round of the Alders Winter league, preventing myself from fishing. I was looking forward to getting out on the bank again.The car had been diagnosed as having done too many short journeys and had clogged the Anti- Pollution filter. Having a good mate who doubles as a mechanic is good and with a quick look over the car started behaving itself and I had no problems for the next fortnight.
However, on route to Alders the same fault appeared and the car stopped. I remembered the cure and sat by the side of the road revving it over 2000rpm for around 10 minutes, before pulling off again to finish the journey.
Our team had drafted in another angler for the last round but we were back to normal today, Ian on peg 4, Madd had drawn the duffer on 11 whilst I was on 21, a good area and with the wind blowing in I was quite happy with the draw.
I set up a small cone feeder to fish past the pole lines if the tow became too much, 2 rigs to fish 13m in the teeth of the wind. Another rig for 6m and a shallow rig just in case. All rigs were tied to .14 Colmic Stream to a size 16 Kamasan B911 F1. On the long rig I had a DT Diamond in .6 with 2 small droppers beyond a bulk shotting pattern.I also set up a .4g DT Diamond with a strung pattern if the wind died down. On the 6m line I had a NG float but cannot remember the name and strung out shotting to the same size 16 hook. Bait was 4mm fishery feed pellets, some 6mm fishery hard pellets for hookers on the band and also some 4 and 6mm expanders. I did have a couple of tins of corn which I had frozen and defrosted but when I threw a couple out on the all in the floated so they were binned.
At the all in I cupped half a cup of 4mm sinkers onto each line and started off fishing a 6mm expander at 13m, second drop in the float disappeared and fish number one was in. The nerves were settled. Out again and by lifting and dropping I was getting a few bites but was struggling to hit them in the wind. A switch to 6mm hard pellet brought another couple of fish and after an hour I had around 6 fish for 18lb. Hour two continued in the same vein as the previous hour but found I had to keep switching hookbaits to keep bites coming.
Hour three saw me change to the lighter rig to see if that improved things, the wind had dropped a little and by lifting and dropping around 6inches every now and again the float would go. I was now up to around 50lb and with the wind slowly increasing again I decided to drop in at 6m. After feeding a few tosspots of feed pellet I managed to nick 5 fish before this line died. I had a quick 10 minutes on the cone for now bites and just one liner, so it was back out to 13m for the duration.
Into the last hour and I was still getting odd indications but was struggling to see them due to a combination of fading light and the wind.
At the all in I weighed in 70-05 for 6th in the section but still managed to beat both sides of me. Overall the lake fished well with plenty of fish coming from all areas.

1st Overall G Donachie 111-02

2nd Overall R Makins 105-15

3rd Overall N Wooding 98-03

4th Overall M Quick 98-01

5th Overall I Pretty 94-08

6th Overall M Dickens 88-08

Marsh AC Colemans Cottage Stepfield 090416

I must admit I look forward to the matches at Colemans Cottage, It is a good venue with a mix of lakes that all need different approaches. Weights are fairly consistent throughout the matches, no silly rules and a good breakfast in comfortable surroundings.
So today it was Mick's turn to drive, he was feeling a lot better lately and although he would still ask for a short walk to his peg, he was able to get us there in one piece.The weather was planned to be wet at the start but clearing up later in the day.
With breakfast taken care of, it was time for the draw. Mick had drawn short walk 11 with the other short walk taken by Rod. Al Loader Snr was fishing with us today and had drawn peg 3 with Al Loader Jnr on peg 2. At least if Al Snr needed any help Junior was only on the next peg to assist. Troy had drawn 22 with Kris on 23 so they were next to each other. 90 minutes in the car together and you get to sit next to each other for another 6 hours, still I know how they felt as I drew peg 12. At least I could keep an eye on Mick throughout and not listen to his lies at the weigh in.
I had a plan in my mind before the start, fish the tip for 30 minutes, before switching to the top three on the pole. I also set a line up to fish top four and also 12m.However I would only feed the line if I was fishing it. Feed would be 4mm Sinkers with either a 6mm Hard Pellet or 6mm Expander on the hook both of which I coated in the Almond Gel It. I also had a tin of corn with me and 2pts of maggot if I was really struggling.
Rigs were .3g DT Diamonds set with 4 no 8 shot and a single 10 stotz. All tied to .14 Colmic Stream to a size 18 B911 F1 hook
At the all in I baited up the tip with Micros in the feeder and a 6mm banded hard pellet and threw to the island. Within a minute I was into my first F1 around 10oz. Next put in and a liner, next another F1 around the 1lb mark. I stuck at this for around 30 minutes as planned and had 4 fish in the net. Mick was also fishing the tip and we were both about even. I then moved to my top 3 line and was getting a few bites on expander pellet. Mick also came off his tip line and decided to fish the margin. I was still putting odd fish in the net, but Mick's swim came alive with fish and he was getting 3 to my 1.I was still catching but not quick enough and Mick was pulling away. I had a spell at top 4 in case the fish had drifted further out but it was still a fact of a couple of fish then 10 minutes of nothing. Mick was no off his margin swim and fishing top threes and started catching without feeding before throwing a good handful of feed to his swim. I was dripping in 5 or 6 pellets every put and decided to up the feed to see if this would spook a response. It did short term and in hindsight I should have slowed the feed down when they were there and upped in when they were not. Still another lesson learnt. Still I was catching and with others struggling it was simply a case of head down. I thought I was matching Mick fish for fish but was still behind those early margin fish.
At the weigh in, Al Loader Jnr was first to weigh and put a fine 32lb on the scales. Next up, Al Snr and it was close. 31lb was recorded. Well done Jnr, A lot of the senior anglers have never beaten your Dad. Clive placed 36lb on the scales to take the early lead before Mick placed 58lb, my weight of 48lb was good enough for second on the day with only Tony Roberts breaking the 30lb mark from the remaining anglers.

Overall

1st Mick Wright 58-00

2nd Keith Ashby 48-00

3rd Clive Pritchard 36-00

4th Al Loader JUNIOR 32-00

Well done to Mick and keep hold of those Nuggets (2-0) I will be wanting them back throughout the year with interest. Unfortunately, Troy and Kris left before the end of the match, not sure if it was the fishing or a home emergency but hope all is ok.

Alders Farm Spring League 03 04 16 Round 2

After the first match in the series a fortnight ago and no bites whatsoever, I was glad we had agreed to rotate our sections for each match. I knew I was not going to draw peg 22 again. At least until round 4. However the weather had changed a lot since then, gone was the freezing cold NW wind to be replaced with some nice SE breezes.
My rotation was going to place me on the island pegs. So when captain Madd told me I was going to be on Peg 5 I was happy to say the least. It had no real form as such but I had the island to go at and a nice depth at 13m.
My plan was to fish the waggler over to the island and the pole at both 13m and 7m. I also set up a margin rig, just in case but did not expect to catch there.
At the all in, I knew I had made a mistake, not setting up the feeder. Both sides 4 Glen Picton and 6 Nick Wooding were straight into fish, where as my waggler was moving from left to right in the slight breeze that had got up. Still I persevered for around 45 minutes for one lost carp and one in the net. I was getting bites but could not hit them due to the breeze causing a bow in the line.
I decided to come into 13m on the pole and fishing 6mm Expanders dipped in Maryuku Choco Cream I was getting a few indications and odd fish, but not quick enough to compete either side of me. I had a look onto the 7m line for around 10 minutes in the hope that the fish were queueing up to be plundered, but alas, it was not meant to be.
I decided to concentrate at 13m and by switching between 4mm and 6mm expanders I was able to nick a few fish.Mark Quick on Peg 7 had caught early on but was now struggling, whereas Hugh Crawford was getting a few late fish and catching well. I found that the bait had to be dead still and during the match had to make a few alterations to my rig to get it right, I could get a bite by lifting and dropping and suffered a few foulhookers despite the changes.
At the all out, I weighed in 32-12 for fourth in the section. Madd had secured a very good 3rd in section whilst Ian on peg 10 nearly suffered the same fate as me last time out, snagging a 7lb carp in the dying minutes to save the blank. Don't worry Ian I will be there next week.
Overall
1st Derek Smith 144-01 Peg 1
2nd Simon Japes 115-10 Peg 2
3rd Madd 97-05 Peg 30
4th Nick Wooding 82-04 Peg 6
5th Glen Picton 75-06 Peg 4
6th Matt Grant 59-15 Peg 3