Marsh AC Monks Lake 1 17.08.2019

I had booked a days holiday way back in February for Monks Lake 1. I have only fished it once and then I was pegged right at the top of the spit where it goes round the corner, peg 12 I think was. I did not do very well that day, ending up about 5th or 6th if I remember correctly. Today was all about putting some fish in the net.
I had travelled down on my own, Troy was working, Kris on holiday and Mick recovering from being harpooned. I made good time and with little or no delays. For once the M1/M25 and M2 combination seemed to work. Arriving just behind Tony into the car park and laughing to myself that he missed the turning. Still at least when I reach his age, I still hope to be driving.A bacon baguette and a mug of tea later I was ready. My positive mental attitude had kicked in.
There was another couple of matches on the other lakes 2 and 3 and a few pleasure anglers bivvied up on lake 4 so parking was a bit tight but we all managed to squeeze in and unload the tackle. With monies taken and the pegs decided on, it was draw time. Peg 7 for me, a couple of pegs from where I was last time. I had caught then down the edges but the lake looked well down since then. Terry was sitting on that peg , whilst Josh was on Micks winning peg (8)from last year. I was not sure where the sections run from though as for some strange reason we had 5 on one side of the spit and 7 on the other.
I tackled up to fish top fours and a long line if the wind stopped enough. It was blowing from left to right into the car park bank. I set up a couple of rigs .3g and .5g MW Hi Viz Margins to .19 to .15 KKMB hook length in size 14.. Another set for fishing the longer 11m line where there was very little difference in depth. a couple of margin rigs finding 18 inches of water, tight in I barely had 6 inches. A shallow rig for slapping finished off the set ups. In hindsight I think I should have set up a method rod for across to the empty far bank. Bait would be the usual array of pellets, 4s, 6s and 8s. I had also cubed up 3 tins of meat.
At the all in I cupped in a pot of mixed 4s and 6s onto the long line and top four line, I put a pot to the empty pallet next door permanent peg 15 but added a few cubes of meat.
Starting off on the top fours with an 8mm banded pellet, I did not need to wait long for my first bite, a skimmer around 10oz, out again and another. Then nothing. A look to the pallet and a carp around 5lb on 8mm cube of meat. Re-feeding the pallet line I stopped the 4s and 6mm pellets and fed a pot of 8mm pellets and meat. Back onto the top four and another carp around 3lb. An hour in I had 2 carp and 3 skimmers for around 10lb, not the start I wanted. Terry had caught a good fish and Gino was catching well on the tip. Josh had not had a fish and was fretting about blanking. Behind me Clive and Tony were picking off odd fish.
I kept plugging away and found that by adding a few inches to the rig I could hold it still. The tow was quite strong and by holding it still the bites were positive dips on the float. The only issue I had was a lot of them were foul hooked fish but it was a balance that worked. Running the float through would not get a bite, holding it still would get a bite with a 50/50 ratio of foul hookers.
Terry was now catching carp from all over the peg, Josh had started catching a few carp and out performing both Gino on his right and myself. Chris, a bit further down was catching silvers and was bagging.
By the all out I had secured 12 carp and a few skimmers. I have foul hooked and lost around 6 carp which has cost me today.
Overall
1st John Holdsworth    91-04
2nd Gino Exell             82-04
3rd Dave Collier          75-08
4th Josh Donovan        71-12
5th Chris Withall          60-00
6th Keith Ashby          56-00

Chairman Dave fished for 6hrs and 75lb

Is that it!!!!!!!!!

Clive and part of his 53lb

Just sneaking into the top half with 56lb

Josh with part of his 71lb

Gino into 2nd place with 82lb of method fish

Chris and 41lb of silvers

Foxy and a 16lb lump

Well done to all the framers and section winners but especially to John whose catch included 38lb of silvers on dead reds and later on with corn. However, John,s weight was surpassed by Chris, who placed 41lb of silvers onto the scales. An extremely good weight on a difficult day.
Next match is at Colemans Cottage on Stepfield Lake  in a fortnight, hopefully Mick will be able to attend and we can resume our nugget matches.