Hartleylands Farm Nicks Lake 17.06.2017

My turn to drive today on another Marsh AC club match, this time down to Hartleylands Fishery in Kent. A long way to go for a match but the fishing is good and the banter to be had can be excellent. A steady trip down saw us pulling into the Knoxbridge Cafe, a regular haunt on these trips and well worth a stop if anyone is in the area. A full English, a mug or two of tea and we were ready for the days proceedings. A short journey to the fishery and a quick look at the water. The levels looked a bit lower than the last time we were here, but there were fish cruising around unperturbed.
With monies paid, Mick was one of the first into the hat and peg 8 was to be his home. My hand was greeted with peg 7. Two and a half hours in a car together and now for the 6 hours of the match before 2 hours back home. Can you believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!
On the way down Mick with his counsellor (well if Rory McIlroy can have one why can't I) head on, suggested that I look at my pegs rather negatively. There was nothing wrong with the pegs, just my mental state of mind. He suggested taking a more Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) to the pegs instead. All pegs are good pegs. He stated I can catch fish and can normally work out a method to catch, so thats not the problem, its just that I treat the peg negatively from the off.
So armed with a new found lease of PMA I literally ran to me my peg, well ambled really. I had fished the peg before and decided to fish it similarly, Pellet Waggler to the point of the island, a shallow rig for 2+4 and a couple of margin rigs. Bait wise I was going to concentrate on hard pellet with meat as a back up line.
I started off on a 4BB pellet waggler punching the float to the point of the island, a couple of small carp came to the net at 2ft deep but I was missing more than I caught and after 20 minutes, it was parked up the bank in preference to a shallow approach. I had been throwing 6mm pellets onto 2 +3 line and started off there nicking a few carp before adding another section as they drifted out of the catch zone. I was catching regularly but as with last week the fish were on the small size, averaging a pound and a half. I tried an 8mm hard pellet on a hair rig and this caught me a few larger 3lb fish but I was again missing more bites than hitting. I put these down to roach as every now and again I would hook one. Again I thought the line was slowing so quickly made a switch to the right hand edge.
John who could only fish for 3 hours due to family commitments had packed up and weighed in, 119lb was the benchmark. I was behind that mark, but I do not fish floating baits, Mick was nicking a few fish and it was close between us, Tony on peg 6 was catching and included a carp around 8lb in his catch. Terry was struggling but Simon and Dave had both caught well with the chairman having a 3lb barbel in his net.
My right hand edge produced well but agin the stamp was small, but I was armed with PMA and knew it would come good in the end. It was just a case of head down and catch what ever swam by. I was getting bites on the deck and tried shallow a couple of times in the margins but although I could see better fish swimming in and out I would only get the smaller stockies.
Unforrtunately, Chairman Dave felt unwell and in the 30 degree heat was struggling so wisely packed up, before things got any worse.
But by rotating my lines I kept nicking odd fish until the final whistle. My PMA had worked well. I did not have any real dry spells, correctly resting lines and moving quickly to the next, rather than sitting on a line which was dying. Something I am guilty of occasionally.

Overall

1st Simon Watkins  171lb

2nd Keith Ashby   157lb

3rd Mick Wright 135lb 8oz

4th Tony Roberts 123lb

5th John Holdsworth 119lb

6th Clive Pritchard 112lb

So all in all a good day, the new PMA worked well and although there was a few moments of trashed rigs and hook pulls, my attitude never faltered. I secured the coveted MK Nugget for this match to narrow the gap again to 9-4 and the comeback is on.

Alders Farm Ash Lake 06 06 2017

My season so far has been quite poor on the results front although I feel that I am fishing well at the moment. I am getting pipped by Mick quite regularly now and with him holding an 8-3 lead I really need to start turning the corner. Today was another chance to close the gap, however, the weather gods were trying their best to completely mess up the day.
I arrived at the fishery with rain coming down and a strengthening wind blowing down to the dam wall. While waiting for the draw all the discussion was about peg 30 and how it has changed from a good peg into a solid peg recently. It held a lot of fish and they were comfortable there. At the weekend Charlie Lancaster having 265lb from it.
As has been the usual custom Mick went into the pot first. Peg 30. Boy can he draw well. Myself had to settle for peg 2, another good peg but had struggled at the weekend and the fish could only be caught long. That was out of the window due to the wind but I still set up a rig to fish at 11m in case it became possible. How often do we fish and the conditions change during the match? My other rigs were for fishing 2+2 both sides by the reeds and a 2+2 line straight out. Hopefully I could catch on all three close lines and have a good day.
I had Trevor Price on peg 4, so knew I had my work cut out, others of note were Paste master Charlie Lancaster on 21, Shallow Pete Archer on peg 12 and Steve Wroe on the newly rebuilt peg 8. I started off fishing long for one fish on 6mm banded pellet but the wind made presentation impossible so it was soon binned. Never to be seen again. A look at 2+2 straight out saw a couple of foul hookers on corn so I switched to a 6mm pellet and this seemed to sort this out. I was getting liners on this line so tried a shallower rig and again a couple of fish came to the net. By rotating lines right edge and straight out I could get bites but was missing more than I connected with. Everywhere I looked people were catching under there umbrellas.
I could see Mick catching but it was Charlie again taking the place apart.
Nothing really changed much for me though and it was a case of trying to hit the bites I had. Slight adjustments to shotting patterns and depth kept a steady flow of fish coming to the net but I was not going to trouble the leader board. Yet in a perverse sort of way, I was still relatively happy. I was soaked, as I do not use an umbrella. I was battered by the wind and even 4 hours later my face is still tingling. I had caught a few fish from a peg that at the weekend had struggled and I learnt a few things along the way.
Pellet fishing for me is an alien method, so I am learning as I go. A little here and a little there but slowly I am making progress.
Overall
1st Charlie Lancaster 315-05
2nd Pete Archer 234-09
3rd Trevor Price 209-15
4th Steve Wroe 182-06
5th Mick Wright 160-00
6th Keith Ashby 141-12
So the corner has still not been turned, 9-3, why do I do this to myself. Well done Mick. No match for me next week as I have to work but Hartleylands Farm on the 17th is as good a place to start the comeback.

Marsh AC Tylers Common Willow Lake 03 06 2017

Many years ago when I joined Marsh AC, it was because I could get to fish venues that I would not normally bother with due to the distance involved. Yes I could fish them on a day ticket or even book into an open on them but it would never be the same as fishing with a group of friends. Tyler's Common was another new venue for me, the club had fished it the previous year and knew what to expect yet I was going into the match with limited information. What I did know was that the lake contained a lot of small carp with the better pegs in the corners.
Mick was driving and had even sorted out a breakfast venue in nearby Brentwood, a cafe named Konchi's Kafe. In fact it was a Pie and Mash Shop that does a mean breakfast.
John and I were asked to peg it out whilst the others paid their pools and sorted their gear out. Walking around the lake there was a lot of fish movement. Every peg was solid with fish swirling just under the surface and cruising around. Back at the draw, I fancied a peg from 8 to 11, the wind was blowing into them and all had good looking margin swims. Mick had drawn peg 5, a noted peg that won the match last year, whilst I drew peg 7, just off where I fancied but not in the corner and on the back bank. My plan of attack was to fish meat and with this in mind I had 5 tins available at my disposal. I also had a selection of pellets, 4mm, 6mm and 8mm. 4mm for feed and 6 and 8mm for hookers.
I set up 3 shallow rigs to cover from 6 inches to 18 inches, a slapping rig and a deep rig, all to fish one line at 2 plus 2. I could feed comfortably here and as I expected a lot of small carp did not want to waste time shipping in and out. I also set up a rig for the right hand margin close to a tree coming out into the water. I would feed this with pellet.
Starting of on the slapping rig I was soon into a run of small carp, although small by Tyler's standard I was hopeful of a few better fish turning up. The fish were coming right up in the water and even taking the small frenzee flot I was using. I switched to the 6 inches rig and again although I was catching, they were only small fish, averaging just over a pound. A switch to meat caught me a couple of slightly larger fish around 1 1/2lb but I was having to wait for the float to go under. A look down the edge saw no real change of fortune, just small average sized carp.  After 3 hours I reckoned on about 75lb and had plenty of fish. John on peg 8, fresh from his coaching day at Alders Farm with the Garbolino team, was catching well on floaters with a ton weight, Clive on peg 6 had also caught well fishing an 8mm in the margin. Mick had fared slightly worse than me with 70lb. Kevin had plenty of fish for 81lb and Simon was just edging out brother Tony. It was clear at this point though, that the corner pegs were producing the better stamp of fish.
Going into the second half of the match I needed to catch a few of the better samples of carp I had seen during the weighing in. Nearly everyone in the corners, had proper 2 to 3lb fish yet mine were all smaller 1 1/4 specimens. I tried upping the feed and changing the depth regularly but to no avail. I had just drawn a peg where it was solid with those small carp. Nothing I did seemed to affect the change in size of carp, no matter where I placed the rig, margins, up in the water or on the deck. I felt hopeless and out of ideas. Do not get me wrong I caught plenty of fish, probably between 120 and 130 fish but my total weight of 166lb reflected the size.
Overall
1st John Holdsworth 337-08
2nd Tony Roberts 280-00
3rd Clive Pritchard 270-12
4th Tony Watkins 256-00
5th Simon Watkins 255-00
6th Terry Goff 187-00
Mick just pipped me for the MK Nugget and now takes an 8-3 lead going into Tuesday's match. I can honestly say that I did not enjoy that match, I left feeling frustrated and vowing never to return as I felt I had no control over the fishing., but in hindsight I think I got it all wrong from the off. Analysing the match I possibly should not have fished meat for an hour, trying to chase a few bigger fish. I should have also ignored the fish up in the water and fished hard on the deck with a bigger pellet feeding more aggressively to push the fish down. Still onwards and upwards. My next Marsh match is at Hartleylands Farm in a couple of weeks.