As a result of some repairs or maintenance work at Hartleylands Farm, we needed to change our match at the last minute. Southend Farm came up trumps and gave us use of Damsel Lake. 17 pegs and can be a bit tight if all the pegs were in, but it was a lot closer to Milton Keynes and somewhere I like, a good head of skimmers which in turn give lots of bites, a decent amount of carp to give the elastic a good stretch.
It was close enough for Mick to attend and resurrect the MK Nugget match. Vic also requested to fish and as numbers were on the low side for this match, he was welcomed back. Meeting up at Micks at 0630 we took a nice steady run down to Waltham Abbey to the lakes. A little after 0730 and we were parked in the car park and both Mick and Vic were ordering their bacon sandwiches from the site cafe. John was already sat in the cafe and after a quick chat we drove round the corner to the lake car park. Soon after Dave, Tony and Jim arrived with tales of woe on the M25 which must have occurred just after we passed.
A chat with a few locals ensued about methods and peg numbers to use, with Vic and Tony using this info to peg out our match, knock up, gathering, call it what you like. We had 7 anglers who were going to brave the elements, winter is on its way, loads of rain and a bit of a breeze which could turn nasty at any time. Unfortunately 3 of the pegs, the better pegs according to local info, were down a set of steps or a steep slope. I ruled this out as A. I would struggle getting my tackle to the peg and back out, B. very little room to move around. If I drew one of these pegs I would fish somewhere else. Dave and Mick drew the car park bank leaving me with a choice of pegs 1 or 2. Into the draw bag and peg 1 sticks to my paw and I was grateful not to have to choose a peg from the rest of the lake. Jim on 2, Dave 3 and Mick 4. Vic, John and Tony were on the awkward pegs but at least they would have a days fishing.
On arrival at my peg I felt I had too many options, I was tucked away in a small arm, 16m across to the far bank, 14m to a set of reeds, two good looking edges but unable to go long down them plus the obligatory short lines. I had cut a couple of tins of meat (8mm) and opened a tin of corn, a mixture of hard pellets both for feed and hookers, along with around a pint of turning maggots.
I decided to start off on meat at 5m in around 5ft of water, using one of my own .4g diamonds to a size 14 kkmb hook and using the new dura elastic for the first time. A feeding a few cubes of meat and around 20 4mm pellets, a skimmer around 10 ounces graced the net then nothing. a switch to maggot saw a procession of small perch and blade roach. With the rain slowing and becoming more showers, I was able to have a look across, both at 14m to the reed bed and 16m to the far bank. Both lines only gave up a couple of small skimmers around 4oz apiece so I came back to the nearer lines where the stamp of fish were slightly bigger and the catch rate similar( why struggle when you don't have to).
John was catching well from the middle of the 3 awkward pegs, plenty of skimmers, roach and an odd carp. Tony was also catching well with a slightly smaller stamp of fish to John, but was catching regularly. Vic I could not see through the trees but his landing net was visible going back and forth. Mick was catching carp as he does from his close lines and any hopes of me getting an MK Nugget off him were disappearing fast. Dave nicked a couple of carp and a few skimmers, with Jim like me carp less.
By rotating all my lines, I managed to keep a few fish coming throughout the day. I had a carp with around 20 minutes to go which went nearly 7lb and was quite pleased how the Dura elastic coped with it. My weight of 27-12 was never going frame but I did learn a few lessons.
Overall
- Mick Wright 72-00
- Vic Nugent 71-12
- John Holdworth 48-00
- Tony Roberts 32-12
- Keith Ashby 27-12
- Dave Collier 27-04
- Jim Boase 22-04
No comments:
Post a Comment