Elphick's Fishery. Sandwich Lake.
Saturday 1st March 2003.
Well as Maria had to work late today i thought i'd grab the opportunity of a few hours down at Elphicks,and see if i could catch another couple of species for the fishing race.
Had a leisurly drive down and after stopping for brekkie arrived about 10am.
A quick chat in the onsite tackle shop confirmed my worst fears,as it hadn't been fishing well,and with heavy rain yesterday,and more showers promised for today + a falling barometer,things didn't look to promising.
I drove up to Sandwich lake and was greeted with a howling wind and the first of the many showers to come.Comfort being the order of the day i chose peg 11 as the wind would be at my back.
The plan of attack was to feed a few micro pellets and a pinch of damp pellet crumb + 3 grains of corn every put in,to the left of the concrete overflow at 9 mtrs in about 5 feet of water using a rig consisting of an 8 elastic and a Preston 4x14 durafloat shotted with 10's on .10 to a .08 hooklength ending in a size 18 PR24 fishing a single grain of corn.
The three lads fishing the bank to my right were all on the feeder,but were only getting the odd small roach.
Well after an hour without a bite i was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen,when all of a sudden the float slid away,Strike! NOTHING.......MISSED IT!!!!!!
Back out and 5 mins later it went again,This time i connected and was relieved to feel a pleasing resistance,and a minute or two later there in the net was a nice Bream of about 3lb.
After that i didn't look back as slowly but surely one after another came to the net in the course of the next 4 hours.The smallest was about 2lb while the largest may have scraped 4lbs.
All in all i had 28 of them.
A real nice session,given the conditions but the real icing on the cake was the 3 tench that decided to add themselves to the mix.
Firstly this one at about 3lb spiced things up....
but the last one was the clincher in an already good session,My 1st Goldie of the year...........
So there you have it........5 hours & 70lbs+ from what some may call a "Commercial Puddle"
Hartleylands Farm. The Reservoir.
Sunday 9th March 2003.
Well the best part about todays clubmatch at Hartleylands Reservoir was the Breakfast beforehand.
The reservoir is situated at one of the highest points of the farm,and when the wind blows you can really suffer.
Long pole is the name of the game here 12mtrs+,but with the wind being so variable from flat calm to a howling gale all day, presentation proved a nightmare with just a few small roach as reward for sticking it out for 2 hours.
Out on the feeder for the final 3 hours!Twice the tip went round resulting in a couple of plump 2lb+ carp.Then right on the final whistle the tip went again and i carefully played a similar carp to the net,but at the last second it rolled on the hooklength and was off.
At the scales i weighed 5lbs 14ozs for 5th,but that lost carp had cost me 3rd place.
Just about sums up the way my season has gone in the club matches.
Just one more to go at Willow Park next month and then we can do it all over again!!!!!!!!!
Frant Lakes. The Horseshoe.Sunday 23rd March 2003.
Well today was a bit of a bonus as it wasn't planned till thursday night when Maria came home and told me that she had to work on Sunday.
Opening the curtains i was faced with a heavy frost & fog,not what the doctor ordered after the nice weather that we have had down south for the last week.
Anyway ,nothing ventured nothing gained so they say,so after a quick spot of breakfast I loaded the gear into the car and set off for Elphicks Lakes,about an hours drive away.
On arrival at the lakes i was taken aback to find that the "LAKES FULL" sign was up,especially as the complex boasts 200 pegs spread over 5 lakes,
Popping into the fishing lodge the owner confirmed this saying that he was amazed himself,citing the great weather as the probable cause.
Time then for Plan B,so jumping back into the car it was off to Frant lakes,to try and find a swim.
With 6 general lakes and a couple of specimen ones plus numerous small ponds dotted around the complex,there had to be a peg somewhere that i could fish.
Sure enough,although the complex was again busy,there were a few swims vacant on No6 the silver fish only lake,that would do me.
This lake is U shaped and I picked the narrower arm as it is only about 3 feet deep,as i reasoned that the sun which had burnt of the fog would warm this up a lot quicker than the other arm which is much deeper and shielded by mature trees.
Now this lake is supposed to hold a good head of Bream up to about 5lbs along with Roach,Rudd,Tench and some cracking Perch.So i just set up 2 rigs on tops rigged with 6 elastic comprising of Preston seriesB floats (4x12)on .08 to .06 with a Preston PR21 in size 20 to finish things off.
One set at dead depth (3ft) and the other about half depth.
The baits would be alternated between red maggot,sweetcorn and expanda pellet over a bed of micro pellets.
Starting off buy cupping in a small pot of micro's and fishing a single red maggot a steady run of small Roach & Skimmers were soon coming to hand.Changing to an Expanda on the hook to try and find some of their larger cousins brought a lull for a couple of minutes ,then the float buried and yards of elastic came streaming from the pole and a good 10 minutes later the culprit was revealed as none other than a Carp of about 5lbs.
Well for the rest of the day the pattern continued,a few small roach and skimmers with the odd better skimmer to about 2lbs,and then another Carp that didn't know it shouldn't be there would put in an appearance.All in all i ended up with 9 Carp from the silver fish lake,all Mirrors.
A cracking session even if it wasn't quite what i expected.
Willow Park. Big Lake.
Sunday 6th April 2003.
5.55am"RING RING" "I'm downstairs ,where are you?"
OH GOODNESS IS THAT THE TIME !%*$$$*!!!! YOU GET OFF AND I'LL MEET YOU THERE 
Not the best start to the final club match of the season,so a mad charge round gathering up all the kit and chucking it in the car for the 40 mile trip to Willow Park at Ash Vale ,just outside Guildford.
A quick phonecall to the chairman to let him know i'm on my way and to get him to draw for me.
Pulling into the car park just in time to find everyone making their way to their pegs i'm told that i have drawn peg 71 on the bungalow bank of the Main Lake. Now the Main Lake isn't used much for matches anymore as the carp have grown rather large,much more the territory of the "Boilie & Bivvy Brigade"
As usually befits a Hawthorne match the weather that had been nice and springlike in the SE for the last fortnight,had transformed into a dull grey overcast day with a biting cold North wind that had dropped the temperature more than a couple of degrees.
Well running late and trying to play catchup,i set up a groundbait feeder so that i would have something to fish with at the start.
What i really wanted to do though was go at it with the pole,as there wasn't a lot of colour in the water,and i had a feeling that it would be hard,so it was soon out with the pole and a quick plumb up revealed a nice flat area 8ft deep at about 11mtrs.
Now bearing in mind that it was the last match of the season and with everything decided clubwise I decided to attack it
,so 6 big balls of Sensas Crazybait Black with a good helping of casters & hemp went in on this line to fish caster or red maggot over the top of it.
Well after about 40mins the first 6oz skimmer was netted and a steady stream of these,along with a couple of better examples continued throughout the whole match.
Four of the lads had close encounters with rather large carp during the course of the day,but the score ended Carp 4-0 Anglers.
Come the end of the match I put 26lbs 10ozs on the scales,which was only beaten by Paul (the club champ) on the end-peg putting 43lbs 2ozs on the scales for 1st place.
So that's it for another season of club matches,just the 2nd round of the Supercup to be fished on the 27th.
It's been a good season for the club though with a total of 5122lbs 13ozs being weighed-in during the 17 matches,an average of just over 300lbs per match,with an average of 17 anglers attending each match.
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