Colemans Cottage, Woods Lake 24th july 2011

#1

Well I have just got in after dropping Paul back at his place. Absolutely knackered now so results will have to wait until tomorrow. I might even do a TK and post them in five installments.

Drynet · #2

Some good rersults there Dave.

#3

One of our best overall results Dave. Average of 62lb each.

The fish seemed to weigh more than we estimated as nearly everyone thought they had less weight. I was convinced I had less than a ton but my net of barbel went 34lb which was 10lb more than my guess.
There is a 70lb per net limit and several went just over although they had all put a second net in plenty of time ( So they thought)

#4

Well it's off to Essex for me today and a club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake.
The view out of the window this morning promised a nice sunny day ahead

and after a couple of cups of coffee and having fed the cats and loaded the car I was off and heading for Whitam in Essex, and a trouble free run down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·30am, where Kevin and Jean, along with Simon were already in attendance

. Into the fishery lodge for a Large Breakfast

, and we were soon joined by Terry Keith and Pete along with Lee, Dave and a couple of other Morefax lads who were joining us today along with a couple of guests, so it should be a good turn out

. Soon the rest of the gang arrived and with breakfast taken care of I went outside to discuss the prospects for the day ahead.

The club normally fishes Pathfield Lake when we visit Colemans, so this is something new, at least for me as I've never fished Wood Lake before, but luckily for me Paul Law (justin case) has furnished me with a detailed peg by peg rundown on the lake so I wasn't not going into it totally blind

. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw up and running and after dipping into the bag I found myself with peg 14 for the day, which according to Paul's run down was just an average peg.

So collecting my tackle I made my way down to my peg. Terry was on peg 1, with peg 2 drawn for Paul who was running late due to a blow out on the way down

. Keith was on peg 6 (one Paul had reckoned was worth running to

) with Pete Thompson on peg 8. Tony Roberts was on 10, Clive on 11 and Simon on 12 with 13 not drawn. To my left was Martin on peg 15 while I could see Dave in the corner on peg 18.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to tackle it. I had a gap between 2 islands out in front I elected to cover that with a waggler and got out a Shakespeare Micro that was already set up with a 2AA peacock insert waggler. I opted for 3 pole lines. Straight out at 6mtrs where I had 5ft of water with a Sackup CX 4x12 pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG, and 2 margin rigs, both NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin's on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's plus a paste rig of an NG 0·2 Margin paste float on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Fox series 2. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm hard pellet for feed with 6 and 8mm pellets for the hook along with some corn, a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and GOT Atomic Paste (green halibut).

Kevin had arrived while I was setting up with a cup of coffee

and with a bit of time prior to the off I strolled back to the car to collect a bottle of water, only to find Paul arriving by Taxi (having changed his blown out tyre only to find the spare knackered as well :( !!!!!!!!!!! ) so helped him to his peg with his gear, then made my way back to mine. At 10am Dave signalled the All-In and we were off. 2 big pots of pellet at 6mtrs followed by a handful in each margin were then followed by a banded 8mm shipped out to the 6mm line. A couple of tentative digs then the float buried resulting in a Carp tearing off and the rig flying back with a scale on the hook

, not quite the start I'd hoped for, but at least there were some fish about. Next put in the float buries and it's fish on again, a good solid surge and it didn't want to get it's head up, a bit more pressure and up it popped, not he expected Carp but a Barbel and at around 3lbs a nice way to get off the mark

. A couple of Carp quickly followed this, not big fish, but really solid, giving a good account of themselves which I estimated at around 4lbs each.

Looking around I could see that Martin had a fish on the feeder that he was playing and most were starting to find a bit of sport, so it was looking like it should be a good day for most, in fact I looked down toward Dave and saw that he was engaged in what looked like a tug of war with plenty of red hydro streaming from his top kit

......

For the next couple of hours it was just a question of things ticking over, a couple of Carp, then a Barbel or two, still putting some weight in the net, but I couldn't seem to up my catch rate

. I'd been using my clicker as there's a net limit at Colemans which I didn't want to fall foul of, and reckoned I had about 35lbs of carp by 12·30pm. I'd had a look down both margins, the right hand had produced hardly anything though despite the next peg being empty, so decided to concentrate on the left hand one. With this in mind I re fed it quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle and take my coffee mug back to Jean

.

Looking down from my vantage point I saw that Clive was busy unhooking a fish that he'd just netted ......

While on the next peg along Tony was doing his best to get the landing net under a fish of his own

......

Pete had left his peg, but I could see him sitting next to Keith and having a chat with him as he netted a small carp .......

Terry was being a bit cagey as to what he had exactly, but didn't reckon he was setting the place on fire. Paul was having a frustrating time trying to tempt some action from his margins, but Rod seemed to be enjoying a bit of sport

......

Kev was owning up to 3 fish and hoping things would pick up for him later in the day, and looking across I could see Lee and Judy on adjacent pegs ......

Strolling back Keith reckoned he had around 35lbs but was adamant that Pete was doing better

, and I couldn't help notice that he was fishing short just in front of his nets, and made me realise that last year I'd caught tight to my nets on Pathfield, perhaps that was the way to go today ......

Pete was back on his peg and of course though that Keith was just edging him

as he struck into a carp just as I moved on ......

Indeed it was starting to become obvious that the fish were starting to get their heads down, and I could see Ken on the far bank getting ready to slide a small Carp over the net ......

Tony was attached to yet another fish, that seemed to be giving a good account of itself with plenty of orange vespe coming out of his top kit

.......

and there was Clive just slipping the landing net under yet another fish that he'd taken on the method feeder ......

Simon however wasn't feeling so positive, complaining that he'd never lost as many fish as he'd done today and considering that he'd lost a fair few on the last match at Mill Barn, you could safely say that he wasn't best pleased

......

Back at my peg I dropped my 6mtr rig in on a top 3 at the end of my nets and found just a couple of inches less on the depth, so fed a handful of pellet there and stuck a 6mm pellet on the band. This soon produced a Barbel of around 3lbs and was swiftly followed by a couple more

, then a small Carp as Dave arrived with another Mug of coffee from Jean

. The next fish made me jump as an acrobatic skimmer did a passable impression of a Trout leaping clear of the water as I struck

. Another couple of Barbel followed and I'd noticed Al on peg 22 collecting a second carp net so he was obviously going well and from what I could see was fishing the method. Dave was still catching well and he was next to go for a second net. Another small carp followed for me before a couple of foul hookers ran me ragged and seemed to kill the swim :(.

Time for a look in the margin with the paste rig, a couple of knocks and the float buried , the strike meeting with firm resistance as a good fish powered of into open water. The fish stayed deep not wanting to get its head up, but steady pressure finally told as a double figure Mirror slid into the waiting landing net

. With that fish I reckoned I had about 55lbs in the net so went and got a second carp net for myself .
Back in with the paste and it was obvious that the fish were there as the float buried straight away, a barbel this time with a taste for paste, and I took another 7 carp before Paul came up to see how I was doing with 15 minutes to go. Unfortunately this coincided with a spate of iffy bites and I only managed one more Carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm while he played a final fish.

Packing my kit up and chatting to Martin I was convinced that I had around 80-90lbs, but I wasn't really sure as I'd got it somewhat wrong last year when we fished Pathfield but with the kit packed away in the car all would be revealed as I set off for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off with 63¼lbs from peg 1

, which Keith topped from Peg 6 with 86¾lbs just edging out Pete's level 86lbs to take the bragging rights on their trip home to Milton Keynes

.

Tony on peg 10 put 70lbs+ on the scales with his first net, but thankfully Graham (The Owner) decreed that as long as it wasn't over 80lbs there would be no penalty. His final tally was 143¼lbs, a total that wouldn't be beaten ensuring he took the honours on the day

. Clive managed 69½lbs and Simon just 40lbs.
Round to my peg and as soon as I lifted my 1st net I knew that I'd underestimated as well , thankfully it came in under 80lbs and my total of 141½lbs that would be good enough for 2nd today

. Dave had a good day as well on peg 18 with 122¼lbs

and Nick Bondeau recorded a new PB match weight of 71lbs

.

Al was left regretting a slow last half hour when his weight came out at 131lbs but still ended up 3rd overall

. Lee Rose on peg 34 took the best weight among the Morefax lads with a level 98lbs

while Roger, Ken and Graham managed 50lb weights

. So back to the fishery lodge for coffee and results.
Dave soon had the results and the sections sorted and payed out, 1700lbs + had been weighed in for an average of 62lbs+ per angler so it was fair to say a decent day had been had by most

.

Next up for Marsh AC is Blasford Hill on August 13th.

#5

Nice report as always Peter. I was very impressed with Woods lake and the results show it fished far better than our last few matches on Pathfield. Weights were certainly more consistent and spread fairly evenly round the lake.

Although the lake is quite expensive and far more than any other venue we use, I think its worth it especially if we get a few guests to reduce the net cost to the club. Its certainly going on my list for next year.

#6

Thanks Dave.

I'd have to agree with your thoughts. IMO Wood is a lot more even than Pathfield with everyone on a few fish.
Worth the extra money as there should be no problem filling a few extra places with guests.
It's one of those venues where I don't think you would get many complaints if we had 2 matches a year on it.

#7

totally agree great venue

1 point mugger

#8

If you miss a match it's impossible to catch up

#9

If you miss a match it's impossible to catch up

Chairman's decision Clive, I did suggest last year that you should be able to drop one score, but it fell on stoney ground.

Not that it would have had any effect as Keith would still have won.

However in fairness it does reward those that fish all the matches.

#10

Cracking read as always Mugger. Love the pics too

#11

finally got a proper chance to have a good read of your blog Pete, excellant as usual.

I must admit Colemans Cottage gets better and better with each visit. It is the one venue where if I lived closer that I would be every week.

The switch to Wood lake was good, those with local info proved very hard to beat,but all you can do is try.

As usual excellant match and great company.

#12

A rivoting read as usual Mugger

Must say looks a very nice pool, plenty of space between pegs and nicely matured - sort of place I'd 'go for' if up this neck of the woods

Notice youve changed your line for your pole rigs - wernt you using Shimano previously?

#13

It's a cracking pool Tony, and one I'm sure that you would enjoy.

Linewise I actually changed a couple of years back Tony, the old story, had a bad spool of Shimano, lost confidence in it and looked for something else and had Ultima recommended to me, and I have to say that I've been very happy with it.

#14

changed a couple of years back

That long!!! How the time flies by - remember intending giving Silkshock (I think you used ) a go, but couldnt source it locally, so moved back from a 'market best seller' to my prefered line......

#15

great report on the match Mugger, Myself i love fishing at colemans, not far to walk, every thing is on hand, tackle shop if you need anything, food good and you can get a cuppa after the match. as for fishing I find wood lake is the best and the other three are not that bad either. I would mind fishing there more offen.

#16

I completetly agree with previous comments, Wood Lake is better to fish than Pathfield. It seemed that people were catching from all swims round the lake. At Pathfield the far end is a bit shallow with correspondingly fewer fish (I know Keith won a Marsh match from that end the other year but normally the better weights come from the end closer to the cafe/tackle shop). Cracking report Mugger - as ever.

#17

Graham

I think pete had a good weight from the opposite bank from me as well. I think if you have room on pathfield then you will catch if you feed it.

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