Marsh AC Monks Lake 2 18.07.2020

A long road trip for this match, Monks Lakes near Maidstone, Kent.And of course due to Covid 19 no car sharing. This had the impact on Mick being unable to attend, he is fine but with new treatments, driving himself there, fishing and driving back it would all take its toll on his already ageing body.
Still i left in plenty of time and hopefully the speed cameras on both the M1 and M25 are faulty, leaving me pulling into the queue for Monks Lake. I sat in it for 10 minutes when A load of Marsh cars drive past and cut straight in. I soon followed suit and was parking the car a couple of minutes later.
The match lakes were packed with matches on lakes 1,3 and 4. Fish o Mania is there next week and a lot were getting in a bit of final practice. We had Lake 2 and the chat beforehand was about peg 67, Josh saying 400lb would be needed. Personally I thought 200lb would be a good weight on the day from anywhere.
We had pegs 45 to 77, one section on the front bank and the remaining two sections either side of the spit.
As I was fortunate to pick up a section win on my last match I was exempt from paying for this one, so when Dave asked which peg I wanted ( all folded and stapled) I said anyone. Gingerly he opened it up and peg 67 was held up. Happy days and I was off to my peg leaving a trail of moans behind me.
Peg 67 is at the end of the spit, it gives the angler loads of options, wag and bomb, method to the reed lines, Pole up and down in open water, two really great looking edges, one along the boards to the end of the spit, the other to some overhanging brambles. There is something for everyone. A chance encounter with venue regular Mike McMillan confirmed my plan and I was going to base my attack around both 6mm and 8mm pellet at 2 plus 2, and down both edges.

At the all in, I cupped in some 6mms on both my edges, the right hand side adding around 30 grains of corn, as a holding bait and option for change. I also started throwing 6mms to the 2+2 line, sometimes getting there sometimes not. The wind was blowing hard towards me and along the spit. At times it was difficult to hold the four sections. Still I could always come in closer. A few missed bites to start before a couple of skimmers around 10oz apiece graced the net. A solitary carp around 4lb put in an appearance but I was going nowhere. Clive behind me on 64 was getting a few fish. whilst John next door was catching skimmers and odd roach.

I felt they wanted some food but presenting a still bait was proving difficult. Going a whole float length over depth, grabbed a couple of carp around 8lb and after 90 minutes, I had around 25lb without my silvers. I re-fed with a couple of big pots of 6mms and had a look down both edges, nicking a 4lb fish from the left edge and a big low double from the right hand edge just before the brambles. Out again to the right and a smaller carp, but more importantly proper bites. It was at this time I made a conscious decision to drop my longer left margin line and start feeding 8mms on a top kit there instead. I was still feeding 6's to my right side and felt it was getting better, a few lulls but steadily it was buildinng a weight. After 4 hours I knew I had a ton, the clicker was doing its job.By chopping and changing pellet size, I was keeping odd fish coming. and although It was taking 5 or 10 minutes for a bite, nearly all were hooked cleanly in the top lip and by letting the red hydro take the strain, I was not losing as many as I have been recently.
Clive had struggled for the last 2 hours with only 2 carp to show to add to his previous 4hours exertions, word was Chris Thomas and Kyle Deane had caught well on the first pegs on the spit.

 I just kept my head down and never went back out to 2+2 or the left hand margin. The fish wanted to be close to the brambles in a good 2ft of water. Nice depth and proper fish, a great combination.

Overall 

1st Keith Ashby     247-04               Section Winner

2nd Chris Thomas 125-08

3rd Mark Fox       109-00                Section Winner

4th Kyle Deane     106-04                Section Winner

5th Clive Pritchard 94-12

6th John Holdsworth 71-12

7th John Drake       64-00

8th  Simon Watkins 61-12

9th Chris Withall    53-04

10th Tony Roberts 52-08

11th Dave Collier   39-08

12th Gino Exell      38-12

13th Terry Goff      35-08

14th Jim Boase      31-02

Personally I had a very enjoyable day, good company, easy traffic and plenty of lumpy fish. It was hard going elsewhere and it just goes to show how the draw can dominate the events. I drew a good peg and felt I did it justice eventually. Many thanks to Mike McMillan for words of support. And as Dave said before the match I can only win when Mick is not there. 

I am away for 9 days at Viaduct Fishery for our annual Yam Yam trip. Hopefully my form will continue and the tales of glory will follow. Tight lines all.