Monk Lakes

Saturday 28th April 2007

I'm down at Monk lakes in Kent today for the Danglers charities championships

Its not only a good chance to help raise some money for the charity but also a chance to practise for the FishOMania match next week and also meet up with some of the guys from Maggotdrowners

I arrived at Monks in time to get some breakfast before the draw (and made a mental note to stop on the way down for breakfast for the Fisho match as 130 hungry anglers are going to cause quite a queue) after my breakfast I met up with Peter and Vince the match organisers and a couple of other guys from Maggotdrowners and after getting mugged by Dirk for raffle tickets it was time to draw,the match is being fished on lakes 1 and 3 and only the even numbers are being used giving each angler an empty peg either side

I came out of the bag with peg 108 which is on the split of lake 3

The wind was howling across the lake as usual and I had it right in my face which was going to make for an uncomfortable day but hopefully better fishing

I set up a few rigs to try out in readiness for the Fisho match

First rig was A Malman 4x14 Thicko on Silstar 0.14mm line direct to a B911 size 16 to fish pellet at 11.5M

Second rig was a Malman 4x14 Thicko on Silstar 0.14mm line direct to a B911 size 14 to fish corn/meat in the margin

Third rig was a Malman 4x14 Stable on Silstar 0.14mm line direct to a B911 size 14 to fish pellet/corn at 8M

Fourth rig was a Malman medium paste float on Silstar 0.14mm line direct to a B911 size 12 to fish paste at 6M

All the rigs are set up on power tops with black hydro

And lastly I set up a pellet waggler but tbh in this wind I probably wont get to give it much of a go

Most people seem to fish close in 6-8 meters or in the margins but as the Fisho match is going to be full with 130 people fishing I'm suspecting that like Witherington Farm the pressure is going to move the fish out so today I intend to start at 11.5M and see If I can keep the fish there

I shall also set up a paste line at 6M and a line at 8M to fish pellet/corn

Also a margin swim to the left of my peg

Bait today is a selection of GOT 6mm soft hookers a couple of packets of 4mm sinking pellets a packet of GOT paste and a tin of scopex flavoured meat cut into 6mm cubes and a tin of jolly green giant

11am arrives and the all in is sounded to start with I ship a pot of pellets out to 11.5m another out to 8m and 1 out to 6m and throw a handful of pellets and corn into the margin swim

Then I start out on the 11.5m line with a 6mm natural pellet on the hook first put in the float dips a few times then gently slides under and I have a small skimmer in the net straight back out with another pellet and the same result for the first hour I caught small skimmers and the odd Tench

Trying to feed was a pain due to the wind as every time I released the catty pouch the wind either died or gusted making my feed either drop short or disappear into the distance but eventually I found a happy medium and managed to get it in the rough area

Eventually instead of gently sliding away my float shot under followed by my hydro and after a short battle I slid the net under a 2lb mirror carp

The guy on the peg to my right had caught a couple of Carp out at 13m on sweet corn early on but had given up trying to battle the wind and was now fishing at about 4m and catching the odd F1 and small Carp and Tench on corn

To my left no one seemed to be catching any thing decent from what I could see only the guy on the end peg at the top of the split was catching and he appeared to be bagging up as was the guy on the end peg opposite him

I decided to give my margin swim a try but after 30 Min's of trying corn and meat all I had to show for my efforts was a small Tench so I gave the paste line a try but in the wind presentation was impossible so I decided to go back out on the 11.5m line

This time I changed the pellet for a GOT 6mm cat meat flavour pellet first put in and the float buried and my hydro shot out and headed for the far bank I eventually got the fish under control and slid the net under a nice 4lb common Carp back out with another pellet and fed some sinkers and after a short wait the float shot under again and I had another Carp of about 2lb in the net

From then on up until the final whistle I caught Carp from 1lb to 4lb regularly it wasn't 1 a chuck as I discovered that if I sat on the cat meat pellet and fed some 4mm sinkers over the top eventually after a wait of anything up to 10 Min's I would get a Carp and as no one in my section with the exception of the guy on the end peg was catching decent fish it seemed like a good move

4 pm and the final whistle went and despite having the wind howling in my face all day I had had quite an enjoyable days fishing when the scales arrived the peg to my left weighed in 37lb I weighed 55lb and the peg to my right weighed 50lb the end peg weighed 122lb and took first place in the match

After packing all my gear away it was back to the car park for the raffle draw and results

Luckily in the raffle the first ticket drawn was mine so at least I had a pick up

Even luckier than that I had come second in the section and as the winner had also come from my section I won the section by default

Full Result

1 . R Panding--------122-00

2 . G Cross------------97-01

3 . A Willet------------94-00

4 . J Young-------- ---83-08

5 . B Malyn----------- 83-08

6 . D Williams------ --72-00

7 . J Clark-------------68-12

8 . T Bailey-----------68-04

9 . P Morton------- ---66-00

10 . A Cumming---- --63-12

11 . T Clark----------- 60-00

12 . S Joy------------- 56-12

13 . C Pritchard--- ---55-00

14 . G Barbata----- --54-10

15 . D Wheeler---- --51-04

16 . A Milsom ---- ---50-12

17 . S Sharpe ---- ---50-08

18 . K Borer ------ ---48-12

19 . J Hague ---- ----47-12

20 . M Dowling ------47-04

21 . S Pearson ------46-12

22 . T Baker ---------45-09

23 . D Ward ---------44-12

24 . A Walker -------42-12

25 . A Szekeres -----41-04

26 . J Webber -------38-08

27 . W Panting ---- -37-12

28 . W Taylor -- -----36-08

29 . I Carley ---------36-00

30 . I Webber - -----35-08

31 . V Gould -- ---- -35-06

32 . M Collins --- ---34-08

33 . D Sage ----- ---33-04

34 . A Piper ----- ---32-02

35 . C Hunt ---- ----24-00

36 . I Covey --- - --21-00

37 . S Castle --- ---10-00

00 . M Leask -------DNW

00 . P East --- -----DNW

Total Weight ---1871-12

Section winners

Section A. peg18.....J Young.............83lbs 8ozs.
Section B. peg32.....B Maylyn............83lbs 8ozs.
Section C. peg108...C Pritchard.........55lbs.
Section D. peg132...B Ramsden.........68lbs 12ozs.

All in all a fine days fishing and we managed to raise £391 for the charity