Well it's my first match as a member of Marsh AC For match 1 we are down at Monk Lakes just outside Maidstone in Kent And we are fishing Match lake 4
I've fished lakes 1,2 and 3 before but this is my first visit to lake 4 so it should be quite interesting as there is little information about lake 4 to be found so I have no idea what to expect (except Bill G is fishing the match so I can expect a £1 coin)
I had an uneventful trip down to Kent and with no sign of the promised bad weather things were looking up I was soon tucking into a bacon sandwich and a steaming hot cup of tea and before long the rest of the Marsh AC lads and lass had arrived and the draw got under way I pulled peg 152 out of the bag and a quick look at a sketch Tony had drawn of the pegs showed it to be 1 of the car park pegs so hopefully a short walk today And so it turned out to be Shame really as I have just brought a new set of wheels for my box and was hoping to give it a run out today
Talking of my box I also have a new seat box which is getting its first run out today too As my old Fox box has served me well over the last 6 or 7 years I have put it into retirement and I am now the proud owner of a spanky brand new Preston Space Station TX
.
I also brought a Space Station Shuttle to transport the TX and all my other gear around on It took a bit of working out how to get the box and all my other gear onto the shuttle and I think I have finally got it sussed but unfortunately the shuttle wasn't required for service today
While I'm introducing my new equipment I also have a new pole this year For a few years now I have been using 2 poles My trusty Lerc 4400 for use at Rolfs in the summer and any where else where large Carp were expected and my Maver Armageddon for all other venues and winter fishing at Rolfs For a long time I have been searching for a pole to cover all the fishing I do and at last I have found it
Take a bow
The Shimano Beastmaster XT-B power pole I've only used it 3 times now but it is by far the best purchase I have ever made Before I used it I was a bit concerned that I may have brought a dud but the first fish I hooked on it blew those doubts away and after the second outing I was over the moon with the pole
Still back to Monk lakes Peg 152 looks ok it is just off an island so looks like I will be fishing in open water today
My plan of attack today is to fish a swim out in front at 13m
And another in front at 6m
Another swim in the left hand margin
And the last swim in the right hand margin
I also set up the feeder rod just in case the wind got up too much As I said it was a short walk from the car to my peg
So I was set up in plenty of time to have a walk round the lake and have a chat with some of the other guys
Back on peg 152 On the all in I shipped a pot of 4mm pellets out to the 13m line and another out to the 6m line and fed both margins by hand Then went out to the 13m line with a 6mm GOT baits catmeat soft hooker pellet on a Kamasan B911size 16 hook tied direct to 0.14mm Silstar line under a 4x14 Malman Thicko set to fish 2 inches over depth
John 2 pegs to my right was into a fish straight away and Pete next door to me on peg 153 was also soon into a fish It wasn't too long before my float shot off to the depths and I had my first fish of the day it was only a Tench of about 4ozs but after the year I've had so far it was a pleasing sight and I was off the mark Next put in my float buried and I soon had a small mirror Carp of around 12ozs in the net Things were looking up as I started to take a run of Carp all around the 12ozs to 1lb mark with the odd Tench putting an appearance in too
Once the wind got up a bit my 13m line dried up so I gave the margin swims a try but I couldn't buy a bite in either margin So I dropped in over the 6m line with a 6mm catmeat soft hooker on the hook and was rewarded with a Carp of around 1lb instantly back out and another fish thinking I was sat on a shed load I was back out with another pellet on the hook but it wasn't to be this time the float refused to move Both Pete next door and John were still catching the odd fish and I thought I was starting to fall behind I was getting the odd fish but there was a long wait between bites I eventually discovered that by upping the feeding and letting the float pull through the swim with the tow it produced a fish Just then Peter came round for a chat And caught my best fish of the day on film
A carp of around 2lb
Just about then the rain made an appearance and I had to fish from under the brolly which made it a bit difficult but by feeding a handful of pellets at 6m in front and letting the float drift to my right with the tow I was getting a Carp between 8ozs and 1lb every put in 4pm came round all too quick and Dave blew the whistle After my hectic last hour I was sure I had beaten both Pete and John Bill was admitting to having had a quite a few fish but with a few good anglers fishing today who tend to under estimate their catch by a fair amount you can never be sure I reckoned I had around 50lb in the nets I soon had my gear packed away and back in the SW and headed off round to help with the weigh in On my way round the lake I stopped for a chat with Al and he was not to happy to have discovered that his silvers net had a hole in it and the only fish left in it were 2 skimmers that were too big to get out the hole Rumour has it that the fish couldn't stand Al's singing and formed an escape committee and cut their way out you got to feel sorry for the 2 fat skimmers that had to endure it all day Mugger was first to weigh in and even though he had had a mare of a day managed to put 21lb on the scales next to weigh was Bilge and he managed to weigh 26lb (that'll be the £1 safe then) Colin took the lead with 33lb but was soon toppled from first place by Keith with 50lb Tony put 45lb on the scales and with no one else admitting to a decent weight I figured it was going to be close between me and Keith for first place today When the scales arrived at my peg I weighed in 54lb and took first place pippin Keith by 4lb
Position
Peg
Angler
Weight
1st
Peg 152
Clive Pritchard
54lbs 00ozs
2nd
Peg 140
Keith Ashby
50lbs 12ozs
3rd
Peg 143
Tony Roberts
45lbs 04ozs
4th
Peg 139
Colin Sharrard
33lbs 00ozs
5th
Peg 161
Jim Boase
30lbs 04ozs
6th
Peg 163
Kevin Loveland
27lbs 08ozs
7th
Peg 151
Pete Thompson
27lbs 04ozs
8th
Peg 137
Bill Gibbins
26lbs 00ozs
9th
Peg 160
Al Loader
25lbs 08ozs
10th
Peg 150
John Holdsworth
24lbs 04ozs
11th
Peg 141
Zack Johnson
23lbs 00ozs
12th
Peg 156
Dave Collier
22lbs 12ozs
13th
Peg 136
Peter Morton
21lbs 00ozs
14th
Peg 155
Chris Withall
16lbs 00ozs
15th
Peg 158
Terry Goff
14lbs 08ozs
16th
Peg 149
Martin Hucker
11lbs 08ozs
17th=
Peg 145
Judy Hermite
11lbs 00ozs
17th=
Peg 164
Simon Watkins
11lbs 00ozs
19th
Peg 147
Roger Noakes
10lbs 12ozs
20th
Peg 153
Graham Manning
5lbs 12ozs
21st
Peg 162
Rod Turner
DNW
All in all a great day out with the guys and gal from Marsh AC I'm looking forward to the next match already Another upside to the day the Beastmaster was again fantastic
And the Space Station TX was solid as rock So a great days fishing a good result and my first £1 coin of the year off Bill G rock on Next outing is the Rolfs Easter Festival
