Marsh AC Hartleylands Peartree 01.06.2019

The next instalment in the Marsh AC Calendar saw us face our longest trek for a club match, Hartleylands Farm is situated in Cranbrook, Kent. A lot of changes have taken place over the last couple of years and slowly I think the new owners are getting it right.
I arranged to pick Mick up at 5am and after reaching junction 12 of the M1 we were at a stop, slowly crawling along as Junction 11a was closed. On arrival the emergency services were busy clearing up the debris and spilt liquids across the motorway. A simple off and on the other side saw us back on track but with 20 minutes lost. The remainder of the trip was uneventful and by 7am we were pulling into the Knoxbridge cafe for a deserved full English breakfast. Simon and Gino were already there, along with a lot of other anglers fishing a charity match at Monks Lake.With our stomach's full and our throats watered we took the short trip to Hartleylands.
On arrival the biggest decision was how to peg it, odds or evens, small groups, etc. Why is this difficult?
Finally Josh," its all your fault" Donovan made the call and odds it was. Peg 15 we were told was the place to be, apparently, so Mick promptly pulls it out of the bag.A short walk and an island directly in front of him within pole range. I must admit I would have jogged to it. Don't do running!! My hand went in and peg 29, the longest walk but at least I would not be able to see Mick. I had the end of the island directly in front of me but a lot of fluff on the water which would cling to the line and clog up my rod rings eventually.

 I set up a pellet waggler to fish the island, A couple of shallow rigs, Drennan crystal dibbers to .17 size 16 banded to fish to yellow KND elastics, trying these out since snapping a couple of white hydros on my last outing. A couple of margin rigs one for 3ft to the right and another 2ft to the left. Both were MW Hi Viz Margins to .17 with a .15 Hooklength size 16 KKM.
Baitwise I had 3 pints 4mm pellets for feed, 6mm pellets for the hook fishing long. Corn to the right margin and meat to the left edge.

For company I had Reverand Tony Roberts on peg 27, 25 was empty with Mark Fox on 23, a good peg between the islands. Gino, Chris T and Simon were on the left hand side.

My match started with a couple of pouches of pellets to the edge of the island, followed by my pellet waggler, a couple of quick dips on the float which I suspected were small silvers and the fluff clinging to the line and rings saw this go up the bank after around 20 minutes. Gino next door had a couple of good fish fishing the tip, Tony had snared one on the waggler, whilst Chris T was trying to mug any of the cruising carp in his peg. Foxy further up the lake had a couple of fish shallow.

A look shallow, again, saw small dips from silvers, a look down the left meat edge saw my first carp, a ghostie around 2lb, before the silvers moved in again. A look down the right hand corn edge saw a couple of skimmers. I had to make a decision. I decided to fish slapping a shallow rig feeding a few pellets after every bite. A few good sized roach took the 6mm pellet with odd carp coming to the net. Tony had snared a carp weighing 10lb. Chris T was still mugging and slapping for odd fish., Gino's early fish had subsided with only odd fish gracing his net. Simon had managed to snap his 13m section but was still catching. John had packed up early as he had a family event to see to but had set the stall with 71lb 12oz on the scales. I was still nicking odd fish, none of which were over 2lb. A look down the margins in the last hour saw only silvers. 

At the all out Mark Fox had caught well throughout and snapping his waggler rod before the start seemed to be divine intervention, catching most of his fish slapping an 8mm pellet.

John's weight was good enough for 2nd on the day despite him finishing 2 hours early. He certainly knows how to fish floaters. Chris T took 3rd place to maintain his good form since joining the club.

Overall

1st Mark Fox                         94-08    Section

2nd John Holdsworth             71-12    Section

3rd Chris Thomas                  71-00

4th Simon Watkins                 58-00

5th Clive Pritchard                 52-12   Section

6th Josh Donovan                  48-00

7th Mick Wright                     45-08

8th Keith Ashby                     44-00

9th Tony Roberrts                  42-04

10th Terry Goff                      35-08

11th Gino Exell                      29-12

12th Jim Boase                      10-04

13th Chris Withall                    7-00

14th Rod Turner                    DNW

Another close match all around but to be honest not the weights we would have expected from the venue. I think the fish had other plans with the warm weather kicking in their hormones. Well done to all the framers and section winners. On a personal note I lost another MK Nugget by a single fish, Mick leading 6-2 now.

I have a few more days at work before we go for a week at Todber Manor, another learning curve but it is always nice to get out and about. Next match in the Marsh Calendar is Alders Farm on the 22nd of June.