Have Corn will Travel: Alders Farm Ash Lake 26 09 17

It was so good having Pete Morton stay over as we got talking about his blog and how the photos he takes are a great feature of it. Now Peter fishes for fun, but still has a competitive streak when required. He will regularly stop mid match and take a few snaps before going back to his peg and mugging a few fish to normally frame. However I took the opportunity to ask him how he does his photos. It was never this easy before. So now you get piccies.
It has been noticeable over the last few weeks that there are a lot of fish holed up on the far bank of Ash Lake. Some double tons at weekends and even when the rest of the lake has been performing below par there have been some good weights. That's not to say the cafe bank has been fishing badly, just that the fish have drifted in and out all the time. Getting a run of fish together is hard but if you can get them going then a very good weight is on the cards.
Today would see pegs 1-8 on the cafe bank and 27 to 30 on the opposite bank. Now we are entering October and the fish are still sitting in the shallow water, strange place Alders. With pools and pegging paid it was onto the draw. Peg 28 was to be my home and not where I fancied to be honest. It had some good form winning the JJL match and also framing the previous week, so there were fish about. Either side of me, I had Nick Pringle on 27, Peter Archer ( Waldorf from the muppets) and Trevor Price on 30 ( Statler also from the muppets). I knew the banter would flow and before a line was wetted a post was on Facebook highlighting the new parking arrangements and what sponsorship was all about. At least Nick would keep me sane.

I had decided to fish pellet on a top four and top six if things were not going to plan. I had the tree to my left and although I fancied it for a few fish was not comfortable fishing it, as it was fraught with danger. A couple of margin rigs one for pellet and the other with maggot would see me through the match.
At the all in I started off feeding a few micros with a pinch of 4mms. After 5 minutes the float dips and a 5lb carp is soon in the net. Feed again and same thing happens, The red hydro is doing its stuff. Then nothing, I started dropping in 4 or 5 pellets and I would get a couple more fish. A switch to maggot saw a smaller fish of 2lb so this was sacked off and I continued plugging away on the pellet.
Pete was catching well in between bursts of tourettes. Nick was proclaiming his ascendancy as the Alders Farm Perch Champion, Trevor was bemoaning his lack of fish. Across the pond I could see Alan Donnelly, Charlie Lancaster and John Clennet all catching well. Far better than I.
All I could do was to keep plugging away, I was switching between top four, margins pellet and maggots just nicking odd fish, but they were a decent size so you never know. I was seeing tails and fish down the edges but they would not feed. They were coming in and as soon as a pole went over them they shot off. The water was quite clear so this may have been a contributory factor.
Back out to top four and by fishing just dead depth and dotting the float to a dimple, I caught steadily to the end. Nick had finally got amongst the carp with a late run of fish. But the match would be settled from the cafe bank or Pete.
Overall
1st Pete Archer 212-03