Another day out and about. This time to one of the Essex waters, Coleman's Cottage on the outskirts of Witham. It was Mick's turn to drive and with it being fairly close to us, we got a lie in. Still leaving the house at 0630 still seems late as it is normally 0500 on a working day.
No issues with either the M1, M25 and A12 saw us pulling into the car park at Coleman's at 0800 to be greeted by quite a few cars. A lot of which I did not recognise. Still there are 4 lakes on site, so perhaps they were on one of the others. Nope, both clubs were on Wood Lake.
A couple of number 2 full English breakfasts were soon devoured by Mick and I followed by a couple of cups of Rosie. The draw meant that we had pegs 1-25 along the left hand bank and the bowl. Any peg in the main arm would suit me or just along barbel alley. The main bowl has never really produced on the times we have fished it. Weather was raining and planned to get worse as the day wore on, stopping around the time we did. How often does that happen?
At the draw, Mick had drawn well along barbel alley, there are some great margins with plenty of depth in front.
The view from peg 12 Barbel Alley
My turn and peg 20 on the far bank of the bowl, not a good area to be fair. I have only seen one good weight from it, Mick a few years ago but the wind was blowing strong into it that day.
For company I had Chris T on 22, John on 23, Foxy celebrating his 50th Birthday on 25 with Kris and Simon on 19 and 17 respectively.
Foxy celebrating his 50th
Kris ready for the off
I could see Mick on his peg 12 so would be able to keep an eye on him.
My plan was simple, start off at 2 plus 2(5m) feeding 4mms fishing 6s and 8s, pinging a few 6mms to 12m and fishing 6mms up and down accordingly, A couple of margins, one for corn the other for 8mms.
With so many people on the lake I decided to start off slow with the feed, only feeding via a toss pot and then not always a full pot. A couple of small carp in the first hour for around 6lb but it was slow everywhere. The second hour saw plenty of swapping and changing of lines, rigs, hooklengths etc. All to no avail. By the end of the second hour I was still on the original two fish.
Kris next door had snagged a better carp for around 8lb but still had only the one bite and fish. Foxy opposite was nicking odd fish on what looked like 6mms again via a toss pot, lifting and dropping, John seemed to be struggling in the corner whilst Chris T was picking off a few carp from his margins. Elsewhere only odd fish could be seen being caught.
I made a decision to feed one of the margins with 4mms and placed a good pot around a foot from the bank to my right hand side. Another pot of corn followed to the tree, as I felt it could still be won if the fish came in but it may be late in the session.
The rain was now incessant, the wind was getting up and the temperature dropping like a stone. Any sunshine was not making it through the canopy of branches from the overhanging trees. Next thing was to look round and see the corn line trashed, the wind had blown the tree I was feeding fall over. I wont say up rooted because on closer inspection it looked as if it was propped up.
" It wasn't me Guv'ner"
Still plugging away on the 5m line, I was getting a few indications but suspect they were from roach pecking at the 8mm pellet, occasionally it would bury and a carp or f1 would be attached, but they were small by comparison.Kris had put the pole away and had set up a bomb rod to fish to the lily pads in front of him. 4 good fish in 4 put ins proved the correct decision and took him into a potential match winner. Running out of Tbags saw him back onto the pole where he also connected to a margin munter. He was still pinging the lily pads and would nick a couple more before the end of the match.
With an hour to go I could see fish hovering up the 4mms to the right hand margin but placing a 6mm on the hook meant nothing to them, an 8mm went the same route and in hindsight I think they were preoccupied on the 4mms and the sinking liquid I placed on it. Still very frustrating seeing fish and unable to convince them to take a bait. A couple of 5m fish came before the end leaving me very frustrated. Packing up I walked around to Mick, he was admitting to 40lb, maybe a little more, so the MK Nugget was his again.
Overall
1st Kris Old 44-00
2nd Chris Thomas 41-00
3rd Mark Fox 39-00
4th Terry Goff 38-00
5th Mick Wright 37-00
6th Josh Donovan 35-08
Tony's four fish for 25lb
My weight of 23lb was a disappointment for me. I went in with a positive attitude and had a plan, which flexed throughout the day. A couple of fish here and there would have made a difference but then everyone could have said the same. In reality there was nothing between us all. A run of fish could have made a big difference on the day. Well done to those who framed and the section winners. Mick leads 5-2 in the nugget stakes with a rest day next week before we start a few matches at Alders Farm before we go to Todber Manor in June.
