Alders Farm Pines lake 25 10 15

My next few matches are most likely to be at Alders Farm, with most weekends leading up to Christmas taken so it was nice to fish an open and have a bit of a practice at the same time. I am expecting to be on Pines during most of the league, so when the option to fish a knock up on there instead of Ash Lake, I was going to take it.
With the Open on Ash Lake things were running a little behind schedule so we were fishing from 1030 to 1600. But with the clocks going back we had a little more daylight. We had 7 anglers fishing Pines, Trevor Price, Ricky Quick, Jim Stubbings, Terry Lancaster, Neil Riddy and his mate Andy, plus myself. Pegs 1 to 12 were drawn and I pulled out peg 3 and I was relatively happy with that.
Peg 3 is an open water peg but with no one on peg 2 I could fish the platform and a light margin rig was set up to fish in 2ft of water just out from the platform. I also set up a customary 2+2 line which I would feed by hand with a mix of 4mm fishery pellet and a few grains of corn. My last line was to be at 12.5m with pellet on the hook, both up and down in the water. I would start off by cupping a half pot of pellet and ping a few 4mms over the top.
For immediate company I had Trevor on Peg 1 and Neil on peg 4, Trevor was going to fish the waggler at distance along the dam wall and into the corner. He also set up a pole line long to fish the brambles along the edge. Neil had set up both a waggler and feeder and a couple of pole rigs to fish deep and up in the water.
I started off fishing long and on the deck with 6mm banded pellet and after 10 minutes I had not had a bite. A switch to some Maryuku Chocco Corn saw a couple of bites, with only one gracing the landing net, the other two came off half way back. No further bites came so I switched to 2+2 and nothing, back out and shallow this time pinging around 8 pellets every 20 seconds, Fish number two fell to a pellet shallow. It was hard going, Trevor had one fish and although he was getting bites he could not hit them due to leaves on the water affecting his strike. Neil had not had a bite and was switching from long pole to pellet waggler.
I had a quick 5 minutes down the edge for nothing and another look at 2+2 but still nothing. Back out to 12.5m and another odd fish on the corn, I was still pinging around 8 pellets every 30 seconds but was cutting back on the feed due to no bites. Trevor was up to 4 fish when I had a couple of 3lb fish to catch up with him. I could not get a run of fish and it was only after the match that I thought that I should have fed heavier and got their heads down. I was getting a few liners and this was I thought from shallow cruising fish. Perhaps they were further down. Hindsight in a wonderful thing.
All in all I had a good match, did not catch a lot but one I thoroughly enjoyed, the weather was good after a slight frost the night before. It had fished hard for all of us in the open water pegs, no one really caught well, although Terry on peg 5 did have a few late fish from the tree and lost a few more. However the island pegs had fished well considering the conditions.

Overall

1st Ricky Quick            85-15

2nd Adam                     57-08

3rd Jim Stubbings        42-11

4th Keith Ashby          21-13

5th Trevor Price          19-13

6th Terry Lancaster     14-14

7th Neil Riddy             11-14

So going into next week's third winter league match I did not learn a great deal, but will need to think about feeding.

Marsh AC 17 10 15 Monks Lake 4

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and today was the last match of the Marsh AC season. I have not been able to fish with a great bunch of lads as much as I would have liked this year for a variety of reasons, but hopefully next year will be different.
Now the cold weather is setting in a lot of the members tend to put their tackle away after the Hartleylands Reservoir match which historically is at the start of October, but a few hardy souls still braved the elements at Monks Lake 4 including both Troy and I from Milton Keynes.
Troy picked us up at 0600 for the journey down, which in itself went quite well apart from missing the M25 turn off on the way down, so back up to Hemel and have another go. OOOOPPPPPssss. However the rest of the journey went well.
Arriving at the cafe at Monks we were greeted by 8 other hardy souls, or idiots if you prefer. It was a nice fresh autumnal day, grey clouds everywhere and no wind, always a benefit on Lake 4. So rather than peg it out, the general consensus was to stay in the cafe and draw from what we knew about the lake. I already had a plan in mind as to what I was going to do, Pellet at distance and maggot down the edge, plus corn at 2+2. This was going to happen no matter where I drew.
At the draw I managed to pull out 143, I think it was in a good area with an island at around 17m, Still with only 14.5 available I would hope the fish would come closer. I had around 4ft across and also 4ft at 2+2 so duplicate rigs were set up for both lines. I was surprised to plumb the margins to find 2 1/2ft on the top shelf before it dropped quite suddenly away to 3 1/2 ft. I had Dave for company on 144 and Troy a couple away on 146. Tony Roberts was sitting on 141 and I fancied this peg for a weight before the match. However, I stated that I would be happy with 50lb today, due to the cold water,
At the all in I potted 4mm pellets over to 14m and another onto the 2+2 line with a good handful of corn. My margins I would feed nearer to the time of fishing the line.
Starting off at 14m with a 6mm Amino choco spray pellet I would like to say the float went under straight away, but nothing. Dave had already had 2 fish for 8lb and I was biteless. A switch to a grain of corn, saw fish number one in the net after around 15 minutes, a foul hooked fish saw the peg die after 30 minutes, so I re-fed the line, this time with a few grains of corn and tried the 2+2 line for 15 minutes and nothing. Another look long and I was picking off odd fish on corn over pellet, but setting the world alight. Troy was getting a few on the bomb and 8mm pellet, so I tried an 8mm pellet and still nothing. Another look on the 2+2 line and again nothing, It would be a case of plugging away until the last hour. I had around 10 fish at that point along with a few small tench and skimmers from the long line. I was pinning everything on the margin with an hour and half to go I started feeding maggot in good amounts. I was still only about 30 lb behind the leaders and could make that up fairly quickly if the carp showed up. They didn't but I did hone my roach catching skills. Every cloud has a silver lining.
At the all out I knew I had been battered by Dave fishing his normal maggot approach, Troy had caught well late on as had Tony on 141.
Terry was first to weigh and set the tone with 60lb 8oz before Simon bettered that with 63lb dead. Tom placed 36-08 on the board before Tony R topped that with 41-12. My 35-04 was all I could muster which included 8lb of silvers. Dave came in with 66-08 whilst Troy ran him close with 53-04. From here the results got worse. Tony W with 21-00 to pip Gino off the next peg with 20-08 which left last to weigh Rod bring up the tail with 12-08.
Overall
1st Dave Collier      66-08
2nd SimonWatkins 63-00
3rd Terry Goff        60-08
4th Troy Hillyer     53-04
5th Tony Roberts   41-12
6th Tom Exell        36-08
Well done guys and hope to see you all next year. In the meantime I will be concentrating my efforts at Alders in the Winter League.

Alders Farm Winter League Match 2 11 10 15

Having had to miss the first match of the Alders Farm Winter League, I was looking forward to having a days fishing at a local venue. I am acting as a bit of a stop gap and filling in for teams that are short of an angler. At least I get a days fishing.
Today saw me fishing Pines Lake. A chat with Josh Blavins, would inform that the lake was fishing hard with bites at a premium. All the catches have been coming from fishing long and shallow with pellet hookbaits. Indeed the day before, Josh had won a MFS match with 136lb from peg 5.
Our team of Richard Brain, Josh Blavins and Del Smith and myself were quite hopeful of getting amongst a few fish, especially as Josh had drawn peg 5 again and I had peg 12 on Pines. The last couple of weeks have seen weights of around 40lb coming from it, so that was my target weight.
Richard had drawn peg 20 with Del on 6 on the match lake, both in decent areas and could throw up a days fishing.
I had come armed with a kilo of corn, around 6 pints of fishery 4mm feed pellets and both 6 and 8mm hard hook pellets plus a few expanders. I also mixed up some Atomic Cloud for the margins although I did not expect to catch from down the edge.
Tackle wise I set up 2 shallow rigs one a drennan dibber float taking 3 no 8 shot. The other a MW styrofoam float taking a single no 8. Both were tied to .18 Stroft and a PR36 with a band on a hair rig. A margin rig to fish to the right hand side at top 5 against the reeds. I had a good 2ft here and set to fish it with corn late on. My other rig was a DT Diamond taking 5 no8 shot, again .18 Stroft but this time with a hooklength. This was set to fish in 4ft of water on the bottom. I also had a flat bottom from top 5 to 13m and could double up this rig.My thinking being that if the fish are shallow some bait will get to the bottom.
At the all in I potted a large pot of 4mm pellet with around 25 grains of corn to 13m. A pot of pellet onto my right hand margin followed by a pot of Atomic Cloud and another half pot of 4mm's to top 5. First put in on the deep rig at 13m and nothing, so i started pinging 4 or 5 pellets over the top and after 10 minutes I was into my first fish which shed the hook at the landing net. Not the start I was hoping for. Another 10 minutes passed and fish number 2 was on but this time safely landed. With no more bites forthcoming I had a quick look over the 6m and margin lines with no joy. I was still pinging out and saw a swirl at 13m so picked up my shallow rig and I was soon into fish number 3. A bit better fish at around 3lb. Colin next door on 15 was struggling but still had 2 fish so its was close. Matt was getting a few from 16 but I could not see anyone else. After around 2 hours I had around 7 fish but I would catch only odd fish. I could not get them lined up. But by feeding regularly I was starting to get a few bites but by switching from up to down and back again I was keeping things interesting.
The next hour saw another 5 fish in the net, all taken on the new Maryuku Amino Choco spray. I had caught the earlier ones on a standard 6mm pellet and this change of bait seemed to work well. It is the first time I have used it during a match and so far so good. Hour 4 was a proper struggle for all those around me. I was going head to head with Colin, he would catch one then I would get another. It was still too close to call. I did think though that Matt was ahead of us both. Word was that Chris Telling on Peg 8 was catching well, as was peg 17. Josh was having a peg to peg battle with Nick Darke which would also be close.
My last hour was a real struggle for me. I switched to 14.5m in the hope that the fish had backed off and to my delight 5 more carp came to the net. Interestingly though all day I managed to catch most of my fish on the deck. I did have a lot of cruising fish between Colin and I but they were not feeding fish. However the odd one I caught shallow was always a better fish.
My estimate of 50lb was a little low as I ended up with 55lb 3oz, enough for halfway in the section. I managed to pip Colin by 1 fish but also lost another points by one fish, it was that close. Chris Telling won the section with 113-01 Tex was second in section with 103-01 but 3rd in section was only 60lb. Team wise we ended up joint 2nd on the day behind GOT Black.
Overall in the match itself.
1st      Gary Thorpe      161-14
2nd    Martin Greene    159-14
3rd     Glen Picton        146-02
4th     Ricky Quick       140-00
5th     Del Smith           119-15
6th     Tony Taylor       115-14
I enjoyed fishing within a team environment again and am looking forward to the next match on the 1st November, but before that I have a club match at Monks Lake in Kent.

Marsh AC Hartleylands Farm Reservoir 03 10 15

Last weekend was spent at Wickstead Park with the Grandchildren, daughter and ex wife. We had a great time in the late summer weather. So I was looking forward to getting out on the bank again. Hartleylands Farm Reservoir is shut off for matches during the months of April to September and over the years we have booked it for the first Saturday in October. It has fished well in previous years with weights up to 140lb possible. Some of the lads had been for a practice and caught well with fish up to 15lb.
Mick was my travelling partner today and we had arranged to meet up with Troy & Kris en route. We incurred plenty of fog along the way but with everyone being sensible we still made good time and pulled into the Knoxbridge café with plenty of time and a full English breakfast. Tony W, Tom and Gino were already in attendance.
It was only a short journey to Hartleylands Farm from the café and on arrival we were greeted by the rest of the Marsh AC anglers.
Mick and I have been contesting the MK Nugget throughout the year and I have been fortunate to lead this 7-2 going into this match but Hartleylands is one of his better venues, so I would have my work cut out. At the draw I pulled out peg 10, not really where I would have liked to be, as it was flat calm and no wind blowing into it, but this was the area the lads had practiced and done well from although there was no one else on the lake at the time. Mick had drawn 41, not bad seeing there are only 30 pegs on the lake, so settled into undrawn peg 2. Kris was on peg 7 a good peg with a small willow tree, plenty of fish live here and both 7&8 are known good pegs. Troy was moaning as he had peg 16. It was in the shade of another willow tree and is the first peg as you reach the lake. It is the best peg on the lake and an out and out flyer.
I decided to fish 3 lines, one at 2+2 and both margins. I had 5ft at 2+2 and by fishing a .4g DT Diamond I was able to cope with the tow, both margins had 2 1/2ft and for these I set up duplicate NG Diamonds with different hooklengths. One with a bait band hair rigged, the other with just a bare hook. Bait was corn, meat and a mixture of 4, 6 and 8mm hard pellets but feed was 4mm GOT sinkers.
Because I was expecting large fish, I potted in 2 large pots of pellet on each of the lines at the start with a few grains of corn and meat cubes to try to hold any fish coming in. I also decided to top up the margins by drip feeding little and often by hand on my right hand swim and pot on the left hand margin. My 2+2 line would be toss potted every put in.
I started off at 2+2 with corn on the hook and although I had a couple of small skimmers and a roach, I was not getting any carp. I re-fed another couple of pots of pellet and moved to the left hand margin. After around 5 minutes the float dipped and I was into my first carp, around 6lb with a strategically placed hook impaled in the tail. No more bites from this swim so to the right hand side. I had been dripping in pellet and decided to try a banded 8mm. I was getting movement on the float but nothing hittable. The float was moving side to side but no dips or buries. I switched to a 6mm and this seemed to do the trick as I connected with a couple of carp, but lost them, I think they may have been foul hooked, so I switched to a softer elastic and shortened the length of the rig by 2 inches. Again this seemed to work as I was now hooking fish in the mouth and my next couple of fish were soon in the net, as long as you did not rush them. This line went quiet, so I had another look to the left and nothing. Back out to 2+2 and another couple of skimmers before the elastic stretched out and did not move. Shipping back to a top kit the elastic was still in the same place and I thought I had snagged the bottom, when slowly I could see the elastic retracting and moving towards me. I decided to keep the pole tip low and ease it back gently just using the puller kit to gain line. After around, what seemed an age I could see a large mirror carp around 12lb hooked in the side. It was just out of netting reach and as I went to get the net the hook pulled out, damn or words to the effect.
I could see Al on the next peg catching well on the method right into the corner and although they were small fish(2lb to 3lb) he was putting a weight together. Terry was bagging on peg 8 by the willow and word was that Tony R and Clive were catching well. Jim was getting a few on peg 6.
Back into the margins and I was now getting a few fish on a banded 6mm pellet. It was now 4 hours in and I needed a good couple of hours of catching fish to do any good. However it was not meant to be and I really struggled to put a run of fish together, just picking off odd fish.
Word around the lake was that Troy had emptied it, Terry had caught well but it would be close amongst the rest.
Starting off on peg 1 would be Rod who placed a level 16lb on the board to take an early lead. It was short-lived though as Mick put a fine 76-4 to take over at the top,( it could be close for the nugget). Tony was next who took the biggest fish honours on the day with a fine 16lb fish in his total of 50lb dead. Tom was next and a peg to peg battle with Gino which went in the favour of Gino by 40-4 to x31-8.  Jim took over at the top fishing meat and polony with a level 99lb. Kris was next to weigh with 59-0 before Terry was first to break the ton with 151-0 from peg 8. Al was next and although he was admitting to 60lb I knew he had nearer the ton as I could see him all day. His 97-4 was closer to my estimation than his and should have been more as he was catching on the method early doors and decided to switch to the pole hoping for better fish.
My catch of 82-4 would get me half way up the leaderboard but I was never in the race really. Al's son Gary chipped in with 31-8 from peg 11 before Tony R placed another near ton and 97-4, having lost more than he caught. Chris placed 51-12 from peg 13 before Dave tipped 80-12 onto the scales. Next up was Clive, who is leading the petition to turn the complex into a Tesco's car park. So far he has one signature, with a weight of 149-0. Troy was last to weigh and looking at his 5 nets in the water you knew he had a good day. After 6 weigh's his total of 236-12 was more than enough to win. Well done Troy. Now stop moaning about your peg, there all flyers that you pull out.

Overall

                 1st Troy Hillyer                       236-12                

2nd Terry Goff                          151-00

3rd Clive Pritchard                    149-00

4th Jim Etherington                     99-00

5th Tony Roberts                         97-04

6th Al Loader                               96-12

Still it was a good day out fishing in good company again. I took another MK Nugget off Mick but had to give a nugget to Troy, at least it was not mine. Next up for me is the second round of the Alders Farm Winter League. I missed the first match because of this match but am now available for the rest of the series. Happy days

Marsh AC Claygate Sophie's 19 09 15

I have only managed to fish a couple of Marsh matches this year but with my change in work pattern I am able to commit to a few extra ones. The first of these was at Claygate Lakes complex in Kent. The lake we were fishing was Sophie's Lake, a snake lake ranging from 11m to 16m across. Pegging is tight and across has a lot of vegetation overhanging the water's edge.
Troy kindly picked me up today with Mick having to work. A clear journey down and a stop off for a Monk's Lake breakfast stick, we arrived with around 15 minutes to spare. With monies paid and keepnets collected from the fishery, it was draw time. Peg 7 stuck to my mitt, with Chris Withall one side and Tony Roberts the other. Completing our section was Simon Watkins on peg 10. Tony and Simon both had an inviting reed bed across at around 12m and bushes on the near bank. Both were decent pegs and highly fancied. Meanwhile Chris and I had some overhanging bushes but getting to the far bank would prove tricky. I had a decent depth at 4+2 with 5ft and 3ft at 10m and 18 inches tight to the far bank. Bait would be 4mm GOT Bait Sinkers for feeding, 6mm GOT sinkers for the hook, a small amount of 8mm pellets, a couple of tins of cubed 6mm meat and some left over corn from Tuesday's match.
Rigs were a MW Diamond .4g to cover the 5ft deep swim down the track which I would feed heavily with 4mm pellet, micros and a good helping of corn and meat. There are some decent bream in the lake and if I could connect to one of them it could be 10lb plus Across at 10m I fished a NG diamond in a .2g with a simple bulk shotting pattern. For across I started off fishing with a NG Ghandi .1g with a hair-rigged band. I also set up one of MW Styro foam margin floats just in case of a breakage.
Now I struggled last week fishing shallow in open water, now thinking about it I do not know why. I can fish in 12 inches to 18 inches of water at 12m with overhanging bushes and trees so why not in open water. Silly really when you think about it like that. Perhaps it's a mind set and it really affected me last time out, but you learn and realise that you can do things if you assess your performance and analyse it.
At the all in I potted two large pots of 4mm pellet and micros with another of corn and meat down the track. I potted another pot of pellet at 10m to my left and pinged a few 4mms regularly across to the far bank. I started off on this line for around 15 minutes with nothing to show for it. Both Tony and Simon were straight into fish across to the reeds. I noticed a few bubbles down the track but wanted them to settle for a bit longer, so switched to the 10m line with a single cube of meat. I had a few bites on this but missed them all leaving me trailing Tony by 5 fish before I switched to the 8m line down the track. I managed to nick a few f1's to around 2lb to close the gap slightly. After an hour it went quiet so I re-fed this line with another two pots of pellet and started pinging again at 12m. Baiting up with a 6mm pellet on a hair rig I edged the bait across. Ping ping and the float buries and a carp of around 3lb, ping ping again and another f1. I managed to steadily claw my way in front of both Tony and Simon, who unfortunately broke his 12m section in the process. Chris was picking up odd silver's (as he does) .
With 3 hours gone I reckoned on around 15 carp and f1's for around 25lb along with a couple of chub and an odd skimmer. Hour 4 was another good hour, putting around 20lb in the net. The lake was fishing hard but if I could maintain that catch rate I would be on for my target weight of 70lb. However, it looked as if the fishing would catch up with me as I seemed to lose my way in the fifth hour with only a couple of  fish coming from the 12m line but away from the feed area. All my lines were now slowing down drastically and I was struggling for a bite, I tried different areas of the peg to try to change my fortunes but to no avail and I ended the match feeling I was short of the target.
Dave Collier was first to weigh, from peg 28, not the peg he drew but apparently he is the chairman and match organiser, to be fair it would have been awkward to fish the other peg as it was very close to Tony Watkins peg. Anyway Dave had 26-12 to Tony's 25-08. Clive Managed to put 11-0 on the scales before Gino who won the last match to place a single skimmer and a roach for a solitary 1-0 weight. Rod did not weigh in, At least Gino beat one side. Tom placed 6-04 before Terry started an upturn in weights and 14-04. I told you it fished hard. Troy had an enjoyable day with 23-12 to leap into 3rd place. Simon's weight of 14 -04 surprised me slightly as I thought he had more and was looking for another net from him but it was not to be. Tony had crept in front of Simon with 18 -04 before my estimate of 30lb ( Pinocchio is back) to the waiting audience sent the scales around one and settled of 56lb. Chris finished off the weigh in with 22-08.

Overall

1st Keith Ashby          56-00

2nd Dave Collier        26-12

3rd Tony Watkins       25-08

4th Troy Hillier           23-12

5th Chris Withall        22-08

6th Tony Roberts        18-04

So a good end to the week and a match win, Troy picked up a section win so the van trip home was enjoyable, especially as West Ham beat Man City 2-1 as well. A good day by anyones standards. 

Alders Farm Pines Lake 15 09 15

It seems ages since I have been fishing and it must be the case because I have been away for a fortnight in Turkey and done a complete block of work before wetting a line. This was to be my last Tuesday match for a considerable amount of time due to changes taking place at work and myself being seconded to a different pattern of work for a year. So I was keen to do well.
Fourteen anglers booked into the match and with the whole lake to ourselves we could spread anglers out giving everyone a bit of room. With all monies paid it was onto the draw. My home would be peg 5, a decent peg in a decent area. I was happy as I had a bit of depth to work the corn and a nice margin with very little debris. I had for company Charlie Lancaster on 3 and Nick Wooding on 7.
As I always do I set up a standard top 4 with both strung out rig and a bulk straight out and another top 4 for fishing the end of the tree. All were tied to .18 Stroft and a size 16 PR36. I also set up a margin rig in 18 inches of water which I could double up as a shallow rig at 11m.
Bait was 2 kilo of corn and 2 bags of fishery 4mm pellet.
At the all in I fed both the top four lines and started on the shallow rig at 11m fishing a 6mm pellet and feeding the 4mm's. After a bit of banter from Trevor Price it was soon up the bank. I must admit now. I NEVER fish shallow, I do not know how to. I have no idea what rigs to use, how to hold the pole and feed accurately with a catapult or anything else associated with shallow fishing, but I thought I would give it a go. You have to try sometime.
I moved on to the top 4 lines straight out which I had been feeding 4 grains every 30 seconds or so and waited for the fish to come, they never did. I tried the tree top 4 and exactly the same, nothing, no bites no liners. Changes to shotting did not make any difference and after 2 hours I had one fish taken on the top 4 straight out rig fished at 11m (about a foot off bottom). I was not setting the world alight as you can tell, but I was not alone, everyone was struggling except Terry Lancaster who was catching shallow on peg 26. Colin Spencer and Del Smith had a couple of fish each and Ernie Waterfall was picking off a few from peg 1.
I could not buy a bite close in, top 4 or closer, so opted to practice my shallow fishing for the remainder of the match. HAHAHA.
I was fishing my margin rig when the wind was not blowing as I could see the float in the dark shadows of the trees and I was getting odd dinks and not connecting with many, but occasionally I would connect and the Orange NG Elastic would come out of the pole. When I had a ripple I fished a deeper rig but this time with a dark bristle to aid bite detection. I had also changed to a size 18 PR36 which seemed to help, I was foulhooking less and a bite was a proper bite. I also found that by sitting at an angle I could hold the pole better whilst feeding with a catty. Still bloody hard work though.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, or a short story shorter, I ended up with 8 fish on the shallow rig. I never had a touch on a top 4 or closer. At the weigh in I knew I would be last but I had learnt a few things along the way. Others had confirmed it had fished below standard and the top weights were all taken in the last part of the match.

Overall

1st   Colin Spencer               96-03

2nd Terry Lancaster             74-09

3rd Nick Pringle                  66-13

4th Henry Williams             63-13

5th Trevor Price                  63-00

6th Ade Freeman                 59-03

All in all, I enjoyed today, I learnt a few lessons, whether they are right or not I don't know but think dibber style floats are better than bristles in calm conditions, I fished too heavy all the way through, elastics and lines. A size 18 is about right. A hair rigged pellet may be better than a band but never tried this. Who knows?

Alders Farm Ash Lake Cheap Tuesday 04 08 15

It seems like ages since I mentioned the MK Nugget matches, mainly due to circumstances beyond our control, but both Mick and I were booked into the Tuesday Open at Alders Farm. We would also have a good turnout with 17 anglers booked in. Trevor was busy preparing orders for shipment but would fish. A welcome sight was Mark Quick fishing again, he spends a lot of time at Alders yet rarely get his gear out. All the usual suspects were there but also some faces I had not seen before. Lads from Dunstable and even one lad from Stoke. I thought Colin, Ernie and Aidy travelled a bit.
We had the Café bank and the first four pegs on the shallows as well as a couple of pegs on the Dam Wall leaving 23 to 26 spare for any pleasure anglers.
With everyone handing over their money and pools and peg fees sorted, it was onto the draw. Lee Newson on peg 1, Colin Spencer on peg 2 (does he fish any other bank) Stuart Theobald on 3, Trevor Price on 4, my Nemesis Mick on 5, Aidy Freeman on 6. Henry Williams on 7 and Ash Bunnage on 8. Terry Lancaster was on 10 with Dennis Simpson on 12. Tim Jolley on 15, Ernie Waterfall on 18 with Mark Quick on 21( when he does fish he can half draw), Paul Higgins on 27 with Owen Smith on 28. I drew peg 29 with Derek Smith drawing end peg 30.
Looking at the draw beforehand I thought Colin and Del would take some stopping, But with Trevor 4 anything was possible, the rest I thought would have a good match and it would be close for the minor places.
I started my match fishing a topkit plus one as I found whilst plumbing up that it was a little deeper here. Going out to 2+2 would see the peg shallow up about 2inches, not a lot but maybe a difference. I did spend a lot of time plumbing up especially in the margins as there are odd holes scattered about the lake. I was fishing my normal corn but today I wanted to try something different. I potted a full pot into the swim followed by a pot of 4mm fishery pellet and started the throw afterwards. I do not normally do this but needed to try things out. However it did not seem to work too well, I had 8 fish in the first hour and although doing ok in the match as the pegs opposite were struggling I was not confident in the peg getting better. I primed up both margins with loose fed corn and had a quick look down both taking one fish from the right hand side.
Back out to the long line this time 2+2 and up the ledge, this was better and a steady stream of 2lb fish were coming to the net. With 3 hours gone I reckoned on having 30 fish but they were small and taking an age to land. It was a case of plugging away, I could see the far bank catching including Mick and could hear splashing in Del's peg and Owen's next door so it was blinkers on time. Hour 4 saw me catching a couple of fish and then waiting for bites. I had another quick look down both edges and although fish were swirling in the peg, I could not get any positive takes. I would now leave this until the last half hour. Still putting a few fish in the net on 2+2 held short on single corn before a rig was trashed and I decided to spend the last amount of time down the left hand edge. At last a couple of 4lb fish were biting and although I had 6 in as many put ins, at the end they just came to late for me.
Overall
1st Aidy Freeman                    Peg 7             265-05
2nd Del Smith                         Peg 30           254-09
3rd Colin Spencer                   Peg 2             229-14
4th Mark Quick                      Peg 21           186-12
5th Trevor Price                      Peg 4             174-05
6th Mick Wright                     Peg 5             167-05
7th Keith Ashby                     Peg 29            166-12
Another match over and only one left before a couple of weeks in the sun for me. The lake fished well again after a slow start and it was noticeable that those who carried on feeding throughout the quiet spells caught in the end. I must also admit defeat to Mick, who has started his comeback in the MK Nugget stakes to make it 7-1. It is only on loan Mick and I want it back. I mean 9oz is only half a fish.