Alders Farm Ash Lake 30 08 16 + Toft Lakes 31 08 16

Sorry for the delay but it seems I do not have a lot of time at present. Probably because I have been on the bank a couple of times a week for the last fortnight.
Anyway, the Alders Farm Costcutter matches on a Tuesday are starting to gain a bit of a following, with 14 anglers in attendance, especially seeing as the final of the Matchman League took place the previous day on the Bank Holiday Monday. Well done Colin Fossdyke on the win.
Mick the Meat was in attendance today, so the MK Nugget was resumed. It is 4-2 to Mick and if I had any chance of overtaking Mick I needed to start now and hope he falters towards the end of the year.
So with all the pegs sorted and monies paid ( I have also decided to have a go at qualifying for the next Matchman League final) it was into the drawbag. Mick had gone in first and out comes peg 21 ( flyer) I go in and out comes 19. Never far away, we spend all week at work together and then always seem to draw next to each other.
Arriving at my peg it looked good, I could see a few swirls at 5m and thought the fish would be up today, so set up a couple of deep rigs to fish 5m, and a couple of shallow rigs, one a foot deep the other 2ft. I also set up a margin rig to fish to my right hand side. I had Matt Kearns for company on 18 and the progress he has made this year has been outstanding, not only that but he is a nice young man without the attitude a lot of his generation seem to have.
At the all in, I cupped a half pot of fishery 4mm pellets onto the 5m line and started off on the deep rig with a banded 6mm pellet. I was getting a few bites, yet not turning them into net fish, I was either foul hooking fish or pulling out of them. This went on for about 30 minutes and with only 3 fish in the net I was already behind both Mick and Matt. I tried the deep shallow rig and this got me a few more fish but it was not quick enough to compete. I tried long and shallow and again I would get a few fish but then nothing. It was now 2 hours into the match and I only had around 30lb in the net.
The change came when i went down the margin, I had been feeding from the off, around a dozen pellets every minute. First put in and 10lb added to the weight, another of around 4lb followed by a 6lb fish. 20lb in less than 10 minutes. I would persevere for the remainder of the match, switching sides occasionally to rest the swim but only for 5 minutes at a time. During this switch I also managed a couple of fish from the left hand side but these were smaller fish. I was still way behind both Mick and Matt and this would follow through to the end.
At the all out I breathed a sigh of relief, and was quite glad it was over. I had wasted 2 hours and knew I should have done better. Lesson learnt. I even gave Mick his Nugget before the weigh in.

Overall

1st Charlie Lancaster     277-04

2nd Richard Brain         262-14

3rd Mick Wright           239-04

4th Pete Archer            230-09

5th Matt Kearns           217-01

6th Tim Jolley               176-09

7th Keith Ashby           154-14

Mick now leads 5-2 in the challenge and my work is cut out to regain the lead, but I will be trying.

Wednesday saw myself and Vic travel to another new venue for me, Toft Lakes near Dunchurch, Warks. I had heard good reports of the place from Vic and a couple of other people. It does not look like a hole in the ground carp puddle, but is very mature couple of lakes, with nice comfortable platforms. I decided to fish the pole as I had been told the margins can be good. Vic was to fish the pellet waggler and the bomb.

I set up 4 rigs, one at 5m in around 5ft of water, another at 11m with 6ft of water, a shallow rig and a margin rig for 2ft of water. 

My plan was to fish corn at 5m, pellet at 11m and corn down the edge. I fed all the lines at the start and started off at 11m, with just a couple of small indications on the float to show for it, after 30minutes I was trying the corn at 5m, again I was getting small lightning bites which I suspected were from roach. I decided to refeed the margin line after an hour with corn, and went straight over it. The change was immense, 3 fish in 15 minutes, one around 10lb the others around 4lb. This line then went quiet and I was getting bitten corn, a sign of the red signal crayfish who seem to have a liking for sweetcorn. I refed and had a quick 10 minutes down the left hand swim for one fish around 5lb. 

Vic was having a mare on the waggler 5 fish hooked and only one out, a switch to the bomb saw a couple of foul hookers. I just kept plugging away in the margins with a double corn bait. Occasionally I would drag out a crayfish, but I was still picking up odd carp to 10lb. 

By rotating the margins I was able to keep in touch with the carp, finishing off with 18 carp and a couple lost due to hook pulls. Vic had got his act together and ended up with around a dozen fish in the net.

A good pleasure day out, a new venue and some more carp caught.

Alders Pines Lake 23 08 16

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Meadowlands Pleasure Day 220816

When you are away with the Yam Yams you get talking about venues local to them, one of them was a place called Meadowlands, situated this side of Coventry. It consisted of two lakes, Lambsdown and Warren and is home to a good head of carp that have a liking for the pellet waggler and bomb. Again something I am still learning. I had been there last year for a look round on one of the Yam Yam matches and was impressed with the set up.
I had not been out for a while with a good friend Vic, so when it was mentioned about a trip up to Meadowlands I jumped at the chance. I arranged to meet Vic at Jack's Cafe at 0630 for the 45 minute journey to the fishery. On arrival we opted to fish Lambsdown, the larger of the two lakes. With a day ticket paid and a couple of bags of fishery 8mm pellets stored in the carryall we off around the lake. We decided to sit on pegs 47 and 48. No real reason why, probably because the car was not allowed any further round.
The plan was to fish the bomb and waggler, but I also set up a sneaky pole line just in case for corn. Not far out as it was very shallow but enough on a topkit and one. I had a selection of hookbaits that I could use, 8 and 10mm Jupiters, some 8 and 10mm standard skrettings and a few other samples that found there way into the tub.
I started off on the waggler, set around 3ft deep at around 40m, pinging was hampered by a strong left to right wind, that was gusting everytime you wanted to feed, so I was fishing slightly to me right to combat this.
Vic had started on the bomb and was soon into a couple of fish. I had my first after around 15 minutes on the bomb and a 10mm Jupiter, a good common touching double figures, another couple found there way to the net, smaller than the first but still averaging 5lb. A switch back to the waggler saw me pick up a odd fish, before it was back to the bomb. I then had a spell of foul hookers, some taking the tip round on the drop. I had a couple of looks on the pole line and was never really comfortable on it. The double corn would go and I would end up with a roach or skimmer. Understandable really when 100lb bags of silvers are caught on a venue.
Vic was still catching regularly and was always in front of me by a couple of fish. I am not sure how we should have approached the water, we just did what we thought was right and we caught on the day. Both of us had over the ton and a good practice session ahead of next years trip to Viaduct and Stafford Moor.

Alders Farm Pines Lake 09 08 16

With my secondment to working in Dagenham now over, I am now working back in Milton Keynes, but not scheduled to go back until the 16th, so it made sense to fish the Tuesday Costcutter at Alders Farm. I did not know which lake it was to be on, but have decided I need to try to learn how to fish hard pellet. Now this may sound simple to most, but trying to get the best from it, is what you need to work out. I do not take these matches too seriously, they are more relaxed and people tend to open up a little on these events.
There were 10 of us in the queue for the draw, pegs 10 to 25 on Pines Lake. My draw saw me sitting on peg 16 in the open water. I would have preferred a peg on the dam wall or the top end of the lake but it was not to be.
As I have already stated I wanted to practice my pellet fishing, so I only took a tin of corn as a change of hookbait, no corn feed, a couple of fishery 4mms bags and a bag of 6mm fishery pellets as hookers. I also had a few 8mm hookers, again as a change bait. I was going to fish the open water, 2+2 line, so set up 3 rigs to cover the 2ft depth. Two set dead depth, one at half depth. I also set up a margin rig to fish top three to my right. The two at dead depth were .20 to a size 16 B911F1 hook and a Del Smith Margin float. The half depth float was also one of Del's green slimmer range.Over the last couple of weeks I have tried a hair rigged band on the hook and this was not right. A straight band on the hook resulted in more fish in the net and less foul hookers.
I had Paul on 14 and Matt on 18, so needed to keep an eye on them. At the all in I started off on the deck feeding around a dozen pellets every 20 seconds or so. This saw me put my first fish in the net after around 10 minutes. I felt that there were not a lot of fish in the peg at this point as it was a slow start. Both Matt and Paul had a couple of fish and I was already behind. However after the first hour I had 11 fish for about 30lb and going well. Hour two saw the trend continue. I was getting bites but missing a lot, probably liners and tried the shallower rig for a couple of fish but was waiting longer for a bite. Back onto the deeper rig, and by adjusting the depth by an inch I managed to cut out a lot of the liners. A small difference but a learning, none the less.
Into the third hour, I started having a few problems, losing fish for no apparent reason, they did not seem foul hooked. I had a quick look shallow on two added sections for a single carp. I changed the feeding on the 2+2 line slightly, by doubling up the feed and sitting on it before re-placing the rig after a minute if no bite came. Feeding again and leaving for the minute and so on. I now had around 75lb in the net and pulling ahead of Matt and Paul. Matt was now concentrating down the edge. I had had a couple of quick looks down the edge for no fish, so it was time to leave it and concentrate on the 2+2 line.Hour four saw the perseverance pay off, I was fishing just off the feed by coming a half section closer and the bites were more direct. Into the last hour I was getting a few fish, but they were all small fish at around 2lb. I thought I had done enough to beat either side of me so was happy with my days work. I had learnt a few new things and had a couple of ideas I think my help in the future, so a positive day.
Overall
1st Del Smith                    250-08       Peg 22
2nd Terry Lancaster          164-11       Peg 25
3rd Keith Ashby               145-09       Peg 16
4th Charlie Lancaster        144-15       Peg 12
5th Neil                             129-03      Peg 10
6th Roy Makins                123-03       Peg 13
Unfortunately Charlie fell foul of the weight limit on his keepnet and was knocked back to 50lb for the net costing him second place.

Arrans Lake 06 08 16 Marsh AC

There are some venues that I frequent that challenge me, fishing wise, Hartleylands Farm Nicks Lake is one I cannot get to grips with but am slowly increasing my weights and starting to compete. It does not help living 100 miles away and only fishing it once or maybe twice a year, but slowly it has taken shape. Another venue is Oakfield, this time only 25 mile away but still the same issue, I cannot get to grips with Red Kite Lake although I think I should be doing better. However, Today's match was on Arran's Lake near Chelmsford, a prolific water capable of anglers catching well in excess of 700lb and on its day a 1000lb of fish. I must admit I do not enjoy it, but I can understand why anglers go there. At least I only go there once a year.
Mick had volunteered to drive at promptly arrived at 0600 for the 1hr 20m trip to the main highlight of the day, Breakfast at Rosie's Cafe just 10 minutes from the venue.I can highly recommend it.
Onto the fishing, we had the first car park bank and upto the willow tree on the far bank. We had 13 anglers and could easily fit leaving a bit of space where possible. With the peg fees and pools paid it was onto the draw and with that I wanted a low number on the far bank, anything from 1-5 would have been nice, however peg 10 was to be my home. Mick had decided to hang back and where does he draw, peg 4. But he did have 2 good anglers in his section and would have his work cut out to compete. Still he did have another MK Nugget in his sights after leading 4-1 for quite a while now. I also had my eye on it and peg 10 although not ideal, looked good for a few fish.
I decided I was going to fish one line only today and set up four rigs to cover it, all shallow from 8 inches to 18 inches deep.This was on a top 2 plus short 4 but feeding shorter, I wanted to catch on a top kit if I could.However because the venue is so prolific, I knew that keepnets could be an issue in there placement. I had four out in front of me and hoped I would not need the other 3 sitting behind me. This cuts down on the amount of water in front of you, and pushes you further out than you want to fish. Hence the short four.
At the all in I started off on the 18inch rig flicking it out with a 6mm hard pellet to avoid the hordes of roach and rudd in the venue. This did not work very well as I was getting plagued with them, so a switch to 8mm and although I was still getting a few around the 8oz mark I also started to catch carp to around 5lb but mainly 4s. I was feeding regularly around 12 pellets every 20 seconds and lifting the rig out and placing it in again with regular rhythm. After an hour I reckoned on 50lb in the first net so switched to another, Tony on peg 11 had said he had about 70lb and 18 fish, I had 14 fish at this time.Clive the other side of me was getting odd fish but did not seem to be build his swim. John and Terry were catching well making regular trips to the scales with larger fish. Hour two flew by and before long I had done the second net and was into net three. Still feeding a dozen pellets short every 20 seconds or so, even if I was playing fish or unhooking them. Hour three  saw me complete the 4 four nets and an estimated 200lb bag of fish. Tony was also admitting to a double ton.
Our matches here are split into 2 x 3hour matches with a combined weight deciding overall placings.
On our bank weights were

Gino         58lb

Tony R    228lb

Keith      213lb

Clive         80lb

Terry       123lb

John        202lb

However on the far bank, Al (again) had plundered the larger fish and placed 372lb onto the scales. To lead overall by nigh on 150lb. The match was his to lose. Mick had 132lb, a large gap between us, but not unassailable on this water.The Watkins brother were also battling it out for family bragging rights and Tony was just sneaking it 202 to Simon's 182lb.

With keepnets repositioned I was aware that generally in the afternoon things improve. Hard to believe but the larger fish seem to turn up and things get madder. I had the three back up nets ready.

This time I started off on an 8mm pellet and just the top two, It took around 5 minutes for the bites to arrive, but they did and the stamp of fish improved to 5lb fish. A small difference but one that makes a huge difference to the end result. I was still feeding regularly and tried to up the feed and changing to shallower rigs to combat liners, but I was still catching and putting fish in the net. After an hour I had 21 fish for about 100lb, Hour two saw me fill the remaining two keep nets so it was onto the spares.The best depth seemed to a foot deep,but i had to keep ringing the changes as the feed was going in. With my nets replaced and back fishing It was a case of head down for the final hour. I was still catching well and a couple of foul hookers did not seem to bother the resident shoals of carp swimming in my peg. I knew Tony was still catching well and needed to keep going to the end to pip him for the section win. John was also catching but not in my section, so less focus was on him. All I could do was to keep going. Hour three saw those keepnets put to good use with regular fish filling them up. ALL OUT.

Again our bank was weighed.

Gino         151-12

Tony R     268-08

Keith        337-04

Clive        239-12

Terry        169-08

John         237-00

The far bank weights were

Tony W      283-08

Rod              72-00

Al               489-00

Keith P       245-08

Mick          241-00

Simon        244-08

Jim             154-00

Overall

1st Al Loader                  861-00

2nd Keith Ashby             550-04

3rd Tony Roberts            497-04

4th Tony Watkins            486-08

5th John Holdswoth        439-08

6th Simon Watkins          428-08

7th Mick Wright              373-08

8th Clive Pritchard          320-04

9th Terry Goff                 293-04

10th Keith Powell           245-08

11th Jim Boase               231-00

12th Gino Exell               209-12

13th Rod Turner             118-00

What a match, however to me it was not fishing, it was catching and to be honest although I enjoy the fact it is a one off club match aimed at boosting their personal best match weights, it does nothing for me.I have fished some big weight waters before with varied successes, as I have said at the top. Viaduct fishery in Somerset is an awesome venue, but you do have to work for your catch, Stafford Moor is the same. Alders Farm is not just another carp puddle, you have to work for the results. The more you put in and learn will only improve you. Give me that anyday

Well Done Al on breaking your own club record, I did say at the start you will have 700lb plus mate. MK Nugget came my way to make it 4-2. And Tony took a nugget off both Gino and his brother Simon.