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Thursday, 07 January 2010

       FRAMFIELD ,BROOKEHOUSE LAKE SUN 3RD JAN
                      CANCELLED LAKE FROZEN.
Unfortunately as the title says the lake was solid with ice and what with chris the owner not liking ice to be broken we had to abandon any thoughts of fishing for the day.
    looking at the weather at the moment around this area im wondering if we will be fishing on our next match venue which is hawkhurst fish farm .it is still covered in ice and with snow still being forecast its not looking too good..

Thursday, 17 December 2009

                       MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THAT READ MY FISHING TALES .
   A small review of my year .
             The calender year started pretty well for me winning my first competitive match ,but things didnt carry on in the same vane as coming to my last club match of the 08-09 season i was in contention for finnishing second overall, well i blanked and ended up out of the frame finnishing fourth in the league.
    this years club matches started with the wednesdaty evening series and this turned out to be a hard fought battle between alan loader and myself ,indeed going into the last match of an eleven match series we were level on points and at the draw for the match both of us drew swims that we had previously won from so it was all to play for .the outcome was a good one for me as i won the match and alan came third .so i was once again holder of the wednesday evening series.
     the sunday club matches saw me start relatively slowly but i was always scoring points and keeping in touch with the early series leaders . i fished four midweek opens at shannons and didnt disgrace myself coming second three times and fourth once so felt more than happy to have held my own in quite solid company.
     the clubs annual pairs match is also a fish race and as such decided on not only weght but points for species caught, my partner in crime was pete errey and last time we were drawn together we won the pairs so i was hopeful that lightening would strike again ,well i didnt find out the result untill a few days after the match as i had had to leave as soon as the weigh in was completed ,it was my wifes birthday.
   well it turns out that pete had had a good day and with my mediocre one it was enough to secure the pairs title for the year.
a particularly fond memory of a match at framfield was because i absolutely smashed my match weght record by a massive seventy plus pounds ,i weighed in with an enormous 229lb 4oz .
i can tell you i was knackered after that days work.
unfortunately i had to pull out of the web intersite match at monk lakes but i did get an invite to the maggot drowners pairs weekend held at rolfs lake in oxfordshire.this was a great weekend and i broke my pb carp tthree times on that trip .it now stands at an even 18lb. i also recored a ton up weight on my first ever visit to the place so was well chuffed with myself for that.
the pairs matches were held over two days and i came tenth on both days which wasnt great but all things considered ,like where i was pegged not really bad at all. i met up with a few people that untill this weekend were just names on the maggotdrowning forum .
on a sad note my mum passed away during the later part of the year and as you can imagine this was not a good time for me .
    bringing things up to date i am currently leading the league in my club and looking at the remaining fixtures i am quietly confident of staying there untill the series ends.

one shining light that i must mention and that is a match that i ran at monk lakes back in may.
this was a charity match and it came about way of an email that dave webster owner of maggotdrowning received from a young lady called FAYE TALBOT now this young lady has taken my heart and many other maggotdrowners as well ,poor FAYE is very very ill indeed and in her email to dave she was asking if there was any chance of a small bit of fishing tackle that could be sent to her so she could give her dad a christmas present .well dave put the email on the forum and in six days we as a site membership had raised in excess of £700. with this a pole was bought and a quite a few other bits and peices and myself and simon elsey delivered the package to FAYES home. her mum LIZ was in tears as was DAVE her dad .
it was certainly a very moving evening .

any way the match was decided upon to raise money for charity and the response was fantastic from the maggot members the match was won by alan loader and the real winner was all of those that attended as DAVE had brought FAYE and LIZ to come and see us all .
there was much frivolity and the occasion certainly got to the bailiffs at monk lakes as one of the said that if he could get the anglers to donate a few coppers that he would have his head shaved .well he had a head of hair that was akin to an afro style ,it was all of srven or eight inches long .i also had said i would shave my beard off and so it was that there was a very bald chin and a very bald head at the end of the day.
in all a sum of £742 was raised on the day

                                           MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
                                                        BILL

Sunday, 13 December 2009

                        CDAA FUR & FEATHER ,HARTLYLANDS RESERVOIR

            After yesterdays third place at wylands i was hoping for better or at the least the same today at hartlylands.well the weather didnt look to bad when i got up and the forecast was for possibly the odd shower with periods of sunshine.from what i could see they had it about right,the drive to hartlylands was uneventful and arriving in the carpark i found simon elsey ,glen coleman and steve denton already there.
the rest arrived very soon after and with john and myself doing the pegging we were all anticipating a good draw. i found it was peg nine for me today ,was it a good draw ? i dont know cos ive only ever fished the place twice before and didnt really have much idea on where the good pegs were.gary lawrence seemed to think that i was in the right area but i wasnt so sure ,but what do i know.
        for company today i had the vicar yet again on my right and to my left was glen coleman .[im gonna have to come up with a nickname for him soon].now peg nine is a corner peg and as such a bit hemmed in by either side ,and with it being predominately a feeder match i was going to be casting a bit shorter than i would have liked but hey ho thats fishing.
looking right round the res i could see all that were fishing and this gave me a chance to keep an eye on john and julian .
the all in was sounded by roger funnell with his new can of air for his air horn and it was a cast of around thirty yards with a method feeder baited with two red maggots that saw me watching and waiting for my tip to go round.for some it wasnt a very long wait as gary lawrence and steve denton both took carp on there first chuck.the vicar had a fish after about twenty minutes and glen was soon following . by this time gary had had two more carp and i was still looking at an immovable object as my tip steadfastly refused to go round. ten minutes later and i was lifting into my first fish ,a carp of about four pounds was very gingerly played to the net and i was off the mark.the vicar then took two more in quick succession and glen had another ,as did steve .i then had another of around five pounds and then quickly added another to keep pace with the vicar .dave cottington was hooking his share and i thought he would give gary ,who was still putting the odd fish in his net,a run for his money.but unfortunately for him he was to lose more than he landed.glen took two more to go in front of me by a fish and the vicar then had a skimmer of about a pound .
time was ticking on and the weather that had been forecast was by now a figment of someones wild immagination as when roger had blown for the start we had a shower of rain ,SHOWER!!!!!you must be joking ,it hadnt stopped for three hours ,this was making life very damp and for the vicar it was very damp indeed as he hadnt even put his brolly up. twat!!!!
the fishing was hard and it was a case of keep casting to the same place in the hope that a fish or two might come along ,well i had two more in the net before the all out along with a skimmer of my own ,i also lost two fish ,both hook pulls . the vicar took his total to five as did glen before roger blew for time .john manktelow had had a struggle with only two small carp and a couple of silver fish .julian also struggled with just two carp but he had a few more silvers than john.gary had finnished with about ten fish and dave cott finnished up losing five and netting four.steve had just the two and upyah also put two very small carp in his net.
you can guess when the bloody rain stopped yep about two minutes after the all out bloody typical...
     the weights were close ,but gary had a few pounds in hand to take the win on the day with 32 lb the vicar was second and he scaled 26lb 2oz .i was third with 24lb and dave cott fourth ,he had 22lb glen was next with 21lb 12oz
john managed to come eighth and julian was sixth .so by my reckoning its NEW LEADER in the league and its all closed up with the vicar scoring well he is fourth overall and julian is third and john is second a point adrift of myself.
next match is in the new year at framfield on brookehouse lake .

Saturday, 12 December 2009

        THE MAGGOT DROWNERS SOUTHERN FUR AND FEATHER
                                            HOUSE LAKE WYLANDS

Today its the fur and feather at wylands ,and with 16 names down to fish there should be plenty of room for us all today.
    the drive down was very nearly cut short by a white deer jumping out in front of the car and making me nearly sh1t myself as i had to swerve quite sharply to miss her.
arriving at wylands early i found trevor little and simon elsey already there along with wayne taylor.looking forward to a brekky roll in the tea hut i was disapointed to find that it was closed for the day ,having only had a cup of tea at home i was now going to be hungry all day.
as the others arrived and the bad news of the tea hut was told the bailiff did open up and put the kettle on so we could have a brew.
the draw went ahead on time and i hung back to the end and found i had peg ten for my home for the day. this put me on the scales and in a ptretty good area as well.not only that but the shortest walk .the weather was looking decidedly iffy with huge black clouds looming overhead and the wind coming from the east it wasnt looking very inviting as i was going to be facing it head on.
the side bets were struck with trevor ,mick the chippy and simon.and looking around to see where they were and i found trevor was on peg fourteen ,which is on the new cut out bank ,mick was on the dam and simon was dead opposite me on the wood bank.
   looking at my swim i had a precarious bit of bank on which to set my box on and it took me ten minutes to set it up .house lake is a very prolific water with both silver fish and carp being the target for today.
my swim had an island at about thirty yards and my margins were looking good with a bit of weed growth still showing on my left and to my right at about ten metres was a small bush with a little weed as well. i set up a five metre whip to fish at depth and also set up the pole with a bulk shot about a foot from the hook with one number ten dropper below ,the whip had a bulk at half depth which was around five ft,and i had three number nine stotz spread out below .
the i dea was to fish with maggot on the hook and feed the same ,back up bait was going to be soft hooker pellet.i had three pints of maggot with me one red one white and a pint of mixed red and white which i had killed in the freezer overnight ,these were for feeding the bush with an aim of maybe snaring a carp or two later on..
           molehill gave the all in and i cast the whip out and put a couple of pouches of maggot over the top ten seconds later and fish number one was being swung to hand.this was followed by more than quite a few of his mates .looking about i could see most were catching well and i was keeping a good pace going but mine were all roach and you really need to get a few skimmers going to build a weight.simon was catching well with skimmers being his main prey.
nick gilbert who was on the dam next to mick was catching as fast as myself but like me he was only getting the roach.after an hour or so of whip work the roach got smaller and smaller so i got the pole out and started getting a better stamp of fish. i still couldnt get any skimmers so it was out with the groundbait and as soon as i had put in a couple of soft balls i was straight into the skimmers.this was more like it and after half an hour of catching them i then had a visit from peter morton ,he was pegged on the new cut with trevor and was struggling as he reckoned he only had a pound and a half .whilst he was with me i was catching well and this was topped off with a carp of decent proportions ,it probably weighed close to twelve pounds.that brought a smile to my face and things were now looking very good indeed.

i continued catching the skimmers and roach and from what i could see most people were still picking off fish at a reasonable rate.jay on the dam was catching faster than most and andy on the wood bank had snared three carp for himself as well as catching the silvers.with just over an hour to go i put plan carp into action by cupping in half a pint of dead maggot in my right hand margin by the bush.i shipped out with a single red maggot on the hook and it was fish on first put ,only a roach but bigger than the average that i had been getting ,back out and another roach came to the net ,every put in i was filling my toss pot with dead maggot and it was working for the roach well enough,it wasnt much longer before i hooked my intended quarry ,it was a big fish and although it didnt really fight it was a very heavy weight that was making life difficult .after five minutes we parted compant as the fish broke my hook length.new hook and back out and bugger me i bumped a carp. i was starting to think that it wasnt going to be my day when i hooked yet another lump, five very gingerly played minutes and im down to my top two and the fish is all but beaten ,it was plodding around under the tip when the bloody hook pulled .great !!!back out and more roach followed when i yet again hooked into a carp, this time i wasnt going to let this one get away,the fish was just under the surface and wallowing around not really fighting ,i was shipping back nice and easy and the fish was coming just nice. about halfway in the fish layed on the top,it was huge ,much bigger than the one in my keepnet. i shouted to molehill that i didnt fancy my chances but was quietly confident of landing him.with gentle easing of the pole i was soon down to the top two,and the carp was still playing easy ,the landing net was ready and the fish was coming over the lip of the net when i cant believe it the bloody hook pulled !!!!!!.a split second later and molehill blew for time.
i had caught quite a lot of silvers and with my lumpy carp i was looking pretty good for a frame at the very least.
as i was on the scales it was a quick pack away and with jeff driscoll on the board we started the weigh in with molehill.he put 20lb 12oz on the board ,next up was simon and he had fished well for 24lb 4oz.sqeaky was next and he put 15lb 8oz on the scales.andy cu then put up a good weight of 37lb ,this was going to take some beating.next was vince and he weighed 16lb 6oz .jay lay was next and jay had had a good day weighing in a matchwinning weight of 38lb 4oz.mick the chippy was next and it was a poor result for mick with 12lb 12oz being recorded .
nick gilbert then put 26lb 6oz on the scoresheet before i put 34lb for third place.jeff was next and he had had a day like myself with not a lot of big fish and he weighed in with 25lb 8oz which was the same as trevor little . wayne taylor was next and he put 14lb 8oz next to his name.mugger was next and he had snared a small carp right at last knockings and he weighed in with 11lb 6oz.this left just tony roberts to put his catch on the scales and although being on end peg he could only manage last place with a poor 4llb 4oz.
so it was jay who took the honours and andy cu second ,yours truly managed third ,but it was a day of what if for ma as those lost carp cost me a certain match win .never mind im sure it wont be the last time that happens.
a big thanks to mark hathaway [molehill] for running the match and well done to all ,as there was a hell of a lot of fish caught today .
tomorrow im at hartly lands on the reservoir,it is my clubs fur and feather.

Sunday, 29 November 2009

              CLUB MATCH AT FRAMFIELD
                   SUNDAY 29 NOV
After yesterdays catastrophe at shannons it was hoped that things would improve for me today.now as framfield is only about two miles from my place it was a leisurely start for me ,getting up at seven thirty my good lady wife mandy cooked me a lovely fryup to start the day right.
with it being a nine o clock draw i arrived in the car park at ten to and it then started to throw it down with rain .this was followed by hail and i was thinking that maybe things werent going to improve for me.
well the draw bag saw me with number seven as my home for the day, not an area that i dislike but not really a flyer .for company i had derek cook on six and roger funnell on eight .my main rivals for the championship john and julian were drawn side by side on the opposite bank. the vicar found himself a bit of a leper as he had nobody within four pegs of him, a word with fishery owner chris sofiano and he advised feeding sparingly with pellet and fishing with soft hooker on the hook. well i had the pellet and i also had corn ,maggot,meat and a few casters.
    peg seven is a wide peg with a chuck of maybe thirty yards to the island but i wouldnt be fishing the feeder today as it was going to be an all out pole attack ,mainly at ten metres.
i set up two tops one for fishing the bigger baits and a lighter rig for fishing the maggot.hopefully the second rig wasnt going to be needed .
roger gave the all in on his air horn that i fear died as it struggled to make any noise at all.time for a new can of air rog.
      i was going to feed by toss pot today as cupping in a big pot was said chris a no no.shipping out with corn on the hook and a toss pot filled with 4mm pellet and a few grains of corn.it wasnt long before the float was gone and i missed.three more times the float went down and three more times i missed the bite.
a switch to pellet saw an instant result with a fantail goldfish coming to the net.next put in saw another fish come to the net in the shape of a two pound common carp.i was thinking that im on a shedfull as the float dissapeared again and once more the elastic was being pulled out ,this time though it was a skimmer that was the culprit and the next hour was a total blank in terms of fish and bites,it just switched off .
      a switch of hook bait had been done but to no avail but i did have one more bait to try,this was some ready made expanders by mainline and these were activ 8 flavour.well it was like the switch was put back on as three carp came to the net along with half a dozen skimmers and a couple of roach in the next hour.
either side of me both derek and roger were struggling but i could see john and julian both keeping pace with my catch rate which although not fast was better than most i could see.
   the rain had been stopping and starting all day and my maggots were doing a good impression of the great escape.with time moving on to one o clock i had five carp in the net along with a few silvers ,not good for framfield but with conditions like they were it was difficult to catch consistantly.for the next hour i was picking up the odd skimmer and roach but not really fast enough as julian it seemed was catching quicker than me.john was struggling and i could just see rudi on the far side putting a few fish in his net ,the vicar was struggling as were all others i could see. the one angler that i suspected to have a few as he was on peg two was dave cottington and this was to prove true as come the weigh in he put 35lb on the scales to win the day.
    the last hour i decided to fish maggot and this saw the catch rate improve and by the all out i had taken another three carp and a few skimmers and roach.the all out was blown at three and it was a rapid pack away as the cloud cover was again threatening yet more bloody rain .well i didnt pack quick enough as the heavens opened and soaked the kit yet again.
    the weigh in was started on the opposite side of the lake to me so while that was being done i took my tackle back to the car ,i had put my rod holdall on the ground and was fumbling in my pockets for my car keys whilst stepping over my holdall.well i bloody tripped and went down like the proverbial sack of .
my knee was hurt ,i jarred my back and i also have a good helping of gravel rash on my right hand.
the weigh in started with julian and he put 21lb on the board ,john was next and as the final whistle was blown he was playing a lump ,he landed said fish and it pulled the needle round along with his other fish to 16lb.rudi then produced 20lb .fred whitehead put very little next to his name then it was the vicar,he scaled 11lb .it was then on to my side of the lake and it was dave cott on peg two with his 35lb .jeremy stone on three had been having a struggle as his weight testified to as did roger upyah harris .chris davies was next and like jeremy and upyah he too had struggled .derek cook tipped back and then it was me ,i put a level 18lb next to my name to sit in fourth place .roger funnel put very little on the board and pete errey on peg ten put a creditable level 17lb next to his name.last to weigh was alan oakshott he weighed 23lb for second overall and pushed me back down to fifth on the day .
with john finnishing two places lower than me i have narrowed the gap at the top of the leader board .julian narrowed the gap to me and it is starting to look like a three horse race as the winter starts to kick in .
    next match is hartlylands reservoir .this is a pretty good venue for me as last time i fished ,allbeit in the summer i put what was then my biggest ever match weight on the scoreboard 156lb.cant see that happening this time though .

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About Me

hi my name is Bill Gibbins and im an angler of many years this site is all about my days out fishing,with my club which is crowborough and district anglers assoc and the website i am a member of maggotdrowners i dont profess to be the best angler in the world ,far from it ,but i do have my moments and they can be read about in this blog .