Maggotdrowners 

Individual Championship

                2009

 This years Championships are being held at Larford lakes in Worcestershire

We are on the match lake this year and have the whole lake booked which is 80 or so pegs but with only 38 people turning up we should have a fair bit of room

I decided to get to the fishery early this time as last time we were here on the Specimen lake when I arrived the car park was chock a block as was the cafe

So I was up at 5.30am and on the road with the car loaded by 6am for the 2 hour drive up to Larford as the draw is not until 9.30am I should have plenty of time to dip my nets and have a spot of breakie

The sat nav was spot on again and I pulled into the car park at 8am on the dot

Then drove right through and out the other side as the damned car park was full  so I ended up parking along the track behind the match lake

Vince arrived just in front of me and as we walked back to the cafe we met up with Peter and went in for a breakie

Soon all the maggotdrowners started to arrive and we met up with some old friends from other Md's matches and a few I haven't seen since last years indies and a few new members who I hadn't met before and it's always nice to be able to put a face to a name

Soon the banter and piss taking got into full swing as we waited for the draw  spotting Simon(me) I happened to mention that if he was fishing at least I wouldn't be last today as he has a bit of a reputation of fishing a lake stuffed full of Carp and only managing to catch either tiny Gudgoen or the smallest Perch in the lake

Bit a brash comment to make as with my luck at the draw bag recently and the eerie way my pre match comments seem to come back and bite me in the bum at the moment  but who knows today may be different

Never having fished the match lake before I new very little about it so my drawing hand had free reign and no instructions and to be honest the sun was shining the lake looked ok I was in good company what damage could it cause today ?

Well at the draw I pulled peg 41 out which looked to be on the near bank just up past the island and as I was parked half way along the track any way it was a shortish walk so a bit of a result

First thing I noticed was the lack of platforms  in every vidieo I have watched about Larford they have been fishing off nice wooden platforms

All I had was a manky bit of crumbly bank which seemed to consist of red sand

Even worse was the lack of depth for keep nets  I'd hate to catch a big weight of fish from here as the most I managed to sink was 2 rings on 1 net and the other 2 nets were just about all the rings out of the water  

It just doesn't make sense to me if they can dig the other bank deeper then why not dig this bank the same? at least in front of the peg to give some depth for keep nets

Ah well at least the peg looks ok with some nice lily pads to my left

And also some to my right

And I also had a chuck to the island with a nice bush on the end

So my plan of attack today is to fish 1 line out in front at 7m

I line tight to the lilies to my left also at 7m

Another tight to the lilies to my right also at 7m

All 3 swims were about the same depth which was about 3ft 6in and a quick plumb out at 11.5m also found the same depth of water

For rigs I set up 1 rig to cover both lily pad swims which consisted of a Jon Walker 0.3g diamond on 0.18mm Silstar with a size 12 B911 hook tied direct

For the 7m and 11.5m swims out in front I had again a Jon Walker 0.3g diamond on 0.16 Silstar with a size 16 B911 tied direct

I also set up a paste rig to fish out in front at 7m which consisted of a Malman self cocking paste float on 0.18mm Silstar with a size 12 B911 hook tied direct

I also set up the feeder to chuck across to the island

And also the waggler rod just in case

So that was me all set up and ready for the off

Looking along the bank to my left as I took the pictures of my swim for the blog I noticed that a jeering crowd had formed and were trying to attract my attention

And the worrying part about it was the fact that the Minx was part of the crowd and she was looking quietly confident  could this be a second Minxing in 2 weeks

11am arrived and as Malc had been voted the loudest gob on the complex he was given the job of shouting the all in

I filled my pot with 4mm pellets and was just shipping it out to the 7m swim when I heard the Minx scream as she netted her first fish of the day  the next sound I heard was a bit harder to make out but it was either the sound of a lot of hearts sinking or it was 37 chins hitting the floor  I put a pot of pellets into each swim then decided to start out at 11.5m with a 6mm soft hooker pellet on the hook and I had a bite instantly but the fish bumped off on the way in this happened about 6 times before I eventually managed to land my first fish which was a common of around 1lb every time I fed now I had fish swirling on the surface so I decided that the fish must be shallow today so I slipped a shallow rig on and wasted about 30 min's trying to catch a fish shallow but no mater what depth I set the float or what bait they just weren't having it so with an hour gone I had 1 fish in the net

I swapped to the 7m line and went back on the deck with a 6mm soft hooker on the hook and in the next hour all I managed were 3 or 4 small Carp

Vince over the other side for the bay from me hooked and eventually landed a decent fish which looked to be a small double

So things were looking bad as all I had to show was about 2lb of fish

I did manage to hook 1 slightly better fish when Peter came round for a chat which went for about 2lb

But on the whole I was still plagued with loosing fish the float would sail under I'd strike feel the fish the elastic would start to come out then snap back in

I gave the shallow rig another shot on the 7m line as the fish were still swirling on the surface every time I fed but all I managed to do was foul hook a decent fish in the tail which eventually managed to snag me in the lilies to my right

Malc came past on his way back from the club house and told me most people were sacking up below me  thanks Malc!! he also then went on to tell me how great his peg was and that he was catching well some visitors you could do without

I decided to go for a walk and take a few photos of Peter for his blog

And I was most annoyed delighted to see him hook a fish as I was stood there

Which turned out to be a decent looking F1

I went along to the next peg to have a chat with Tony but he was also catching well so I resisted the urge to stamp on his pole section  and headed back to my swim

I decided to chuck the feeder across to the island and see if I could snag a decent fish and after 20 min's and 1 missed bite I eventually hooked a fish and soon had another F1 of about 2lb in the net but it was such a long wait for the bite that as time was getting on I decided to just concentrate on the margin swim to my left

and for the rest of the match I just sat it out with an 6mm hard pellet banded on the hook I managed to get 8 more fish in the net and I lost a couple of lumps both of which bottomed out my elastic as they tore off to the island before the hook pulled  and as with the rest of the day I had countless fish bump off either on the strike or on the way in to the net

Just to make me feel better it poured with rain for the last 20 min's or so just enough to get us and all our gear soaked for the drive home

At 4pm Malc called the all out and that was the individuals over for this year

By the time I had all my gear packed away the scales arrived and my fish went for 19lb 3oz to be honest it was more than I thought I had

Tony had a fine 96lb which gave him 3rd overall in the match  and Peter put a reasonable 50lb on the scales

Malc despite his walk round the lake managed to weigh in 89lb for 4th overall

Steve Ford won the match with a fine 116lb from peg 65

After the weigh in it was back to the cafe for the results then a buffet that was arranged by Vince and a raffle which was in aid of the British Heart Foundation and we managed to raise £200 on the day mainly thanks to Bucko's good lady who sold the tickets

All in all I enjoyed the day as it's always good to meet up with the maggotdrowners and always a good laugh

On the fishing front looking at the results the bay I was drawn in from my peg 41 round to Simon on 53 fished really hard and the weights were well down on the rest of the lake but it was still better than last year at the place that can't be named

On a slightly brighter note I escaped a Minxing today  as Gemma had a bit of a mare too

And as usual my pre match comment about beating Simon(Me) came back and bit me in the bum as he beat me by 4lb

Big thanks to Vince for running the match in his usual efficient manner   and roll on next year