A relatively short journey for the Milton Keynes duo of Mick and myself, Colemans Cottage at Witham Essex. One of my favourite venues, excellent fishery with 5 lakes on offer, cafe and surroundings. Mick picked me up at 0600 and with the car packed we were soon heading down the M1 and M25 before the A12 switch. It really is a good journey for us.
Arriving around 0730 we were first in the queue for breakfast and soon followed by the Watkin Brothers, slowly everyone arrived and with a dozen of us booked on we had one bank on Wood going up to the bowl at the top leaving a peg out everyone couple of pegs to give added room.
At the draw, quite unsuspectingly I pulled out my peg before Mick, something I do not normally do, but I had PMA( Positive Mental Attitude) with me today, so knew it would not make any difference. Peg 9 was to be my home, a good peg by the aerator. Mick had drawn peg 15, in the bowl and a not so good area, although consistent. For company and the second match on the trot I had Tony Roberts on the next peg 8 with Jim Etherington on peg 11.
My plan was to be a nice and simple one, up and down at 2+2 straight out, a edge swim either side and another rig for the aerator. Edge swims were a couple of Derek Smith .2 green floats tied to .17 Guru N Gauge and a size 18 B911x with a hair rigged band. The aerator swim was attacked with a DT diamond .3 also to .17 N Gauge to a size 16 Kaizen again with a hair rigged band. A shallow rig set to fish the minimum allowed around 18 inches and another DT Diamond .5 to a size 16 Kaizen. Elastics were all red hydro bar the shallow rig which was white hydro.
I started off at 2+2 straight out on the deck feeding a dozen 4mm pellets every put in, I was getting odd liners and foul hooked fish and after 30 minutes I was still fish less, yet the float had gone under plenty of times. A few changes to the rig and a couple of 4lb fish then more liners. A switch to the shallow rig saw another couple of F1's in the net but I was going no where fast. A look down by the aerator saw my rig bury and fish on and off within seconds trashing the rig in the paddles. Back out with a heavier hooklength, saw fish number 5 in the net. Tony was catching, as I could hear him and I could see Jim;s landing net going in and out. My PMA was starting to wane, however I decided to be more Positive and started upping the feed at 2+2 to keep them on the deck. Two big handfuls and an 8mm over the top. Bang! Bang! Bang! a run of fish which lasted around an hour before fading, Adding another section did not keep in touch with the fish but taking a section off helped with another 10 fish in short time. I reckoned I had around 60lb with 2 hours left, and felt that if I was going to compete I needed one of the edges to fish. The right hand edge, looked good but only provided a roach and a small skimmer. The left hand edge at top two saw a few swirls and a couple of bigger carp on corn over 4mm pellet. but it was a case of swapping and changing baits to keep fish coming. By the end of the match, I felt that I had fished positively and with the correct mental attitude towards the peg. I had around the ton and although I could not see anyone else I knew Tony was close if not better than me. But word was that Mick had 4 nets in and that both Dave and Simon were close to our weights.
Overall
1st Keith Ashby 124lb
2nd Tony Roberts 112lb 8oz
3rd Clive Pritchard 106lb
Jt 4th Dave Collier 96lb
Jt 4th Simon Watkins 96lb
6th John Holdswoth 89lb
Overall the lake had fished fair, no out and out winner and any of the top 6 could have won on the day, I must admit I should have put another 80lb on the weight considering the amount of lost fish today. Thinking about it afterwards I think the elastic choice was definitely wrong and a strong case could be made for black hydro on the day. I have pulled another MK Nugget back from Mick to make it 9-5 and the gap is closing slowly. I cannot make the next club match at Puddledock as I am off the Goodiford Mill and Viaduct Fishery for a week away with the Yam Yams. Will let you all know how it went when I get back.
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