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Id better start by thanking Chris Withall for getting up an hour early and picking Mugger up. It would have been a shame for him to miss this match because of car trouble and we knew how much he was looking forward to it.
As suggested in our "Fact Finding Mission" the cafe was first class and many said that the breakfast was better than Colemans and Hawkhurst... high praise indeed. All except for Clive who decided he would rather spend his time sitting in a jam on the M25.
You will never get to grow up big and strong Clive if you keep missing your brekkie.
Well Al smashes the field again and on a tough water - well done fella you've certainly gone up a gear this year. I think there might have to be a ban on you using hooks in the next match. Shouldcouldmaybe hope it improves our chances enough
You said before the start what you was going to do and stuck at it.
On a personal note can I say the breakfast was very good, the fishing was good considering the conditions. Would I do anything different than what I did on the day.............. no not really.
I think that if normal weather(wind) was present then the pole anglers could have competed more. On our side of the lake I could only get to 8m before the pole kept yanking round, even with a long length of line from pole tip to float.
The fish were immaculate and not a mark on them. I would fish it again as i do not think it showed its best on the day.
The snake lake I believe is predominantly long pole work and as such would hinder some anglers, at least on this water options are available.
It's off to what is a new venue for Marsh AC for todays club match, Puddledock Farm Fishery just outside Brentwood in Essex where we will be fishing The Road Lake on the complex .
Chris was picking me up today and he arrived just after 7am, and with my kit loaded into his van we were off. It wasn't a long drive and we pulled into the fishery car park at around 7·45am. Climbing out of the van it was immediately noticeable just how windy it was and looking across it was noticeable that one half of the lake was very exposed to this, while the other half was sheltered. Anyway without further ado we made our way over to the on-site Lakeside Café to start the day with a Full English as they had agreed to open up early for us today. I have to say that the food and service was 1st Class , easily rivalling that of any fishery I've visited in recent times and one that I'd happily recommend.
Clive unfortunately missed out as he was stuck in traffic on the M25 though he did arrive just in time for the draw and from what I'd seen pegs 1-14 were ones to avoid unless you wanted to battle the wind today, so it will come as no surprise that it was peg 6 that stuck to my hand today, right in the teeth of the prevailing wind . Tony had the shortest walk to peg 1, just as well really as having loaded his trolley wheel into the car he found on arrival that he'd forgotten to load his actual trolley............ not that we weren't sympathetic to his plight of course .
It wasn't to far to my peg, but settling into it I really didn't fancy it today as it promised to be an uncomfortable six hours in an area Dave and Tony had struggled to catch from on a visit a couple of weeks previously, in fact Tony's advice on the forum had been "take as long as you like for breakfast ". Anyway nothing ventured.......nothing gained.
I was going to keep things simple today Just a couple of rigs for the pole and the method feeder which would be the main line up against the island at 20mtrs. The first of the two pole rigs was a 0·8gm NG XT Gimp on 0·16 Ultima power match straight through to a size 18 Kamasan B911X for straight out at around 5mtrs where I had around 4ft of heavily towing water while the other rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·16 Ultima power match straight through to a size 18 Kamasan B911X for the margin line that had around 2 feet of depth. Bait was simply 4mm coarse pellet for feed (dampened down for the method feeder) and 6mm and 8mm's for the hook along with some sweetcorn and 6mm GOT Rippers as alternative hookers.
Somewhere in the course of the morning I'd misplaced my glasses so had wandered back to the café to see if I'd left them there. I hadn't, but luckily spotted them on the floor by Chris's van still in one piece, but this meant that I only just made it back to my peg before the All-In was called at 10·15am . I potted in a mixed pot of pellet and corn at 5mtrs and the margins and followed that out with a banded 6mm at 5mtrs. It was immediately apparent just how strongly the wind was gusting, making presentation even at that distance difficult especially coupled with the tow .
Tony appeared to get off the mark with what looked like a Goldfish after around 30 minutes and a little while later Kevin had taken a Tench. An hour in for me and I hadn't managed as much as a bite. I'd tried on several occasions to ping a few 8mm pellets over to the island to prime it for the method, but the wind had blown them back every time. Anyway with no action on either of the pole lines it was time to have a look across with the method feeder, a 6mm pellet was banded and pressed into the dampened 4mm's and cast across tight to the island.
Not a knock, tap or liner followed, it wasn't looking good, just a question of keep recasting in an attempt to get some feed across there and hopefully draw some fish at some point. Finally after around 45 minutes of this the tip flew round and after a bit of spirited resistance a common of around 2lbs was safely in the net to get me off the mark . However it took another 30 minutes before this was repeated again with a similar result. Another 45 minutes passed after this with nothing to show for it when I decided to take a walk and see how others were doing.
Jim was struggling with just a few small roach taken on maggot from his margin, but Keith was just sliding a decent carp into the net as I approached is peg. The wind was making it awkward for him but he was just sitting it out on a line at around 6mtrs and picking up what he claimed to be the odd fish ......
Next up was Chris who'd taken a few early fish fishing a 4AAA waggler across to the island though those fish had drifted away and he was now back to fishing the pole. Martin and Graham were both struggling with the wind and going nowhere fast and Mick (or was it Petal? ) was searching his margin and already fearing the Milton Keynes Nugget would be heading home with Keith today ......
Round to Clive and the change was amazing , just a gentle breeze from behind as the swims were relatively sheltered by some trees. He reported that he'd had a decent start before it faded. I'm not sure that I believed him though as his float promptly buried resulting in a carp that he swiftly netted before I strolled off ......
Terry was fishing the feeder across, but for some reason couldn't get bite on it , a situation that was even more annoying for Terry as Al was having success a couple of pegs away ......
Indeed Al seemed to be fishing a completely different match from most sitting there in a tee shirt and shorts , regularly taking fish on the method feeder fished across to the island ......
Dave had departed for a spot of lunch at the café along with Kevin and Jean, while Eddy was suffering along with a lot of us on what was his first club outing of the year. Rod was having an enjoyable day fishing a feeder half way across what looked like a Mill Pond and was just about to net his eighth carp of the day ......
Tony had added a few silvers from his margin swim as had Ken who was having a similar battle to me with the wind.
I wish I could say that the second half of the match was an improvement, but it wasn't it remained just as dire for me with just another 3 bites on the method feeder producing another 3 carp of a similar size to the first two and to be honest it was a blessed relief when the All-Out was called at 4·15pm . I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car park and all that remained was the Weigh-In.
Tony kicked things off with 20¼lbs while Kevin solitary Tench made 2¾lbs and Ken's silvers 6¼lbs. My 5 carp came to 11½lbs and Jim's roach and skimmers 7¼lbs. Keith's claimed 4 fish morphed into a few more and stopped the scales at 40½lbs. Chris put 24½lbs on the scales and Martin and Graham managed to tie on 7½lbs each. Mick waved farewell to the MK Nugget with just 12lbs while Clive's fish came to a level 25lbs. Terry was muttering about taking up Golf as his catch came to just 3¾lbs . Al had romped it for the 4th match on the trot with a fine 94¼lbs (I think it's time he was banned from using a method feeder ) Dave had 37½lbs despite stopping for lunch while Eddie recorded 8½lbs and Rod finished off with 16¼lbs.
Back to the car park for the results and of course Al took the win , Keith was second and Dave third . The section money went to Tony, Keith, Clive and Al.
Thoughts on the day? Puddledock is certainly a nice venue with good facilities, we caught it on a bad day when the weather didn't allow it to do itself justice, so on balance it's got to be worth another visit in my opinion .
I was going to say that it turned into a right old GRUELLER for me, but TK would argue that anyone who weighs in 11½lbs can't have had a GRUELLER, as double figures qualifies as a RED LETTER DAY.
I think there might have to be a ban on you using hooks in the next match. 
Should could maybe hope it improves our chances enough 
.
as they had agreed to open up early for us today. I have to say that the food and service was 1st Class 
, easily rivalling that of any fishery I've visited in recent times and one that I'd happily recommend.
though he did arrive just in time for the draw and from what I'd seen pegs 1-14 were ones to avoid unless you wanted to battle the wind today, so it will come as no surprise that it was peg 6 that stuck to my hand today, right in the teeth of the prevailing wind 
. Tony had the shortest walk to peg 1, just as well really as having loaded his trolley wheel into the car he found on arrival that he'd forgotten to load his actual trolley............ not that we weren't sympathetic to his plight of course 
.
". Anyway nothing ventured.......nothing gained.
......
) was searching his margin and already fearing the Milton Keynes Nugget would be heading home with Keith today 
, just a gentle breeze from behind as the swims were relatively sheltered by some trees. He reported that he'd had a decent start before it faded. I'm not sure that I believed him though as his float promptly buried resulting in a carp that he swiftly netted before I strolled off ......
, regularly taking fish on the method feeder fished across to the island ......
. I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car park and all that remained was the Weigh-In.
and stopped the scales at 40½lbs. Chris put 24½lbs on the scales and Martin and Graham managed to tie on 7½lbs each. Mick waved farewell to the MK Nugget with just 12lbs 
while Clive's fish came to a level 25lbs. Terry was muttering about taking up Golf as his catch came to just 3¾lbs 
) Dave had 37½lbs despite stopping for lunch while Eddie recorded 8½lbs and Rod finished off with 16¼lbs.
, Keith was second 
and Dave third 
. The section money went to Tony, Keith, Clive and Al.
GRUELLER 
