Maggotdrowning Welsh Fish-In. Hazel Court Ponds.
Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th August 2002.
Arrived at Hazel Court ponds at about 6.30am after a nice leisurly trip down from London,to be greeted by various stumbling figures emerging from the collection of bivvies and tents that was base camp for this latest M/D's Fish-in.
The fishery is comprised of 4 ponds that are fishable and a stock pond and various hatchery pools that are dotted around the complex.
After greeting and introductions were completed,7am signaled the start of fishing for the day and everyone elected to fish the bottom pond.
The weather was absolutly glorious,though a steadily freshening breeze,was to make presentation awkward for some as the day wore on.
Now as is the style at these gatherings,the social side of things tends to get in the way of the fishing,as everybody catches up with the gossip,and more walking gets done as everyone circulates and stops for various chats.
Having set up a waggler and a feeder I soon established that there were more than a few small rudd present.A slight understatement as every pool on the complex appears to be heaving with them.
Geoff arrived for a chat and we walked up to the "match" lake,stopping off at the stock pond to admire several large Koi that were in residence.(2 of which were 10lbs+ with another not far behind)
On arrival at the match lake we were confronted by the site of a tent with a flag of a little red lizard flying over it!!!!!
Sitting there on the bankside on a small scale model of a North Sea oilrig,surrounded by enough kit to open a tackle shop was Ray Owen.
Now Ray after 30 years of fishing matches,has this year decided to give it a rest and try "Pleasure" fishing,but is still having a little difficulty adjusting to the pace of this form of the noble art,but after this weekend i'm sure he'll get there.
After a short chat Ray decided to move down and join the rest of us,and with the help of a small team of sherpas (Me & Dave)duly moved.
Through out the day,some nice carp,mostly Ghosts and Mirrors were caught.
Around about midday Dave caught a ghostie with a deformed face that Stu christened "The Parrot".A couple of hours later i was into a carp and Stu wandered round and did the honours with the landing net,and there in the folds was "The Parrot"!!!!!!!Don't they feed these fish??????????
As the day wore on Stu decided to break out his "Noddy"kit(his words,not mine) and get into a serious bit of Rudd bashing with his lad Daniel.
xxxxxxxxxxx 
Now some might be tempted to say that Stu using a pole resembles a Garden Gnome (Trogg),but as he is considerably larger than me,I wouldn't dream of it.
As the afternoon wore on,more and more anglers arrived and to be honest the fishery is probably too small to handle the amount of pressure placed on it by these numbers.
All day long Dai and his son Daniel (Yes,same name as Stu's son) had been fishing to a lily bed as had Geoff.
Now Dai's lad has definatly got "The Bug" following his recent exploits with carp,and as the afternoon wore on he was into a carp that was intent on getting back into the pads.........
But with Dai offering moral support and Ray in attendance to perform the ghillies duties,there was ample reward in the end with this fine fish..........a new PB for Daniel at just under 8lbs.....
I think the smile says it all,and he did it again later on,with another larger fish!!!!!!!!!! 2 PB's in an afternoon.Well done Daniel.At least i think that's what Dai said,but my welsh is a little shaky 
Geoff meanwhile soldiered stoicly on,despite having one of those days,where more fish performed Houdini impressions than he would have liked.
As the day ran towards it's end,i had moved over to the next pool to escape the constant wind in my face,and after casting a small feeder towards the central island,the tip wrapped around and i was rewarded with a nice tench of about 3lb (but not one of the golden one's i'm afraid,sorry Trev.)
As everyone packed away for the night (No nightfishing allowed i'm afraid,)i decided to try out one of the Hotcan ready meals that i had won in the Elvington raffle.What can i say,following the instructions and piercing 3 holes as instructed,a mini nuclear reaction appears to take place,resulting in one very hot can with steam pouring out of the top.12 minutes later and a piping hot meal is ready.This one was a vegetable curry and very nice it was too.
After dinner some of us visited the local hostelry,and were treated to a couple of pints by Dave 
, courtesy of a Lottery Win. 
A brief chat on returning,by the moonlit ponds,as the bats flew above our heads,before retiring ready for the next day ahead.
6.30am and Cliff (the owner) has appeared for a chat with the gang as we assemble for the 7am start.It promises to be another breezy day,although it is coming from the opposite direction!
Dai is on his own as his lad has gone on a rock climbing course,and he is joined in the next swim by Ray who is determined to get to grips with his first foray into the world of knotless Knots and hair rigs,but still seems a little shocked by the size of gaff (size 16 actualy Ray)that makes up his rig!
Dave has set up on the opposite bank to launch his customary 2 method rods towards the central island.Stu and Daniel are in Dai's swim from the previous day.I have returned to the swim that i finished in yesterday.Geoff meanwhile has settled into a swim on the next pond along.It has a large patch of lilies to fish to and the far bank appears to be solid rushes.Supposedly it holds a large head of ghost carp and almost certainly an even larger number of rudd!
I start on the waggler with a single grain of corn and slowly but surely the swim starts to come to life,but it is only the rudd worrying the bait,however by keeping the corn going in a number of better examples around the 8oz mark come to hand.
In general though,things are slow.Poor Ray has a close encounter with a Coot that managed to get tangled in his line,and puts up a spirited resistance before i manage to net it for him.In the net it manages to disentangle itself,and manages to swim off with nothing more than it's feathers ruffled.
I strike into another rudd bite only to find that it isn't,and after a brief but spirited fight,i'm rewarded with an immaculate mirror carp of about 6lbs.
Geoff meanwhile has been wading through the small rudd in pursuit of the ghosties that inhabit the pond he's fishing.Dave's had a couple of carp while Stu and Daniel are having great fun with the pole in pursuit of the rudd.
All of a sudden Dai's margin rod is away,and after a brief struggle I do the honours with the net and Dai is rewarded with this nice chunky mirror carp.........
My swim seems to have died as more anglers arrive in the swims that were previously vacant,and with 180 miles of the M4 to negotiate before i get home,it's time to pack the kit away.
Soon it's time for farewells and thanks.Walking round to Dave as he hooks into another ghostie,the fish manages to run through Dave's other line and the resultant tangle,acts as Dave's cue to finish up and get ready to head home.
Stu And Daniel are still slaying the rudd on his "noddy" tackle.
(Bet you're glad you didn't sell it now Stu)
Dai is still soldiering on while waiting for the family to arrive,Geoff has come over for a chat and a break from the rudd and Ray has loaded the mountain of kit away,while trying to get his head round this whole new approach to fishing that is so foriegn to him.
Thanks a lot lads it's been a great weekend,We must do it again
Hartleylands Farm. The Reservoir.
Sunday 9th September 2002.
Off to Hartley Lands Farm for our 8th club match.
Jumping into the car the heavens opened,and didn't let up until i pulled into the car park.
The fishery comprise a number of ponds and an irrigation reservoir,which we were to fish today.
After the usual welcomes/insults, into the draw bag and peg 17,which as it turns out i struggled from in this years AT SuperCup match.not a good start,but in for a penny........
There are a lot of skimmers & roach present but you need to target the carp to frame on the reservoir at this time of year.
If they aren't in your swim you'll struggle,which is exactly what i did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the end 22lbs 3ozs was only good enough for 12th place.
Still some good weights were recorded,The match was won with a weight of 83lbs 14ozs of carp caught by Paul Ollerenshaw,(The reigning Club Champion) for his 5th win in 8 matches.
Some nice fish came out,including this one for Don Freeman,a nice mirror of 9lbs 15ozs
Not my day today,but it beats the hell out of d******ing.Still roll on Friday when i'm taking the brother-in-law out for a days punt fishing at Old Bury Hill.
Old Bury Hill. The Estate Lake.
Friday 13th September 2002.
Brother-in-law Chris has just got back into fishing via his boy Fraser (7 years old),after a 15 year lay off,and the couple of times he has come with me most of the day has been devoted to making sure that Fraser catches.
The other day Chris confessed that he wouldn't mind a days fishing without Fraser,and that he'd love to catch a Tench as he'd never caught one.
There is only one venue that i could think of to virtually guarantee this, so first port of call was the boat house at Old Bury Hill to collect the punt that would transport us to "The Jungle" on the estate lake.
Settling into an area hard up against an uprooted tree,I fed a couple of handfulls of pellets and sweetcorn into my and chris's swims.The sun was already starting to climb and not a cloud in the sky signaled that the early mist would soon burn off.
After about half an hour my waggler vanished,and after a brief tussle a fighting fit male tench of just over 3lb was safely in the net.
Chris meanwhile was suffering from some lightning fast unhittable bites,which i felt could be due to skimmers.
I could see the frustration in his face,when suddenly the float lifted up and layed flat."STRIKE" The rod hooped over as one angry fish sought out the shelter of the bushes that were so close.Fortunatly it was unsuccessfull,and after 5 mins Chris's first ever tench was netted, and at 4lbs 2ozs a great first tench.......
Soon however the sun was beating down,and the tench retreated deep into the shade of the bushes,Chris had a close encounter with a carp, which sadly for him the carp won.
Still the bream continued to feed,nothing huge but large enough to keep Chris happy for the rest of the day.
At the end of the day as we stepped out of the punt,his first words were
"When are we coming back ?"
I don't think it will be too long
Go to Reports 5
