Marsh AC Colemans Cottage Stepfield 22.09.2018

How a couple of weeks can make a difference in fishing, the weather was great at the start of the month, now we have Storm Ali closely followed by storm Bronagh,. Luckily I am not a fine weather angler. The strange thing is it always coincides with matches at Coleman's Cottage, looking back there are plenty of times I have driven with condensation on the windows where everything inside the car is soaking wet.
Pulling up to Mick's house, I could see he was ready with all the tackle on his driveway. We were soon off for the 80 minute drive along the M1, M25 and A12 to Witham. The weather was fine at this point and it was great putting the world to right with the Mick as we have been working different times recently.
Arriving in plenty of time for a Coleman's Breakfast is always good and plenty of changes have taken place to the cafe since my last visit,all for the better. A few of the other lads were already in attendance and discussing the forthcoming match and analysing their performances from the last one.
With the pools money leaving my pocket, Dave started off informing us of the rules of the fishery and which pegs we were to fish. We had plenty of room with the pegging from 2 to 20, that's until I pulled out 22, the match organiser's job is not a happy one, but with every other peg and 11 of us on it I suppose 2 to 22 was right. Still where Simon had contrived to get the "end peg" it was snatched away from him by me. Mick had also managed the other end peg in peg 2. At least we were not together, as often happens.
Setting up home on 22, I felt confident of a few fish, plenty of depth out, shallow margins but there were a few fish swimming past that could be seen.
I was going to try to nick a couple of early carp, down the edge before going out to 2+2 and sacking up before going back to the edges late on. That was the plan, however we only had around a foot of water two metres from the bank and only 8 inches closer in. The other side was a little deeper but was awkward fishing due to the trees.
At 2+2 I had around 3ft which was perfect for the pellet attack to follow. I had based all my efforts around pellets for this match. We had been told it was fishing well for F1s and the carp were not showing, this may have been due to the warmer weather, but today was different, it was cooler and the onset of autumn was starting to show. It was starting to rain and looking to the skies was going to be set for the day.
I started off the match feeding a mix of micros and 4mm pellets onto both the margin lines and 2+2 lines and within minutes I could see fish coming into the peg, heads down and then leaving the margins. I left it for a while trying to see if there was a pattern to the entering and leaving of the peg. I managed to take three carp from this line by fishing at the entry point which was by a set of reeds at 2 plus one to the left. The second hour I had a look at the 2+2 line and nothing, not a murmur, lifting dropping, fishing bigger,smaller pellets, shallow were all tried. Fish were still coming into both margins but I was only catching from the shallow one.
It was extremely frustrating, I could see fish coming in and feeding, then bypassing my bait and moving on. I swapped hooklengths down to .13 line diameters and changed hooks to a size 18 KKMB and still I would only get an odd bite.

Dave putting his new pole through its paces

I really felt that during the match I would have been better off fishing maggot, considering the depth of water, but although I know the water does respond to maggot, I had not brought any with me. P£$% Poor Preparation.

Simon explaining his paste approach. 1 fish succumbed to it.

Still I stuck it out for the five hours, nicking odd fish. I could not see anyone else, so did not have a clue how the match had gone. I had caught some fish, but I assumed the others had fared well as the better pegs were on the corner, pegs 8 and 10. The wind was blowing down to that end of the lake and always seem to hold a few resident fish. A quick chat with Simon before the weigh in and a 61lb admission, whereas I thought I had around 50lb.
It had rained all day getting progressively worse as the day wore on. Starting off on Mick's Peg two I was very surprised to see him lift 20lb to the scales, Rod had not had a bite, Terry on 6 had fared just as bad with 12lb before we got to peg 8 and Clive, two weighs and 83lb, just goes to show a good angler on a good peg will always do well. Gino on the other flyer 10 had another frustrating day and 40lb. The reverend Tony Roberts must have cursed his way to 36lb, John placed 29lb and by now I was thinking I had done well, I could not catch Clive but the others were in my grasp. Dave placed 42lb with a mix of carp and and 7lb of silvers to snatch second off Gino. Kyle, fresh from his last match successes, placed 36lb on the scales. Simon was next and his estimation of 61lb was not too far away with 64lb going onto the weigh sheet. I was last to weigh in and using two weighs placed 63lb on the scales to miss out on the section win by a pound.
Still at least I had the comfort of another MK Nugget off Mick to make the score now 10-5 in my favour.
Well done to Clive and Simon on winning the match and section prizes.
Next match will be at Hartleylands Reservoir on October 6th. Looking forward to this one, having not fished it under the new ownership.
Keith 10
Mick 5

Joseph James Law Alders Farm 14.09.2018

Every now and again you have dealings with a company or business and think to yourself, I enjoyed that, they have gone that extra mile. Joseph James Law have pushed the boundaries and are now setting the bench mark for team fishing in this country. Not content with being a main sponsor of the England Ladies Team, Andrew Settle and his team of volunteers and helpers from his law firm have for the last two years (today being the third) run a team event at Alders Farm Fishery.

The format consists of 5 anglers per team with a non fishing captain, who does the draw, can place his anglers and be on hand to assist with the weigh in and if needed do a bit of fetching and carrying.Each angler is then allocated a section on a particular lake with 2 sections on Pines, 2 sections on Ash and a section on Oaks. Points are awarded relating to the final placing in the section with the lowest points total winning the event and £1000. There is also a prize for runners-up and individual winner.
I had decided a while back that I would be happy to be on hand to assist the Maggotdrowning .com team in any capacity that they needed as I had fished the previous two years. I was going to be there anyway just to watch a few anglers, but did not expect to find out I was in the squad. It is a local water to me but I had not been able to put any real time into the water to sort out a few things,but I had done well in the Marsh AC and Maggotdrowning Pairs Matches to give me a sense for the place.
So the squad was Peter (Captain) Dave { Red Leader) Trevor Drakes, Clive Pritchard and Mark Skeggs and myself.
At the draw Pete decided to give his travelling partner, one of best pegs on the complex, let alone the lake. Peg 30 was Dave's home for the next five hours, I had peg 26, not one I had fished before but I knew it was shallow. Clive and Trevor were up on Pines 19 and 23 with Mark volunteering to bite the bullet and fish the Specimen Lake Oaks (not sure of the peg number).
After pointing out to Dave, how good the peg was, I took the stroll around to my peg. I must admit it did look good. I was next to 27, a good peg in its own right with a bit more depth than mine, but it was not in my section so I was not too concerned by what was happening to my left and opposite. For company I had one of the England under 15 anglers on peg 25, Billy Kirk. I set my stall out to catch on a 6mm hard pellet with a bit of corn and maggot as a back up for last couple of hours if I was struggling. Feeding would be 4mm fishery pellets.
The prestige in winning this event grows each year with some of the best anglers in the country fishing and many more not making the teams. There are teams from Guru, Preston Innovations, Garbolino, Drennan, Maver UKA, Colmic, Maryuku, England U15s, Joseph James Law, Mallory Park, Maver UKB and of course the mighty Maggotdrowners. The teams consisted of some of the best match angling names including Fisho champions, ex-England Internationals, and countless other big match winners. They were taking us seriously!!!!!!!!
I started my match fishing long, I had around 2ft at 12.5m fishing a 6mm pellet, After a couple of minutes I had my first bite, unfortunately it came off on the way back, out again and the same thing happened. Third time lucky and a fish around 4lb, I was off and running. It was fishing hard, I had 3 fish in the first hour for about 10lb.

A switch to the 2 plus two line and a single fish and no more bites. I kept rotating long and short, swapping and changing all tthe time, trying to make something work or at least put a run together, maggot brought a solitary skimmer. I was a little behind in the match and was struggling to keep fish on the hook. I only had around 12 inches of water to fish in and with that sort of depth there is only so much that can be done. In hindsight a smaller float would have worked more effectively. Easy when it is over. Lesson learnt.
After 3 hours I was going nowhere and started to feed the margins with maggot, feeding around 30 or 40 maggots every put in. It was like a switch had clicked on, Regular bites and although I was losing one for every one caught I was putting fish in the net. Young Billy was matching me fish for fish and it was great to see a young man, passionate about his chosen sport. Constantly wanting to learn and asking questions of his mother. Further along I could see Chris Barley catching.
At the all out I had suffered a frustrating day, I had lost more than I landed, a lot of them were foul hooked but I must admit I made a few mistakes along the way, these are the mistakes that seperate us from the gods of our sport, they never seem to blow out.
Our section was won by Chris Barley with 125-10, Ed Warren was second with 102lb and Andy Oldham third with 94lb. My weight of 61-12 was just behind Billy's 66-02 for 9th in my section of 12. Lost fish have cost me but I suppose everyone would be saying the same.
Overall the individual honours went to Guru star Pete Upperton with 186lb from peg 29 on Ash Lake, next to Red leader Dave.
Unfortunately, our woes continued throughout the team, Dave had 74lb for top weight for the maggotdrowners. Trevor had 50lb Clive 36lb and Mark 20+lb including a cracking 16lb carp taken on the pole from the Specimen lake.

Mark with his 16lb carp

On the team front Preston Black Horse won the £1000 prize pot and the prestigious JJL Winners trophy for 2018.narrowly beating Mallory Park.

Adam Rooney with 67lb of carp from Oaks Lake

 Darren Cox with 38lb of immaculate Perch from Oaks Lake

Founder of Joseph James Law , Andrew Settle with 53lb of Carp from Peg 14 Ash Lake

Overall, it has been an amazing day, full of good laughs, fished in the right manner by everyone involved. Special thanks must go to the owners of Alders Farm Fishery for use of the fishery and providing the catering both before and after the event. To all the volunteers and helpers who have given up a day's work to look after us. To Catch More Media and Tom Scholey who has captured the day for posterity. Thanks to Trevor Price, the fisheries go to guy, he knows every peg and gave up his preparation time to make sure every angler had a plan of what,where and how to catch from their peg. 

And finally, to Andrew Settle and his team, without them this event would never happen. They had the foresight to follow an idea, a passion that drives them forward and if such determination is put into your legal services, then your dealings with them can only be fruitful. Bear them in mind when you need legal advice. 

Puddledock Farm Road Lake Marsh AC 08.09.2018

Three weeks have passed since I managed to wet a line, seems like an eternity but family commitments took priority and softened the blow. The weather has changed a bit since my last outing where I was sat in shorts and today I needed to where a hoodie, just to take the edge off.
Mick was driving, so it was a good chance to catch up properly. In fact, it was around junction 28 of the M25 before we spoke about fishing.
We were second to arrive at the fishery, Kevin and Jean were calmly waiting for the cafe to open whilst I popped into the tackle shop on site and grabbed myself another towel, mine was found this morning with a lovely set of mouse holes. Slowly the gathered anglers arrived and full English's were delivered promptly.
Dave had arranged with the fishery that we would have one bank and this suited us, it is only a small club and with other anglers unable to make it, it still allowed us all a bit of room. So with breakfast's out of the way and monies paid, we were all stood around Dave's car awaiting the draw. Simon had brought along his future son in law, Kyle, who was just getting back into fishing. It was agreed that they could fish in adjacent pegs as they would be sharing tackle, Kev and Rod had short walks, Mick had his customary end peg leaving the rest of us to draw for pegs. Mine would be half way up the lake on permanent peg 23. At least I had the Chairman next to me.
I have had a lot of decent results recently fishing pellet and corn, it seems to work well and suits my style of fishing. Today would be no different, I would be feeding 4mm Alders Farm Pellets with a generous mix of corn fed regularly to start the session. I opted for a long line at 12.5m where I had the same depth as fishing at 5m. So a couple of MW floats .19 N Guage to a size 16 KKMB hook, something new to try. I set up one rig on black hydro, the other on orange vespe. A shallow rig for fishing the margin, and a couple of rigs set at 2ft for the right hand edge where it dropped off quite sharply.
I started off quite slowly feeding all my lines with a pole cup before going long and glancing around seeing Mick landing a fish. I could also hear Simon asking Kyle if he had caught one. Personally I did not have anything for around 10 minutes. I was getting small indications on the float and slight adjustments to the float eventually saw a small koi carp about a pound come to the net. A couple of small carp before a 2lb plus fish put in an appearance. After an hour I reckoned on 4 small carp and a couple of koi, another carp around 3lb for a total of 12lb. Apparently I was doing well.
A 30 minute spell slapping brought another couple of small carp but nothing to really stretch the elastic. I had been feeding the 5m line with corn regularly and a bit of pellet, it was time to have a look. First put in on corn and the float buries and a good skimmer around 2lb, next put in another, a better 4lb carp and I was beginning to think hey ho. Still it was short lived and the bigger fish were replaced with small skimmers and koi with odd roach and odd carp thrown in all on the pellet.
I could see Mick was nicking a few fish but they did seem small,still it gave his new pole a run out. Tony had popped down to try to put a curse on me, Simon and Kyle were having a private battle between themselves. Chairman Dave was getting a few fish, and I even mentioned to him that there were plenty of silvers to be had if he wanted them.
I kept on rotating my lines and not staying longer than 30 minutes on each one, something I have been guilty of in the past. I would grab a few fish, then move and start again.
Going into the last hour I reckoned on around 50lb in the net and decided to go down the edges for the last hour. 10 fish later and I was happy, I had fished a good match and felt confident of a frame place.
Mick was first to weigh in and although I had seen him catching a few, they were the only ones he caught. Another end peg wasted and 22-08, Tony was next from his corner peg, a solid performance from the Reverend and 9lb 8oz of silvers to go with 25 -08 for a 35-00 total. Terry slipped 26-12 onto the scales and this was fast becoming the quickest weigh in Marsh AC had ever encountered. Chairman Dave put 17-08 on the scales thanks to 4 late carp. Onto me, my first silvers net went 22-00. I only needed 9 ounces for another MK Nugget off Mick. With him watching on intently my second net went 60-08 for a clear cut section win and more importantly another of Mick's Nuggets.
Kyle was next up and placed a solid 42-00 onto the scales for second place. Simon cut short Kyle's joy though with 43-12 to push him down to third.
Rod chipped in with 5-08 before Kevin finished with 16-12.

Overall

1st Keith Ashby         82-08

2nd Simon Watkins   43-12

3rd Kyle                   42-00

4th Tony Roberts      35-00

5th Terry Goff           26-12

6th Mick Wright        22-08

Overall, the lake did not fish well and to be fair there was a lot of pressure on them, The opposite bank was full and although we had a bit of room the fish did not turn up til late. It was a case of nick  a few and move, nick a few more and move. Still I enjoyed the day, It is always good to fish venues where you need to think about what you are doing. Next stop for me is on Friday on the Joseph James Law match at Alders Farm, a truly great event and plenty of very good anglers to compete against. Again I do not expect any form of result on the day, but I will know I would have enjoyed it.

Keith 9

Mick 5

Marsh AC Orchard Farm Lake 6 18.08.2018

With the week days fully booked up until October, I have really started to enjoy getting out on the bank at weekends. I know they are club matches but the craic and banter is well worth a 200 mile round trip.Today would see both Mick and I travelling back to Kent, we were there a fortnight ago plundering the Monks Lake 2 carp. This time another venue that I had only fished once before, Lake 6 at Orchard Farm fishery.
My turn to drive and with no idea where I was going it was down to the trusted Garmin to take us there, and to be fair it did, although I must question what it constitutes as a road. Still, arriving nice and early we were greeted by Gino, Terry and Simon at the on site cafe. Tony and Clive joined us fairly soon after and once breakfast was out of the way it was a short drive to the lake.
Dave was already orchestrating proceedings only becoming of the Chairman. Monies, pegging and draw went smoothly with me nearly sneaking in front of Mick only for my hand to suddenly retract at the last minute. Mick draws first, what was I thinking? With a scolding look on his face, he goes into the hat and draws end peg 1, something do not change. For my misdemeanour, I was going to make peg 9 my home for the day.
Walking around everyone seemed happy with their draws, so the match should be a good one on paper.
Last time I was here was over a year ago, on that day I caught steadily throughout, using pellet hook-baits and feeding 4mm sinking pellets.  With plenty of room in front of me I planned to fish up and down on a top kit plus one and two. Setting up kits with various depths from 8 inches to 2 ft all with orange vespe elastics as I was expecting it to be fast and furious. No messing around with rigs, .3g MW Margin floats .22 line and a size 14 B911x.  6 pints of 4mms would suffice as I would be fishing a banded 6mm over the top.
I had Rod to my right and he would be fishing either a float or tip match but Clive, Terry and Gino would take some beating from the better pegs towards the point of the spit. I could see Mick on peg 1 from where I was and could keep an eye on him throughout the day. Simon was pleased with his peg, nice open water to fish up in the water, a method he excels at.
I would start the match feeding 10 pellets every 30 seconds trying to tempt the fish up in the water. After a few false starts and liners on my 2ft rig I switched to a rig around 12 inches and this seemed to work better with my feeding regime. I was getting a fish every couple of minutes, still feeding around 10 pellets every put in. I would place the rig in and if no bite within 10 seconds start again, However, the feeding never changed. I was going well, not big fish like Monks Lake 2 but regular fish around the 2lb mark and after an hour I had 25 fish with Simon admitting to 30, so I was a little behind. Terry and Clive were both catching up in the water whilst Mick was getting stuck into the edge fish.
Surprisingly, I managed to keep fish coming throughout the match from the same line, whereas normally when I fish for f1's I need to rotate lines regularly, nicking a couple of fish from one line before going onto the next, continually rotating the lines.However the fish were moving up and down in the water column.
At the all out I thought I had around 150 fish. Clive was admitting to 137 and Simon a mammoth 182. Mick had a sneaky grin on his face and that meant he had caught well throughout the match.

Mick was first to place his catch onto the scales and after multiple weighs settled on 244-04, a tough target for the MK Nugget challenge. Simon was next from peg 2 and after what seemed an eternity, net after net came to the scales and 385-08. Chris managed 79-08 before Chairman Dave placed 108-08. The Reverend Tony Roberts got among the double tonners with 241-12 and only 3rd in section. Amazing set of weights.
Into the second section and Gino, from the peg I fished the previous year, 202lb and another happy angler, unfortunately it will only be good enough for 4th in a 5 peg section. Terry and Clive had been going hammer and tong with each other throughout the match and it was too tight to call. Terry weighing first and 259lb dead.

Clive followed this weight with 257lb dead. One fish in it at the end.

Onto myself and I had a good day 150 fish and a total of 326lb despite going over in my nets. Rod was last to weigh in and had secured another enjoyable day where the tip went round and the float buried. His weight of 41lb was not going to win the match but his enjoyment certainly helped ease his pain.

Overall

1st Simon Watkins   385-08

2nd Keith Ashby     326-00

3rd Terry Goff         259-00

4th Clive Pritchard   257-00

5th Mick Wright      244-04

6th Tony Roberts    241-12

7th Gino Exell         202-00

8th Dave Collier     108-08

9th Chris Withall      79-08

10th Rod Turner      41-00

Between the 10 of us we managed over 2 tonnes of fish, 2 triple tons, 5 double tons, 1 ton and 2 others.

A good day out amongst friends, good banter and a few fish for all of us.

I won the MK Nugget to wipe the grin off Mick's face and take the lead to 3.

Keith 8 Mick 5.

Next club match is Puddledock Road Lake in September. 

Marsh AC Monks Lake 2 04.08.2018

I got to thinking about this match around a week ago when an angler put an amazing 525lb of Lake 2 fish onto the scales. The culmination of a very good angler on a very good peg. People will say it was a one off and it possibly was, but then I started noticing the back up weights and it was clear to see that not only are there some very good anglers fishing the league but also the fishery was fishing its nuts off.
Not to worry lads, Marsh AC will give the fish a rest. We had pegs 45 to 77 and plenty of room enabling 5 anglers on each side of the spit and 5 on the road bank. I had done quite well over the years with help from Mike McMillan, Mark Hathaway and Pete Upperton all giving sound advice over this time. Today was different I did not want to be swayed one way or another and went with gut instinct and the knowledge it was fishing well.
Mick had arranged to collect me at 0545 and with the S Max loaded we were soon on our trasvels to deepest Kent. Arriving at the fishery we were greeted by Gino and Simon, fresh from their grovelling at Alders Farm. Still it was good to see them both smiling and informing me of any tittle tattle they could muster. Breakfast were a couple of bacon and egg sticks between us and was down with a couple of mugs of tea from the van.
Mick and I had both been speaking of the power of Positive Mental Attitude during the drive and agreeing there is never a bad peg and that fish swim. I must admit though I thought Mick would take some stopping today when he drew peg 47.

Troy had drawn on the old barbel peg 45 and I knew my nugget was not very safe.

Still when peg 75 stuck to my hand I was relatively pleased. I had done well from 77 before they filled it in, so knew a little about the area.

I was going for a pellet and meat approach with a bit of corn and maggot in reserve in case it switched off completely.Top three and fours were assembled along with a couple of rigs to cover both margins at top two and three lengths.A shallow rig was also set up in the event I saw any cruising fish.
I started off feeding the margins as I expected to fish them earlier than normal and the top three line. I opted also to fish shallow for the first half hour and with only a couple of roach and a solitary carp of 3lb I soon sacked this off and spent the next 30 minutes down the RH edge. A few good skimmers and odd carp came to the onion sack.With an hour gone I had around 8lb of skimmers and roach and 6 carp for about 24lb. Clive on the next peg was catching well and even had to go back to his car to get a larger landing net head as his was not big enough. I could hear Terry catching well but could not see him on 73 but he was admitting to "just odd small carp and skimmers". I was going alright and was now ready to have a go at the deep line at 2+2. I had been feeding a top three line and my plan was to fish past the feed and eventually bringing the fish closer where it shallows up a touch at 2 plus one. After a couple of minutes I started getting odd bites and fizzing in the peg. I picked up a margin rig and tried this over the top with a banded 6mm pellet and nicked one fish but soon realised the bait needed to be on the deck.
I would get a couple of skimmers followed by a carp or an F1 then I needed to re-feed and sit on it lifting and dropping the rig regularly.By moving in and out of the catch zone I managed to keep fish coming but all the time they looked smaller than Clive's.

The Reverend Tony Roberts was behaving himself today, must of been catching, with only the odd curse word being muttered from his breath. Chairman Dave was nicking odd fish throughout the session and proving the adage of a good angler on a good peg.
Both Troy and Mick were into fish but it was John doing the damage on the road bank, catching high up in the water column with floating baits and no float, just letting the hook sink the baits. Simon was just being Simon and after last week's episode where Trevor Price needed to get togged up in his wet gear and retrieved Simon's top three and four, he was throwing his number four into the lake this time around.

I felt that with a good finish I could muster around 200lb of fish at the end and push Clive all the way. I was still catching but the quantity was getting slower, they were still good fish and all throughout skimmers were still coming to the net.At the all out I had borrowed another net from Dave and felt I had a good 200lb net.

Overall

1st John Holdsworth 342 -12

2nd Keith Ashby   278-08

3rd Clive Pritchard 161 - 04

4th Troy Hillyer   149-00

5th Gino Exell 141-08

6th Tony Roberts 140-00

7th Simon Watkins 139-08

8th Mick Wright 119-08

8th Terry Goff 119-08

10th Gary Guest 115-00 PB

11th Chris Withall 102- 00

12th Jim Boase  85-08

13th Dave Collier 83-08

14th Tony Watkins 72-08

15th Rod Turner 25-00

So the lake has continued to give up its fish, 11 weights over a ton is not to be sniffed at. Mick had to give up another of his treasured nuggets.

Next match is Orchard Place in a fortnight night, so tight lines all.

Keith 7 

Mick 5

MD's Pair's Alders Farm 28th & 29th July 2018.

Yesterday we had a prelude match on Pines Lake as a taster for things to come on ash over two days. I had performed well considering the abuse I was receiving from the Reverend Tony Roberts, although I must admit some of it was deserved as I may have responded to the provocation. Mugger Morton on the other hand was shocked to the core with the language and profanities coming from the clergy.
Day One
Still as the good book says I must turn the other cheek and moved forward to today's match. The format is quite simple everyone draws for a partner. He is your partner for the two days. The overall winners will be decided on points based on your position in each days match. So the winner will get 1 point and last place 20 points.
Who do I get to be my partner, yes you guessed it The Right Reverend Tony Bloody Roberts. Could have been worse, I could have drawn Simon who has secretly been negotiating a one to one training session with a certain B911 Trevor Price.

And to be fair Tony did alright on the prelude match on Pines so we were hopeful of a few fish on day one of the Pair;'s event. Tony went into the tin nice and early whilst I hung back. Peg 27 was to be his home for the day. My drawing arm deserted me and I ended up on 10. Many thoughts flashed through my mind as I strolled to the peg. I had thoughts of fishing 2+2 and bringing it close to the tree in the water, a few fish down the edge, hang on where has the tree gone, it needed pruning ok but all I could see now was three stumps still in the water.
For company I had Terry Pearce on 8 and John Holdsworth on peg 12. At least we had a bit of room. The wind and rain would make feeding a long line difficult unless it was in a toss pot which I do not get on with, so it was a case of fishing shorter than planned. I plumbed up lines at 2+2 and 2+1 and the edge to my left. I did go past the stumps to the right, but felt the feed would go everywhere if fished as I wanted, so it was a reluctant get out of jail line. I set up a couple of MW floats for fishing on the 2 plus lines and a couple of DS Green floats for the edges. Bait would be corn or 6mm pellet feeding 4mm fishery pellets.
At the all in I started off on the 2+2 line feeding short due to the wind, a couple of small carp, before a skimmer showed its face. Another net in the water makes four. It did not seem right, the float was moving around too much with the tow and getting dragged all over the place. I had a look on the left hand edge early using the 2+2 line float and found this a better fit. So changed both the DS green floats for the more stable MW floats for the edges. I placed a heavier DT Diamond on the 2+2 set up and was able to read bites easier. Never be afraid to change if things do not feel right.
I was ticking over nicely, not setting the world alight, but still catching. John was having a nightmare,  loosing fish and getting tangled up in the bank-side foliage. I would have shouted some abuse over to him, but it would have been wasted so I waited until he was up close and personal. Terry was getting a few from his paste lines and I could see Dave Fatpike getting amongst the carp down the edges. I kept out of the edges for as long as I could but after 4 hours I had to have a look. I had 60 minutes to sneak into a better position and break the ton barrier. I could not win the section, Dave Fatpike had that honour, but I could try to climb the ladder as those around me were all about the same.

Terry with part of his 80lb net

At the all out I felt I had just over the ton and was not far away with 113lb. I had done well in a section that was not the best. The cafe bank and the shallows all fished well and unfortunately my weight gave us 11 points plus what ever Tony had caught. His weight of 130lb was good enough for 8th overall so we ended the day in 4th place on 19 points. Trevor Price won the match with 299lb from peg 2 and his partner Clive ended up 5th overall with 153lb. A cracking performance to end up with 6 points.

Overall Day 1

1st Trevor Price      299-14

2nd Trevor Drakes 199-03 PB

3rd Bagger J          188-00

4th Godber            170-12 PB

5th Clive Pritchard 153-00

6th Dave Pontin     139-08

All in all a cracking day and considering the lake had been fished throughout the week by a club from York, it had fished well. 

Day Two

Day two opened up as we had left off, high winds and pouring rain, still we were awake and fishing. Lads who had slept in the cars and tents overnight were feeling the strain whilst those who opted for the comfort of hotels and bars were bemoaning a lack of sleep due to the local nightlife.Me, no such issues as it is a 15 minute journey to the fishery from my own bed.

After a wonderful breakfast served by the lovely people at Alders Farm it was again time for the deciding draw. The only peg I did not want was peg 2, this is where Trevor piled nigh on 300lb on the scales. That was a pressure peg today.Peg 1 though was another matter and this was to be my home for the next 5 hours.

Pegs 1 and 10 were a recent poll I asked on Facebook to decide which was better due to an MK Nugget battle with my Nemesis Mick. The result was a resounding peg 1.
I set up a couple of top kits for fishing the edges both left and right plus a line at 2 plus 1 and 2 plus 2. I would start off here and move to the edges as the match progressed. Starting off on corn and feeding it regularly, I started getting a few proper bites after 10 minutes. On orange vespe they were taking a while to land and the peg recovery time in the shallow water was slow. So I switched to red hydro and this seemed to work well in the peg. When bites became iffy or non existent I would feed some 4mm fishery pellets over the top and this would spur things on a bit. After an hour I had 15 fish for around 40lb. I had been feeding pellet down to the cafe wall and gave it 30 minutes and 7 fish before coming back to 2 plus 1 line. Resting the peg saw a succession of fish come to the landing net and with the red hydro I was always in control of the fish.
With peg 1 the main issue is you cannot gauge how you are doing against the rest of the field. The cafe shields the elements from you a bit but also hides the rest of the lake from the angler. I could see Godber on peg 30 and knew he was catching. Clive on 27 was also doing the bit for his team. I could not see Tony on 28 but occasionally I saw his elastic and knew he was getting a few pulls.
It was a case of head down and keep going. I was taking fish from the left hand edge and 2 +1 line pushing it out every now and again. Still the fish came.
At the all out I was knackered, three days of good quality fishing, great company, good banter given, good banter taken. What more could you ask for, a great weekend and one I will attend next year.

Overall Day 2

1st Alex                244-06

2nd Keith Ashby  184-00

3rd Godber          157-04

4th Clive Pritchard 147-00

5th Trevor Drakes 142-04

6th Trevor Price    139-04

Overall Pairs Winners

Trevor Price and Clive Pritchard.

These sort of events in my opinion are the way forward for a lot of people. We have had a great weekend, at the start I knew half of the anglers, by the end I go to know a few names and could now put a face to them. There are some exceptional anglers on the MDs forum. Dave and his team of moderators work tirelessly for our benefit, not only on the forum but arranging events like this.It is not forgotten and I am grateful for all you do. Stand up and take the applause. 

Trevor Price, aka Cliff Richard, congratulations, by the way. found time in his busy schedule to fish all three days and his knowledge proved invaluable as many broke their PBs along the way.

Alders Farm, what can I say that has not been said before, the team and ethos behind the fishery are amazing, everyone leaves your company in a better place.Thank You

MD's Long weekender 27 July 2018 Alders Farm

As a prelude to the eagerly awaited MD's Pairs championship there is normally an individual match to act as a loosener. Set for later in the day would allow people to travel from far and wide to the prolific Alders Farm Fishery. Names were being taken after last years match such is it's popularity. And to be fair it is more about an angling community getting together towards a common aim. Enjoyment of our great sport.

The Monk Family kindly allow the MD's to form a tented community( more like a Greenpeace camp than the jungle of Calais) during the evenings and have welcomed us with open arms.

I had placed my name down early and booked the day off work. It was a local event and for once I did not need to take loads of holiday to attend.

I decided to get there early, I knew there was another match on Ash Lake and thought Trevor may be under a bit of pressure to get everything sorted, how wrong I was. 

Remarkably attired for the normal ragamuffin look, he look the ultimate professional. Answering everyone's queries with the same answer. Top two plus two plus edges maggot pellet corn. Do not use that horrible paste stuff.

I have over years though developed my own way of doing things. It will not win a lot but is fairly consistent. After a full English and a couple of mugs of tea, we were ready. 19 eager souls awaiting the instruction to pay your money and draw.

I had peg 5 fall at my feet, I was happy with that. I had not fished the lake for a long time but was hopeful of a few fish. I had good friend " The Reverend Tony Roberts" on my right and a new face to me, Trevor Drakes on my left. I had an even older face further to my left in Peter " Mugger" Morton. There were plenty of familiar faces on the bank and it looked as if a lot of the Marsh Lads had come along for the weekend, Simon, Gino, John, Terry and Clive were all packed around the lake.

 I set up 6 rigs but realistically there was only 4 as two of them were duplicates. I planned to fish up and down at 2+2 with corn and a bit of pellet as bites dropped off. I also set up a couple of edge rigs to the left hand margin. A shallow rig for fishing long and a mid depth rig for the 2 + 2 line if the fish came up in the water.

At the all in I started with 4 grains of corn and lowered a single grain through the water column. A bite fairly instantly and the first fish in the net within a minute. A few more followed through the next hour and i reckoned on having 15 fish for around 40lb in the net. However, both Pete and I agreed we would go sit behind the Reverend to offer words of comfort or solace for a few moments.

We agreed that the congregation congregated and as Tony was wearing wellies we thoughhe may have wwelcomed his flock to his alter. How wrong could we be?

Back at our pegs Pete was ruing lost fish and tackle. Trevor was starting to get a few good silvers amongst some good carp shallow on the maggot. I could see opposite and it was so different to our pegs, Trevor Price, Alex,Terry and Mark Skeggs were all catching well. We were having to keep switching and changing things around. A couple of fish down the side boosted a quiet spell at 2 plus 2  but it was not long before I was back out and catching. I thought Trevor had done me going into the last hour and was just planning on catching a few to the end but his swim went a bit quieter on him, Pete started catching and I had a few better quality fish. It shows how quick things can change around. Simon had decided to fish just a top kit as his number 4 was floating around an island as a fish pulled the sections apart. 

The lengths the man will go to to get dressed up!!!!!!!

As the all out sounded the rain which had only just started was not too bad considering the expectation of thunderstorms and hale. 

Overall

1st Mark Skeggs 218 - 11

2nd Trevor Price 211 - 14

3rd Alex             206 - 12

4th Godber         167 - 05

5th Keith Ashby  160 - 14

6th Trev Drakes   155 – 01

Overall a good match, plenty of fish caught and a lowest weight of 59lb with plenty around the 100 mark. I must admit I felt a bit for Trevor, 158 was his personal best weight and he has weighed in 155 today, one fish. Also Pete had to part with one of his shiny pound coins to Dave. Reluctantly.

Be a good boy Pete and let go!!!!

Tomorrow is the start of the pairs event. I will update as and when I can.