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Just like to say Thanks to all the club members and guests who've fished this years matches. Enjoyable as always, great company and great banter. Looking forward to next year already.
Dave, Many Thanks for your organisational efforts on behalf of the club, we give you plenty of ribbing, but it is much appreciated.
After having a list of 20 on Thursday sudden bouts of sickness and work overtook a 5 of us to leave a disappointing 12 members and 3 guests for the final match of the year. Still that meant that as we had the whole reservoir that we could spread out using mostly alternate pegs.
A number of us caught fish in the first few minutes and after 3 fish for 10lb in the first half hour I was wondering when I should go back to the car for my second carp net. That was until 45 minutes in when Mugger who had taken an early lead decided to flick the off switch to prevent us catching him up. Still some managed to put a few in the nets later and with fish averaging 5lb it doesnt take many to build a reasonable weight.
Well done on winning again Mugger. You appear to be on a good run at the mo --- Shame our season has just ended.
Please spare a thought for poor old Clive who after a grueller on a flyer peg at Rockells proceeded to draw the shortest walk to the peg which won last weeks match with 176lb. As its late in the year the sun now doesnt shine on peg 29 so he froze in the cold wind and the fish again decided they didnt want to play with him. For the second match running he found he couldnt reach the branch to deploy the noose so had to suffer until the end. never mind Clive the Rolfs winter league wont be long now.
I will do a report on the season in the next few weeks but in the mean time thanks to all for supporting the matches and making the days very enjoyable.
Guys !
On behalf of the Morefax lads !!! Thanks for having us along on some of your matches this year !!!
Great to fish with you !
Look forward to next season !
Your welcome Lee we have enjoyed having you along. Im sure we will be having one or two at Colemans Cottage where we would be pleased to have some of you along to help fill it up a bit. Also Im sure we could arrange another joint match at Hartleylands and maybe even Rolfs.
Could you PM me your phone no so I can get hold of you.
Thanks Dave from Myself Zack & Martin for all the work you have done this year organising all our matches. Congratulations on being the winner of our league.
Looking forward to next year.
Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent is the venue today for the final Marsh AC match this year. The club has booked The Reservoir for today, which should make a nice change as we normally fish Nick's Lake . It was an early start for me as I'd arranged to meet up with Mick Pearson who was coming along as my guest today for a spot of breakfast prior to the match.
There was a noticeable chill in the air as I loaded up the car, and as I made my way down the temperature was only registering 4°C on the car thermometer . I arrived at The Knoxbridge Café just after 7am to find Mick waiting for me. We were soon tucking into a hearty breakfast and catching up with events since we'd last met. Kevin & Jean along with Graham,John,Martin and Zack arrived for breakfast as well, and with that taken care of it was just a matter of a five minute drive up to the fishery.
Pulling into the car park it was the usual hive of activity as greetings were exchanged and tackle was assembled prior to the draw ......
Paul East was actually fishing today!!!! complete with new shuttle, space station and pole that he's treated himself to, but unfortunately there were a few faces missing due to a combination of work, illness and prior engagements , which meant there were just 15 of us fishing, but with the whole reservoir booked it meant that we would have plenty of space. A quick chat with the bailiff revealed there had been a frost this morning and the day before, not the best of news as it may have had an effect on the fish feeding, though it promised to be a nice sunny day with what wind there was, blowing toward the earlier pegs.
Just after 8·30am Dave started the draw and I found peg 16 sticking to my hand, probably the furthest walk, but the end of the reservoir I prefer. You can see where it is, and where everyone ended up on the peg plan below ......
As I made my way round I found Terry was on peg 18, where he'd fished a couple of weeks ago, while Zack was on peg 20, the peg I'd fished with Dave keeping him company on peg 21 along with Chris who'd come along to watch again as his hand is still in plaster . Settling my gear into the peg I planned to tackle it in a similar way to the way I'd fished peg 20 a couple of weeks ago, and that was to just fish 2 lines, the first at 2 sections and a top 2 straight out where I had around 4 feet of water and the second down the left and right hand margins. Rigs were two 4x12 CX pencils on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 14 Guru MWG's for straight out and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 14 Guru MWG for the margin line. Bait today was simply 6mm pellet for feed and 8mm pellet for the hook ......
With a bit of time before the off, I took a stroll down to see Mick and Paul who were on pegs 12 & 10 and the side bet of a 'Golden Nugget' was struck with Mick who was obviously confident in the pulling power of MaryQ . Jean had provided a welcome cup of coffee which went down well as the breeze had a bit of a nip to it as we waited for the start. As I sat there I couldn't help noticing that some of the colour seemed to have dropped out of the water, no doubt due to those first frosts, would it effect things? We'd soon find out .
10am and Dave called the All-In, I was determined to be positive and fed a good handful of pellet straight out and down the margins before shipping a banded 8mm out in front. The first couple of put ins resulted in a couple of tentative dips of the float that I didn't connect with, but the third put in saw me connect with what was obviously a carp, they do pull a bit these reservoir carp as they seek the deeper water, but steady pressure soon took its toll as a feisty Mirror found its way to the waiting landing net, at around 4lbs a nice way to get off the mark .
Bites weren't coming instantly like they were a couple of weeks ago, but by feeding every put in and continually working the bait there were bites to be had, and in what seemed like no time at all I'd put 8 carp in the nets . The reality was that it had taken 50 minutes as I looked at my watch which said 10 to 11. I really shouldn't have looked though, as that seemed to be the signal for the fish to switch off .
The next hour or so was pure torture as there wasn't a bite to be had, but from what I could hear and see everyone else seemed to be pretty much in the same boat, though I was sure I'd heard a top kit smash from down toward Paul's peg . I could see that nothing had touched the bait in the margins as the water hadn't coloured up at all, but I kept bait trickling in on all the lines as I didn't want fish to move in and find nothing to hold them. Around midday I'd heard that Mick and Paul had taken a few fish, so fed a good handful straight out and took a stroll with the camera to see what was happening and take my mug back to Jean .
It appeared that Mick was alternating between a pole line and the method feeder to tempt a few fish and he was owning up to around 25lbs in the net, though as I strolled away he was into another fish on the feeder ......
Paul revealed that the earlier sound of splintering carbon had indeed coming from his peg, his top kit not being up to the task of heaving a double figure carp into his landing net when it had other ideas ......
Kevin was having a real struggle as were Rod and Martin on that bank, in fact it was hard to tell if Martin was watching the tip of his feeder rod or just staring despondently into the distance ......
Round to peg 29 and there was Clive struggling for a bite on the peg that according to the bailiff had won the last match with 176lbs, talk about [blue]"You should have been here last week"[/blue] added to which was the fact that the peg was in almost total shade, it would be fair to say that the moustachioed one wasn't exactly ecstatic with the prospect of another 4 hours sat there .......
Ken wasn't fairing a whole lot better on 27, another shaded peg, though he had a few small silvers in the net to show for his efforts ......
Graham was next up on the last of the shaded pegs and was just unhooking a small roach as I arrived, always positive he was hopeful that a few carp would put in an appearance later in the day .....
onto 23 and Nick at least had a carp in the net to show for his efforts, while Dave had managed 3 carp early before they switched off, but he was now feeding small pinches of hemp with a tare on the hook trying to tempt some roach, and while he was getting the odd one or two, even they were proving reluctant to feed .......
On peg 20 Zack had concentrated on his right hand margin from the off and it had yielded a carp and a few silvers for him, while Terry had been unable resist a look down his left hand margin having seen a fish down there .......
Back at my peg and a glance down both margins revealed that nothing had visited for a munch so it was back out with a banded 8mm in front, followed by some pellets. A quick dip of the float followed by a lift saw me attached not to a carp but a skimmer, still it was something to add to the net even if it did slime me .
Next put in and the same again only this time it wasn't a skimmer, obviously a substantial carp it powered off in unstoppable fashion, the rig returning with a straightened out hook Luckily I had a second identical rig to hand and the next 3 put ins saw 3 more skimmers deposited in the net. Next put in and a lift was met with stronger resistance, a carp this time, a chunky Common around the 6lbs mark and very welcome. This was rapidly followed by a similar sized Mirror that took a bit of getting in as it was hooked in the pectoral fin, but come in it did .
This stirred the peg up a bit and led to a lull, but after around 10 minutes another skimmer joined its mates in the silvers net. By now Dave was targeting his margins and I watched as he landed a couple of carp, and I knew that if there were fish there he would give me a run for my money. Next put in and I was briefly attached to a lump that took off before launching itself out of the water like a Polaris missile and crashing back on the line smashing the rig .
Time to compose myself and tie up another couple of rigs, and with that done get back to fishing. Kev appeared with another cup of coffee, but it dropped to the floor, emptying its contents before I could reach it . Kev trundled off with the empty cup after I retrieved it from the water promising a refill. 10 minutes later and Dave came along bring me the refill and tried to convince me that I already had 100lbs in my nets.............I wish .
Unfortunately it was back to scratching for bites after that, though Dave gave us all a bit of amusement with the length of time he spent playing a Ghostie , but he had the last laugh as it ended safely in the net. Meanwhile I was just picking up the odd skimmer here and there. Terry however suddenly seemed to have the carp turn up in front of him with an hour to go , and Dave was still getting the odd fish from the margins. Thankfully I managed 3 more carp among the skimmers while Terry suffered a run of bumped bites and lost fish in the last 20 minutes .
4pm and Dave called the All-Out. it had been a hard days fishing and the reservoir hadn't fished up to its potential. I felt I had around 70lbs in the nets, but I'd soon find out for sure come the Weigh-In .
I packed my gear away but left it at my peg and went to get on with the Weigh-In. Rod kicked things off with just 9¼lbs while Martin could only muster 6lbs. Kev had 20¼lbs and John 14lbs proving just how hard the fishing on that bank had been . Paul despite his early woes had managed to get the better of a few decent lumps down the margin and put 77½lbs on the scales and take 2nd on the day . Mick had enjoyed his day with 52lbs, but Jim had suffered a torrid day with just 5¾lbs. I was next and my carp nets came up short of Paul's weight, but 15lbs of skimmers gave me a total of 81¾lbs and the win today . Terry had 50½lbs and Zack 29¼lbs. Dave's 69¼lbs took 3rd overall . Nick weighed 15lbs while Graham did manage some afternoon carp to take 42¼lbs to the scales. Ken had 8¾lbs while Clive was last to weigh with a level 20lbs.
Back at the car park Dave collated the scores and monies with the top 3 taking their sections on the day and I relieved Mick of a 'Golden Nugget' before we loaded our gear up, bid our farewells and headed off for home .
The club does run a points table over the course of the matches and as you can see from the table posted at the top of this thread Dave reaped the rewards of a very consistent season that included 3 match wins, coming out on top with 218 points while I was Runner-Up with 204 points and Al finished 3rd on 194 points despite missing the final Match. I'd just like to say a personal Thank You to all the club members and guests who've fished this years matches. They've been great company on the bankside, with some hilarious banter meaning the matches have been enjoyable as always, and I'm looking forward to next year already .
Finally, MANY THANKS to Dave (Mr Chairman) for his organisational efforts on behalf of the club, we give him plenty of ribbing at times, but it's much appreciated .
As has been said before, thanks Dave for organising all the matches and well done on your win, as usual it's been a lot of laughs, a lot of head scratching at some places and great p*** taking banter .
Hopefully next year will see more of the same and already looking forward to it.
we give him plenty of ribbing at times, but it's much appreciated
That dont read as you intended Mugger .Im not sure I appreciate it more I have to put up with it.
Mick as Mugger says you are welcome.
Thanks TK and Simple. Its just been a good season in good company catching fish on some cracking venues. Al only needed to turn up and catch 10lb to win but went to work instead.
I add my thanks to Dave for all his hard work and dedication to the cause as ever, and his advice freely given, same goes to all who have given me advice I sadly fail to usually heed....sorry to miss this last one and a shame it did not fish to its potential...there's always next year Personally its been great to fish most of the matches this year as well as fishing the beast named Rolfs...Alders was cracking too....the banter has been great this year....see you all soon
Great report Mugger.
Clive / Tony Can you please help What was the name of the shop/website we got our breast(tiddler)Master from?
I broke my 4th section shipping out paste in the cup.
Thanks John
John,
I think it was Climax Tackle that did the deals on the Shimano Beastmaster XT-B that Tony and Clive got, so I'm assuming you got yours from the same place.
Regarding your No 4 section, you may want to think about getting it repaired by Scott at Esselle Pole Repairs, you could ring him on 0775 967 8774 to get an idea of the cost. It will come back stronger than new and will still pack away OK.
Alternatively you could go for a new No4 section. Fishing Spares hold stocks of them, but they retail at £106.99p
Yep Peters right John it was Climax tackle
Scott is your best bet to get it repaired for a straight crack like yours will only be about £25 ish
My number 5 went the same about a year ago and I've been using it telescoped with no problems but will be sending it off to scott for repair this winter
I doubt you will get much joy out of Shimano as you have been using it for well over a year so it can't be a faulty section
you must have knocked it or dropped it or something?
but it's guaranteed for 2 years so you never know
I've added it to the list along with Drayton and boddington 
. It was an early start for me as I'd arranged to meet up with Mick Pearson who was coming along as my guest today for a spot of breakfast prior to the match.
. I arrived at The Knoxbridge Café just after 7am to find Mick waiting for me. We were soon tucking into a hearty breakfast 
and catching up with events since we'd last met. Kevin & Jean along with Graham,John,Martin and Zack arrived for breakfast as well, and with that taken care of it was just a matter of a five minute drive up to the fishery.
complete with new shuttle, space station and pole that he's treated himself to, but unfortunately there were a few faces missing due to a combination of work, illness and prior engagements 
, which meant there were just 15 of us fishing, but with the whole reservoir booked it meant that we would have plenty of space. A quick chat with the bailiff revealed there had been a frost this morning and the day before, not the best of news as it may have had an effect on the fish feeding, though it promised to be a nice sunny day 
with what wind there was, blowing toward the earlier pegs.
. Jean had provided a welcome cup of coffee 
which went down well as the breeze had a bit of a nip to it as we waited for the start. As I sat there I couldn't help noticing that some of the colour seemed to have dropped out of the water, no doubt due to those first frosts, would it effect things? We'd soon find out 
.
.
......
.......
.
. Kev trundled off with the empty cup after I retrieved it from the water promising a refill. 10 minutes later and Dave came along bring me the refill and tried to convince me that I already had 100lbs in my nets.............I wish 
.
. Mick had enjoyed his day with 52lbs, but Jim had suffered a torrid day with just 5¾lbs. I was next and my carp nets came up short of Paul's weight, but 15lbs of skimmers gave me a total of 81¾lbs and the win today 
. Terry had 50½lbs and Zack 29¼lbs. Dave's 69¼lbs took 3rd overall 
. Nick weighed 15lbs while Graham did manage some afternoon carp to take 42¼lbs to the scales. Ken had 8¾lbs while Clive was last to weigh with a level 20lbs.
.
