Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Hailsham .
Sunday 18th May 2003.
Today was the first match of the new club season,and the venue was Falkenville Mushroom Farm just outside Hailsham in Sussex.
Now we've fished Falkenville before,normally on the main lake or the matchlake,but today we were trying a newer lake on the complex.
It's a canal type lake about 12mtrs wide supposedly stocked with a bit of everything.
Unfortunatly to say that it's exposed would be an understatement and with a grey sky and strong winds everyone opted for the cooked breakfast in the barn before the draw 
Well into the drawbag and peg 17 sticks to my hand,slap bang in the middle of the stretch,totally exposed and with just a few stick-ups to fish to,i just knew i wasn't going to enjoy it.
The View from Peg 17 looking towards the low numbers...
As is usual on one of our club matches the wind dropped as we were setting up,lulling us into a false sense of hope,but as soon as the all in sounded the wind sprang up again,never to drop away again.
Now most of the fish in the lakes at Falkenville are reared at the owners own fish farm and the killer bait is normally pellet or paste,and with no cover and a very shallow margin on my side the line of attack had to be across at 12 mtrs where i had a small shelf and about 3 ft of water.
Micro pellet with a few maggots and bits of sweetcorn were potted in with a Kinder cup and an expanda on the hook.
Bites were mere knocks,and trying to fish a dotted down float at 12 mtrs in a howling wind isn't my idea of fun,but by chopping and changing i was able to nick a few little blade skimmers and chublets.
A Small Chub.....
Nearly everyone except the 2 end pegs were struggling when with an hour to go i had a run of 4 bites and 4 carp 
Alas they departed almost as soon as they had arrived,but i did have one more fish before the fial whistle,a bit of a surprise.........a small Barbel.
Baby Barbel......
Those 4 bonus fish boosted my weight at the end to 6lbs which was good enough for 4th on the day.
So that's it,7 points towards the club championship.
Tylers Common. Willow Lake. Essex.
Sunday 1st June 2003.
Well today was the 2nd club match of the season at Tylers Common. Willow Lake in Essex.
Well after the last 3 days glorious weather,true to form the day dawned dull grey & overcast,with the threat of showers and thunderstorms.
This was the venue of our 1st round Supercup match in January,and everyone was hoping for a better catch than last time when 24 anglers only caught 2 carp between them.
Looking down on Willow from the carpark..........
Now this is my least favorite type of venue,as it's basically just a hole dug in a field and filled with fish.There are no features to fish to except for a few stragly tufts of grass in the edge.
Anyway into the drawbag and it's peg 5 for me.
On arriving at my peg it was immediatly obvious that things would be hard for the majority of us,as the carp were bow waving about all over,obviously intent on playing Mummies & Daddies.
A good plumb up revealed not a single feature,it just kept gently shelving away.So i just set up a paste rig to fish at 9mtrs in 5ft of water and an up in the water rig for pellet.I also set up a waggler on the off chance that they would really have it up in the water,but out of pole range.
Peg 5.........
Well what can i say?................It was Hard Work,the only thing i could get a bite on was the paste,despite going through punched meat,maggot,corn and a couple of types of pellet.
My Total catch?..............4 Carp and 2 Tench for 11lbs 8ozs which was only good enough for 8th place.
Still at least i'm through to the ¼ finals of the club KO Cup and i was part of the winning team in the clubs Teams of 4/5 that was fished today.
Oh and just to finish things off..........The heavens opened with thunder & lightning just as we were packing up so we all got soaked.
J.Sainsbury's National Championship. Gold Valley.
Saturday 21st June 2003.
Today I was making my way down to Gold Valley to fish the Sainsbury's National Championship.
I qualify cause Maria works for them as an Admin Manager,and i belong to their Staff Association.
Arrived at 7am and the car park was already filling up,so it was straight into the clubhouse for Brekkie and a chat over the prospects for the day.
With 110 fishing spread over 4 lakes a good draw would be all important.The lakes in use today were Syndicate,Middle,Bat & Bungalow,and everyone was in agreement that you wanted to draw Syndicate or Middle to be in with a chance of some coin.
8.30 and time for the draw,and with my usual dexterity i managed to come away with peg 149 on Bungalow.
With the match being fished from 10.30 - 3.30 i made my way round and started setting up.It looked a lovely peg with an island a gentle lob of the feeder away so i decided to make the most of it,come what may.
Peg 149 Bungalow Lake.......
As i was getting set up John Raison (the owner) walked round so i decided to pick his brains.
"Dont waste time on the island,10 mins at the most,if there's no indication come inside and concentrate on the silvers."
It turned out that there was a seperate match within the match for the best silverfish bag and with most people sure to target the carp for which Gold Valley is so well known,there might be a chance of some coin after all.
So all set up and waiting for the off i phoned Trogg to congratulate him on finally getting his Barbel,and then Dave to wish the lads at Stockton Good Luck,
10.30 and we're off,straight over to the island with a groundbait feeder,50/50 Sensas Gold & crushed hemp mixed as dry as i could get away with so that it would explode out of the feeder,and a piece of hair rigged meat on a 16.10 mins later and nothing,so into silver mode feeding a walnut of the same groundbait and a few loose maggots at 4 mtrs and i'm straight into small roach skimmers and perch,nothing more than an ounce,but at least i'm getting something.
On the hour back over with the feeder,and after 10mins and nothing back to the silvers,and that was the way it was for 3½ hrs until the silvers vanished.
Over again with the feeder,a couple of knocks and round went the tip and Carp no1 is slipped into the net and in the remaining time 7 others joined it,the last hooked on the final whistle.
Round come the scales and with 11lbs of silvers and those carp i get a weight of 40lbs 11ozs,which is enough at least for me to have won my section.
Back at the clubhouse for the results to be calculated and the presentations to be made.While the results were sorted everyone tucked into a buffet laid on for the competitors.
Presentation time,and 1st ,2nd & 3rd recieve their cut glass trophies from John Raison.
3rd, 1st & 2nd.
4th?..............It's Me.
And lo and behold i've also managed 2nd place in the Silvers match.
So 2 trophies and 2 envelopes for me.
The Spoils............
A lovely end to the day,Back to reality tomorrow though with a 20 peg club match on the Old Estate Lake at Old Bury Hill.
Old Bury Hill. Estate Lake. Sunday 22nd June 2003.
Well after the giddy heights of yesterday,it was back down to earth today with a 20 peg club match at Old Bury Hill.
We had pegs 1-20 on the front bank of the old estate lake.
Now some of you may remember me mentioning that Hawthorne AC seem to have a peculiar talent for attracting the worst of the weather.Well today was no exception!!!!!!!!!
Stepping out of the car in the carpark,the first drops of rain began to fall,this was soon followed by Fork Lightning,Thunder & Driving rain.
A hurried draw was arranged,and having drawn no7, off i set to my peg.
Looking across the lake from peg7.....
Now i really hate fishing the pole in the pouring rain,and holding 14mtrs of carbon with fork lightning about has never struck me as too sensible,so i set up a waggler & feeder rod and left the pole in the rodbag.
At the off it was out with the wag at 3 rod lengths,fished 3" overdepth.6mm expander on the hook and a pouch of 3mm expanders fed over the top.Nobody was doing much ,just a few small roach falling to those fishing maggot when 1½ hrs in,news came down that peg 1 had caught a 13lb common.
Finally after 2½ hrs of continual feeding the float slid away,and a minute later a 2½lb bream was safely in the net.In the next hour i added another 5,which prompted the angler in the next peg to fill it in with groundbait,which promptly killed it stone dead.
So out on the feeder for the last part of the match with luncheon meat on the hook and 4 more bream before the whistle.
At the weigh-in i had 21lbs 2ozs for 3rd on the day,a result that puts me through to the semi-final of the club KO Cup,which will be fished in 2 weeks time back at Old Bury Hill,but this time on Miltons Lake.
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