Simple Match Fishing Forum

Just over a week ago I found out that Kevin was back in the UK for a short time before finally  leaving us for good with Jean. A few phone calls confirmed that a few Marsh members were up for a midweek day out and as Hartleylands Nicks Lake is always good for a short notice match  and usually free that was the choice. Wrong as it had already been booked along with Bramley for a 36 peg Police match ( surely that shouldnt be allowed as they should be out protecting us  )

With a choice of the Res or Pear Tree( at a reduced cost ) and being unsure of how many would finally come I chose Pear Tree as we could have the whole lake without breaking the bank. Well come the day we ended up with 13 of us and as the lake has 26 pegs it meant we could have every other peg at £10 a man including a small section pool.

The temperature over night dropped for the first time this year and on the way down the car showed it was 5 degrees at 7.30. This obviously had an affect on the fishing as the usual stockies feeding shallow just didn’t happen and regular bites were at a premium. I managed 8 fish on the feeder before trying the margins which didn’t produce anything a couple more on the feeder in the next hour left me struggling. With 2 hours to go I decided that the 2 pints of maggot I had brought as an insurance policy were not going home with me so started feeding them fairly heavy down the margin. This produced a run of small roach when another bite finally had the elastic stretching and a 1lb 8 perch in the net and this was followed by another just shy of a lb. It then became a game of trying to avoid the roach to nick the odd carp that decided to stop and have a munch on the maggot. I got 3 of them which were much bigger than the previous stockies the best being about 5 lb.

The highlight of the day was definitely the pies from the farm shop supplied by Jean and Als wife ( she had decided to visit us as it’s the only chance she gets to see Al these days) and the several cups of tea made on my camping stove I had taken along rather than make a flask.

All in all a very enjoyable day on a very warm October day just a shame the fish were not coming out to play.

Well today is a rare midweek day out with a few of the lads from Marsh AC and Maggotdrowners . Not a club match as such, just a days fishing as Kevin has returned to these shores for six weeks before he and Jean finally make their move to The Bahamas. So that Kevin can get a final bit of fishing in ahead of their departure we'd arranged this trip down to Hartleylands today along with a final official club match at Colemans Cottage on Saturday  .

I've still got a few days of Holiday to fit in before the end of the year, so booked the day off to venture out for an all to rare weekday session  . Loading up the car just before 6am it was noticeably chilly and the car thermometer only read 4°C . I'd arranged to meet a few of the lads at The Knoxbridge Café for a spot of breakfast beforehand and when I got there Kevin, Jean and Al were already tucking in and we were soon joined by Tony and Jim. Soon we made our way down to the fishery to find the car park packed as there was a Police match on Nick's and Bramley.

Dave soon had the draw organised and with just 13 of us fishing we just used the odd pegs on Peartree and I found Peg 19 in my hand. I soon had my gear round to the peg, though a soft trolley tyre made it harder work than usual  .

Settling in I had plenty of island to go at and I decided on a nice simple day fishing the method feeder, so setting up really took no time at all seeing as the rod was already set up in its ready sleeve. Indeed I had plenty of time to go back to the car and sort out my trolley tire.
For company today I had Tony to my right on Peg 17 and DaveT (Faye's Dad) on Peg 15, while to my left on Peg 21 was Terry. Apart from the groundbait I just had a selection of pellets for the hook and a few maggots.



Dave blew the All-In at 10·15. I banded a white 6mm pellet and with the feeder clipped up dropped it around a foot from the island. Within 30 seconds the tip wrapped round and a nice little Common Carp of around 1lb was soon safely netted to get me off the mark  . Back out and the tip wrapped again and Common number 2 was safely netted. The third cast produced exactly the same result, Happy Days  .

Or not as it proved  , subsequent casts produced not even a tremble on the tip, going through various hookbaits had no effect at all and after an hour I decided to get the pole out. A quick look in my box found a suitable rig, a 4X12 KC Tricky on 0·14 power match with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hook. Plumbing up at around 9mtrs I found a nice even patch at around 3½ft deep. It was noticeable that nobody had really been catching much, apart from Bill up on Peg11, so I decided to go for it and balled 6 balls of groundbait in to see if I could draw a few fish, Then went back out on the method to let things settle. Another 20 minutes on the method produced nothing however  :(, so time for the pole. 20 minute on the pole was biteless as well so I fed 2 pots of pellets and took a stroll.

Tony had a few on the method and had mugged a 4lb'er from the margin, but was struggling to put any sort of run of fish together......



Dave T was happy with his lot as he'd managed to snare a carp that he was sure was his best ever on his new pole  ......



Jim was having a bit of a struggle tucked down in a corner on peg 13 and was having to watch Bill regularly putting a fish or two into his nets, even though he was suffering blank spells of his own......



Martin and Rod were suffering in a similar vein to Jim  :(, though John was managing the odd fish on the feeder from the end of the island.
I got round to Dave just as he was into another fish on the feeder, just a small stockie carp but welcome all the same  ......



Al strolled round with his wife who'd come down to see him for a couple of hours and she and Jean were taking orders for pies from the farm shop, so with my order placed I strolled round to Kev who was actually into his second fish of the day ......



Stopping for a chat with Terry he was struggling big time without a single fish to show for his efforts  , despite there being fish moving in the reeds in his left hand margin.

Settling back into my peg I banded a 6mm pellet and shipped out and settled for feeding just 10-15 pellets every put in. 10 minutes of lifting and dropping finally produced a bite, and a chunky little Mirror of around 1½lbs was a welcome result  . Jean and Al's wife arrived with the pies, and that Meat & Potato pie looked like it was going to be the best bite I was going to get on the day  . I wish I could say it got better as the day progressed, but it didn't, apart from Jean turning up with a freshly brewed mug of tea courtesy of Dave  . Far to long between bites was the story, but I plugged away and ended with 19 fish which I thought might scrape 20lbs, by the time Dave called the All-Out.

The Weigh-In didn't take long. Kev kicked off with just a couple of fish for 2½lbs. Dave had fared better with 28¼lbs to show for his efforts, while John managed 14¼lbs. Bill took the bragging rights on the day with a hard earned 49lbs  while DaveT managed 30½lbs for second (Including his 8½lb PB Common  ) Tony managed 22¼lbs to edge out my 19¾lbs. Terry managed to find a few in the end to weigh 16¼lbs while Al managed 30¼lbs for third on the day.

So no great shakes fishing wise, but good company and far better than a day at work  .


You can find my Blog report HERE   

Tuesday saw us congregate at Pear Tree lake at Hartleylands to celebrate/commiserate  with Kevin being dragged off to the Bahamas 
With only 13 fishing we were able to use every other peg to give everyone plenty of room and at the draw out came 21 for me and as has happened several times this year I had Peter next to me  on my right in 19 and the other side in 23 was resident crooner  Al
I've only fished this lake a couple of times before but expected it to be very similar to Nicks lake but with possibly smaller fish although with the temperature the night before taking a sudden tumble and the forecast being sunny it might be difficult.
Although I'd brought a feeder rod with me I suddenly realised that it was rigged up with 12lb line when I'd last used it and didn't have any spare spools with me - doh  so didn't bother to set it up. In hindsight this could have been a big mistake as at the start both Peter and Al were into fish from the Island straight away.
I persevered with the pole but despite regular feeding and different baits couldn't buy a bite, very frustrating especially as I could see the occasional knocking of fish in the margin reeds.
Peter was struggling as well, although Al was still catching steadily but most were fairly small, Kevin and Roger the only others I could see were also fishless 
After about an hour or so the float shot under and at last I was into a fish which felt a reasonable size, after playing it for several minutes it finally came up near the surface and appeared to be about four or five pounds and with that it rolled over shot off again and the hook pulled
After three hours I was still blanking and although Kevin had managed one Roger was also without fish.
In the meantime Al's wife and Jean had been to the farm shop and re-appeared with pies for all  this was a welcome opportunity to take a break, go for a stroll and eat pie.
Back to the swim and it was now three and a half hours into the match and the dreaded DNW was beginning to loom but then somebody turned a switch and in the space of about twenty minutes I had four fish but they were only a pound or two - still at least no blank, then it died again for another hour. Word was that most people were struggling although Bill G was catching regularly and Dave T had caught a lump or two and Tony was rumoured to keep trying to land the island in an attempt to catch up.
The remainder of the match was not really much different, I think I ended up with eight small carp and a couple of skimmers for 16lb odd, most had struggled so congratulations to Bill on his win and to those who did manage to catch a few.
Thanks Dave for organising another friendly get-together and nice to see Kevin and Jean again.