Pleasure Days Meadowlands October 17th & 25th

The beauty of working continental shift patterns means we get a fair bit of time off during the week, when everyone else is working. Although the days may change, there is plenty of time for fishing.
Vic and I had planned a day over at Meadowlands, however, with a difference. We would be leaving the rods at home and just taking the pole, leaving the temptation to pick a rod up behind. I had fished the pole on Warren Pool but with the vastness of Lambsdown to look forward to, was another thing.
The carp, and they run big, have plenty of room to run into.
17th October
I arranged to meet up with Vic at 0600 on a bright frosty morning at Jack's Cafe outside Towcester. Thirty five minutes later we were waiting for the lake to open.A good friend of ours,Bryan, was going to meet us later in the day. Now retired he does not get up early.
Paying our day ticket and purchasing a couple of bags of 8 mm fishery pellets we loaded up the barrows, and set off for the early pegs between 20 and 16.
Vic settled into 17, with myself opting for 16 giving me a right hand edge, which suits me more than than the left. I did not expect to fish this line as it was cold and although not clear was quite shallow close in.
We both had a similar plan, five to 6 metres out, strong elastic and strong rigs. I had set up a couple of .4 MW Diamonds to .19 hook lengths and size 16 KKMB hooks in 5ft of water. I set up another to fish in front of the next platform (15) but as explained earlier did not expect to fish it.
Bryan had now arrived and settled into peg 19, he wanted to fish for the large head of silvers and started setting up accordingly.
Starting off with a large toss pot I placed around 8 fishery pellets in the pot and shipped out to 2 plus a half extension and a top kit and gently lowered in a banded 8 mm fishery pellet in amongst the feed.
Vic fishing top kit plus 3 proper sections. was doing similar, easing our way into the session. After around 10 minutes Vic was into his first fish and around 8lb was a scale perfect common. Going back out he was in again, red hydro streaming out of his pole, as the fish made its way out of the peg, never to come back.
I had my first fish after around 20 minutes, a low double figure carp, followed by another shortly afterwards. Vic was now catching well, good size fish between 8lb and 12lb with the odd better fish thrown in.

I was steadily putting a few fish in the landing net and we both commented on the fact the fish were larger on the pole line than on the bomb or waggler. I did have a spell where I lost around 5 fish on the trot, forcing me to go to .22 hook lengths. This also coincided with the light breeze getting up and forcing the rig through the water. Adding 3 inches to the rig slowed it down a little but I suspected some of the lost fish were foul hooked because of this. Eventually, I changed rigs to a .6 version of the same float, making the presentation a lot better. Bites were all positive dips on the float and although we both had to wait for bites, they were regular.
Bryan was catching well fishing corn over some 6mm fishery pellets, switching to expanders occasionally.
I tried to up the feed but potting in a larger amount of feed, approximately 50 pellets and just sitting over it. It did not make any difference to the catch rate, still I would get a bite after 5 minutes.

Bryan, ending up with around 35lb of silvers throughout the day, whilst both Vic and I had an excellent days fishing, catching fish from 6lb through to what we estimated were fish around the 15lb mark. A few lost rigs, a couple of snapped elastics but still an enjoyable day.
25th October
Our next trip out was again to Meadowlands, the weather was still cold and the first hard frost had occurred overnight. There was rain planned for late morning and a lot of it, by all accounts. Mick was coming with us today, and we settled on a 0630 start at Jacks Cafe, meeting up with Vic again. A good steady journey soon had us pulling into Meadowlands car park where more fishery pellets and a day ticket was purchased in anticipation of a good day.
We decided to move a little further to our right on this session, going for 13,14 and 15. Still in the deeper water and not too far from the previous week's fishing. I opted for 13, Vic on 14 and Mick into 15.
Again I set up a couple of .4 MW Diamonds to fish the 5ft depth, .19 line through to a size 14 KKMB hook. I also set up another .6 MW Diamond, just in case the wind and planned rain got up. No margin rig this time. I had replaced the red hydro's in the top kit's and also tried a blue KND elastic.
Again starting off the feeding by introducing around 8 pellets each put in via a toss pot, seemed to work after around 20 minutes, a cracking mirror around 10lb, a couple more followed, like peas in a pod and after an hour I had 4 fish 3 at 10lb and a smaller 6lber. Vic had a similar catch with one of his fish going 16lb 2oz on a set of scales. Mick was plugging away and a couple of fish had fallen to his waggler tactics at short range.
As the morning progressed, the fishing improved, some we would get out, others not. BUT, it was enjoyable all the same. A run of skimmers to just over the pound kept things interesting and you suspected a lot of the bites were from them. It was just getting a hook and pellet into there mouth's.
A couple of smashed up top kits did not dampen my spirits, The blue KND had coped well before snapping at the dacron connector.
It was hard to believe that it was the end of October, the fishing was really good, plenty of bites and elastic stretching fish. I had a beautiful common carp weighing 15lb 13oz and Mick blitzed that with one of 19lb 2oz. All of us had over 100lb of fish easily, we needed to work at it in some horrible wet and windswept conditions, but we all caught and caught well.
I am not sure when my next match will be, but i will keep the blog going with either a match or a pleasure day.

Marsh AC Slough House Lake 19.10.2019

With the seasons changing from Summer to Autumn, it reminds me that the Marsh AC season slowly comes to an end. Our matches run from March through to October, it will not stop me from going out and pleasure fishing or fishing any opens I fancy though.

Our last match of the season was a bit of an unknown for a lot of us. Slough House Lake near Thurrock. It is reported there are numerous specimen carp and catfish present, along with plenty of bream, skimmers and roach. We could not find a lot of information on the matches, but it seemed to mainly be an odd carp with lots of silvers as a back up.

I had arranged to pick Mick up at 0600 and a nice steady drive to Junction 27 of the M25. However, a lorry driving into a car put paid to that, with everyone having to feed into two lanes to get by. Twenty minutes later, and we were through. Pulling into the only cafe (Puddledock Farm Fishery)we knew that was open, we were greeted by Simon and Gino, always early and awaiting there food.

With a couple of full English's devoured we were back on the road for the 5 minute journey to Slough House. We were a little late arriving, but there was still room in the overflow car park. 

Gear unloaded, pools money paid and a slow walk to the pegs. on first impressions the lake looked nice and established, it reminded me of some of the venues I fished as a youngster.

I had drawn peg 4, it did not mean anything to me, but it looked alright, plenty of room, a bit of shadow cast across the lake and a decent depth. Mick had walked past me, towards his peg 8, a little further along the bank. Again Mick's peg looked good from above the water level, who knows what it looked like underneath.

I had come with a plan to target the silver stocks and forget about the carp. I have fished specimen carp lakes before and to be fair at this time of year it was very hit and miss. I would much sooner see the float go under regularly. With this in mind I had some micros, 4mm hard and soft pellets and a couple of pints of maggots. Enough groundbait to make up a couple of balls and a bit of loose feed.

I planned to fish two lines at 10 and 2 o'clock at 11m, nice and comfortable. The depth did not vary, so I made up a couple of .4g MW Diamonds and shotted one with a bulk of no8 stotz with a couple of no9 droppers, the other with a more strung out shotting with a slower fall through the water. These were .16 to .13 hooklength and a size 16 KKMB hook. Both coupled to white hydro.

My other lines were at 6m, again 10 and 2 o'clock. Again MW Diamonds .5g to cover the 6ft depth and a heavier line and hooklength's .19 to .15  to a size 16 B911F1 hook. This time elastic was a yellow hollow from KND.

A couple of balls of groundbait were shipped out to 11m 2 o'clock at the all in, containing around 100 maggots and a few 4mm pellets. The other long line received half a pot of micros with a pinch of maggots. I started off at 6m and promptly lost the first rig in an unseen snag to the left, leaving me to replace the rig and re-plumb the depth. Nothing for the first 10 minutes to the left. I switched to the right 6m swim and had a small skimmer, around 4 ounces. Out again and nothing on 4mm pellets, I swapped over to a couple of red maggots and another 4 ounce skimmer, a couple of blade roach followed, but i needed to keep swapping and changing bats to keep small fish coming.

Tony Roberts on the next peg 5, had sneaked in a good 2lb skimmer and was well in front of me. Dave on peg 2 had a couple of small skimmers and a few blades, similar to me. Chris W was nicking a few on the pole and GB feeder. League leaders, Chris T and Josh were both targeting the carp and although none had come to their nets. Mick was struggling so there was hope of a rare MK Nugget for me. Simon and John were leading the way with good weights of bream and skimmers from further up the lake on pegs 13 and 15.

Sticking at it, I moved out 11m, re-feeding another couple of balls of GB to the right hand line and another half pot of micros to the left. I adopted a catch anything approach, as I was getting odd bites but nothing regularly, Slowly I was putting small skimmers and odd blades in to the net over the micro line. Hoping to get a few larger skimmers I started pinging a few 4mm sinkers. This had the effect of keeping a few fish in the peg but had drawn a few roach higher up in the water and lightning bites were a problem to hit at times. A couple of better fish came to the net but with each better fish Tony had one as well, I think that first 2lb fish he had on meat was the decider.

Chris was now catching well on the tip and pole feeding small balls of GB and fishing maggot on the hook. Simon was slowing down. Chris T and Josh were still bite less from carp, although Josh had nicked a few silvers to save face and avoid the blank. Terry was in the same boat, doing his best to avoid the fish. Mick was still struggling with a couple of small skimmers and a solitary roach.

Chris W Exhausted but a fine net of Skimmers

At the all out I sat thinking about the day, groundbait did not work, best bait was maggot and the day was a real struggle for everyone. When someone of Chris T's ability blanks you know the carp have shut up shop, he had already won the league, so i suppose why not try for carp.

Overall

1st Simon Watkins             25-04

2nd Chris Withall              22-08

3rd John Holdsworth         16-08

4th Tony Roberts               11-00

5th Mark Fox                     10-08

6th Tony Watkins                9-12

My weight of 9lb came in seventh, and was enough to take a MK Nugget off Mick,who had really struggled with 3lb 12oz.

Well done to the framers and section winners, Simon, Chris W and believe it or not Mick. 

Well that's the end of another Marsh AC season. Some new faces have settled in well and have been welcomed by us older faces. On a personal note I feel I have not performed well at all this season and this is reflected in my results. Poor preparation and not enough time have contributed to it and both will be addressed over the winter.

New challenges face us in the Spring and I am sure there will be plenty of new venues, mixed in with our regular haunts to keep us going. 

Well done to Chris T on winning the league and setting some impressive weights along the way. Finally a big Thank You to Dave and Tony for booking matches, running them, taking the money and generally making our lives a lot easier.

Marsh AC Southend Farm 05.10.2019

There are not many venues where you can catch 70lb of Bream and 2 Carp for 25lb, well I managed it last year from Southend Farm. I fortunately secured the match win and was really looking forward to having another go at this prolific venue.That match was in early June last year, whilst we had to confront some cooler days and colder nights as the autumn really sets in.
It was good to see that Mick had put his name down for this match, he would need a short walk, but it was great to see him getting back on the bank. I arrange to pick him up at 0600 and with the car loaded we headed off. No trouble on the M1 or M25 and it seemed to fly by. Catching up is always good, we have over 25 years of friendship behind us. Parking the car by the cafe, we were greeted by Simon and Gino, already waiting patiently for there orders. Soon others were arriving, Chris T and Foxy, Terry, Tony and Jim. Having been fed we made our way out to Dave and the all important draw. I fancied a peg to the right hand side , ideally on the far bank. They looked as if they had decent depth but had better looking margins. We had available to us the near side bank, pegs 16 to 32 and a high number would fit the bill. Mick would be on one of the short walk pegs in front of the car park. Mick draws 22 and I was on 24 with the Reverend Tony Roberts in between us.I had Gino on 25.
I had decided to just fish the pole, the rods had been left behind (again), so opted to fish top four in 6ft of water, both left and right. A top three line straight out and a shallow rig, Bait was meat, corn and pellets.
At the all in I started off shallow at 12m fishing 2ft deep with a 6mm hard pellet, 20 minutes on this and no signs, Tony was catching a few skimmers around 10m out in 7ft of water fishing corn. I decided to try my top four lines. Left with corn and right with meat. Another 40 minutes go by and a solitary roach was all I could muster on corn. Josh had snared a couple of carp, whilst Foxy was busy catching skimmers. Gino was struggling as I was. Chris T had a couple of carp weighing 17lb followed by another at 21lb fishing the pellet waggler deep.
I was going nowhere fast, I tried longer, but again no bites, tried closer and again nothing. The only place I could get bites was the left hand line, top four dead depth on corn feeding a few grains and around 10 pellets via a toss pot. I did hook a couple of carp, one on light elastic which I could not turn as it cruised out to the middle of the lake. The other on Black Hydro which although I could turn, could not get its head up and the hook pulled out.
Tony was fishing exactly the same and catching well. Josh had sneaked in another couple of fish, as had Chris T and Foxy. Kyle chipped in with another carp and a few silvers.
On the all out I was disappointed, I felt numb, not knowing where I went wrong, I felt there were a few fish to be had on the pole lines and I could not work out how to catch them. My weight of 16-08 went onto the scales.

Overall

1st Chris T              70-04

2nd Josh D             58-04

3rd Tony R             52-08

4th Mark F             40-12

5th Mick W           31-08

6th Dave C            25-04

Chris T with part of his 70lb winning weight

Josh D second place with 58lb

An exceptional performance from the Reverend 52lb of skimmers

The Chairmen with 25lb of hard earned skimmers

Great to see Mick on the bank even if it did cost me a MK Nugget.

My next match is the last of the Marsh AC season, at a new venue, Slough House Lakes. Never seen it before, so who knows. One thing for sure is I will have some rods with me.

Alders Farm Tuesday Open 01.10.2019

I had been going to Alders Farm recently, practising for the Joseph James Law match on the venue, what a great event it is. Just to be part of it is something to be proud of, as it is invitation only. But today would see me fishing against the locals, I regularly get beaten up by them at their own game, so this week I have stripped out all my big elastics and tightened them up. I have felt that I should soft elastics through a side puller, but i have never felt in control of the fish, hence the tightening up. Hopefully this will turn more hooked fish into ones in the net rather than losing them or taking too long to land them.

The weather was planned to rain consistently throughout the day and on arrival it was steadily coming down. Sometimes it was heavy, other times just a few spots on and off. 

A few anglers preparing for the forthcoming Alders Farm Winter League and a decent turnout for a Tuesday saw 11 idiotic anglers preparing to get drenched at any second. Into the bag of dreams and out comes peg 29, a good peg and one that I had fished recently catching 122lb from the left hand pipe. I had Lee Wilson for company on peg 30 with Paul Kearns on peg 27. Trevor Price was left with peg 21 on the dam wall, all on his own, not good for us. Bryn Wignall on 9 with Lee Newson on 7. The remaining pegs 1-5 were filled by Gary ?, Ken ?, Colin Kidd, Dave Adams and Rob Rayment.respectively. 

Peg 29 Home for the Day

I had opted to fish four lines, two pellets lines, at 2+2 and left edge, a corn cum maggot late on line at top three and a maggot line to the right hand edge. All feed pellets were fishery pellets. At the all in, I cupped in half pot of 4mms onto 2+2 and put a small hand full into the left edge, a few grains of corn to just past my keepnets and out with a corn baited top-kit plus one. It did not take long and a small 2lb common carp was on and in. Out again and another, feeding three or four grains every 30 seconds. A quiet spell followed and I pushed out to 2+2 with a 6mm hard pellet on the hook. Again a couple of quick fish before a spell of "iffy" bites. I was feeding dampened down 4mms and I suspected skimmers were the problem. I re-fed the line with a full pot of pellets and had a quick look down the left edge where I had caught well the previous visit.

Nothing, although a couple of fish were seen mooching around with there heads down but further away from the bank than my feed, I could see Lee's landing net going back and forth catching on peg 30 and could hear splashing from Paul's peg. The far bank seemed to be catching odd fish with the higher numbers 7 and 9.

Trevor was catching, despite him saying how his peg was devoid of fish.

I kept on rotating my lines picking off odd fish regularly, but never felt that the fish settled over one particular spot, with 2 hours left I reckoned on having around 50lb and decided to start introducing maggots, I had around 3 pints with me from the JJL match and after a couple of small handfuls to the right edge, I saw a couple of tails go in after them. Jokingly I thought I heard Paul say he had seen a snake swimming past him. I have never seen a snake at Alders before, but who was I to disagree.Dropping a rig tight to the grass and after a couple of minutes a 5lb carp had taken the five maggots impaled onto my 16 KKMB, another smaller fish followed, and another. Lifting and dropping worked as did leaving them on the deck. I even managed to hook the snake, about 2ft long swam into my peg and the float dipped, perfect striking and the snake was on. It was no match for the red hydro but it was foulhooked in the back so cutting the line was the only option available to me. Those around could not believe it, I could not believe it. Luckily for me, it did not affect the weights at the end.Whether they were there from the start I do not know, as I saw no signs. The left edge and to be honest the one I expected to catch from, never produced a fish. It was all to the right, today.

I caught steadily to the end, not bagging mode where the float goes before it settles but a fish every couple of minutes and doubled my weight in that last two hours. My elastics had performed better and felt the change was justified, perhaps it was just a confidence boost but it worked. If you are not entirely happy with something, you need to change it. I felt that I had sneaked past those around me and on the opposite bank but could not see the far pegs and Trevor. I should have known better. than question it in my mind.

1st Trevor Price                     267-10 

2nd Lee Newson                   192-11

3rd Bryn Wignall                   180-00

4th Keith Ashby                    155-11

5th Dave Adams                   145-05

6th Gary ?                            131-02

I think I have learnt some things today to take into my next few matches and look forward to working it out at Alders over the coming month's. Do I need an umbrella? I sat in the rain and it was heavy at times but the Halkon Hunt gear has kept me dry all day, coupled with Skeetex boots and dry feet. Happy Days.

I am having a pleasure day at Barston Lakes on Thursday followed by a club match at Southend Farm on the Saturday.