MD's Pair's Alders Farm 28th & 29th July 2018.

Yesterday we had a prelude match on Pines Lake as a taster for things to come on ash over two days. I had performed well considering the abuse I was receiving from the Reverend Tony Roberts, although I must admit some of it was deserved as I may have responded to the provocation. Mugger Morton on the other hand was shocked to the core with the language and profanities coming from the clergy.
Day One
Still as the good book says I must turn the other cheek and moved forward to today's match. The format is quite simple everyone draws for a partner. He is your partner for the two days. The overall winners will be decided on points based on your position in each days match. So the winner will get 1 point and last place 20 points.
Who do I get to be my partner, yes you guessed it The Right Reverend Tony Bloody Roberts. Could have been worse, I could have drawn Simon who has secretly been negotiating a one to one training session with a certain B911 Trevor Price.

And to be fair Tony did alright on the prelude match on Pines so we were hopeful of a few fish on day one of the Pair;'s event. Tony went into the tin nice and early whilst I hung back. Peg 27 was to be his home for the day. My drawing arm deserted me and I ended up on 10. Many thoughts flashed through my mind as I strolled to the peg. I had thoughts of fishing 2+2 and bringing it close to the tree in the water, a few fish down the edge, hang on where has the tree gone, it needed pruning ok but all I could see now was three stumps still in the water.
For company I had Terry Pearce on 8 and John Holdsworth on peg 12. At least we had a bit of room. The wind and rain would make feeding a long line difficult unless it was in a toss pot which I do not get on with, so it was a case of fishing shorter than planned. I plumbed up lines at 2+2 and 2+1 and the edge to my left. I did go past the stumps to the right, but felt the feed would go everywhere if fished as I wanted, so it was a reluctant get out of jail line. I set up a couple of MW floats for fishing on the 2 plus lines and a couple of DS Green floats for the edges. Bait would be corn or 6mm pellet feeding 4mm fishery pellets.
At the all in I started off on the 2+2 line feeding short due to the wind, a couple of small carp, before a skimmer showed its face. Another net in the water makes four. It did not seem right, the float was moving around too much with the tow and getting dragged all over the place. I had a look on the left hand edge early using the 2+2 line float and found this a better fit. So changed both the DS green floats for the more stable MW floats for the edges. I placed a heavier DT Diamond on the 2+2 set up and was able to read bites easier. Never be afraid to change if things do not feel right.
I was ticking over nicely, not setting the world alight, but still catching. John was having a nightmare,  loosing fish and getting tangled up in the bank-side foliage. I would have shouted some abuse over to him, but it would have been wasted so I waited until he was up close and personal. Terry was getting a few from his paste lines and I could see Dave Fatpike getting amongst the carp down the edges. I kept out of the edges for as long as I could but after 4 hours I had to have a look. I had 60 minutes to sneak into a better position and break the ton barrier. I could not win the section, Dave Fatpike had that honour, but I could try to climb the ladder as those around me were all about the same.

Terry with part of his 80lb net

At the all out I felt I had just over the ton and was not far away with 113lb. I had done well in a section that was not the best. The cafe bank and the shallows all fished well and unfortunately my weight gave us 11 points plus what ever Tony had caught. His weight of 130lb was good enough for 8th overall so we ended the day in 4th place on 19 points. Trevor Price won the match with 299lb from peg 2 and his partner Clive ended up 5th overall with 153lb. A cracking performance to end up with 6 points.

Overall Day 1

1st Trevor Price      299-14

2nd Trevor Drakes 199-03 PB

3rd Bagger J          188-00

4th Godber            170-12 PB

5th Clive Pritchard 153-00

6th Dave Pontin     139-08

All in all a cracking day and considering the lake had been fished throughout the week by a club from York, it had fished well. 

Day Two

Day two opened up as we had left off, high winds and pouring rain, still we were awake and fishing. Lads who had slept in the cars and tents overnight were feeling the strain whilst those who opted for the comfort of hotels and bars were bemoaning a lack of sleep due to the local nightlife.Me, no such issues as it is a 15 minute journey to the fishery from my own bed.

After a wonderful breakfast served by the lovely people at Alders Farm it was again time for the deciding draw. The only peg I did not want was peg 2, this is where Trevor piled nigh on 300lb on the scales. That was a pressure peg today.Peg 1 though was another matter and this was to be my home for the next 5 hours.

Pegs 1 and 10 were a recent poll I asked on Facebook to decide which was better due to an MK Nugget battle with my Nemesis Mick. The result was a resounding peg 1.
I set up a couple of top kits for fishing the edges both left and right plus a line at 2 plus 1 and 2 plus 2. I would start off here and move to the edges as the match progressed. Starting off on corn and feeding it regularly, I started getting a few proper bites after 10 minutes. On orange vespe they were taking a while to land and the peg recovery time in the shallow water was slow. So I switched to red hydro and this seemed to work well in the peg. When bites became iffy or non existent I would feed some 4mm fishery pellets over the top and this would spur things on a bit. After an hour I had 15 fish for around 40lb. I had been feeding pellet down to the cafe wall and gave it 30 minutes and 7 fish before coming back to 2 plus 1 line. Resting the peg saw a succession of fish come to the landing net and with the red hydro I was always in control of the fish.
With peg 1 the main issue is you cannot gauge how you are doing against the rest of the field. The cafe shields the elements from you a bit but also hides the rest of the lake from the angler. I could see Godber on peg 30 and knew he was catching. Clive on 27 was also doing the bit for his team. I could not see Tony on 28 but occasionally I saw his elastic and knew he was getting a few pulls.
It was a case of head down and keep going. I was taking fish from the left hand edge and 2 +1 line pushing it out every now and again. Still the fish came.
At the all out I was knackered, three days of good quality fishing, great company, good banter given, good banter taken. What more could you ask for, a great weekend and one I will attend next year.

Overall Day 2

1st Alex                244-06

2nd Keith Ashby  184-00

3rd Godber          157-04

4th Clive Pritchard 147-00

5th Trevor Drakes 142-04

6th Trevor Price    139-04

Overall Pairs Winners

Trevor Price and Clive Pritchard.

These sort of events in my opinion are the way forward for a lot of people. We have had a great weekend, at the start I knew half of the anglers, by the end I go to know a few names and could now put a face to them. There are some exceptional anglers on the MDs forum. Dave and his team of moderators work tirelessly for our benefit, not only on the forum but arranging events like this.It is not forgotten and I am grateful for all you do. Stand up and take the applause. 

Trevor Price, aka Cliff Richard, congratulations, by the way. found time in his busy schedule to fish all three days and his knowledge proved invaluable as many broke their PBs along the way.

Alders Farm, what can I say that has not been said before, the team and ethos behind the fishery are amazing, everyone leaves your company in a better place.Thank You