Right, this won't take long !
As we pulled into the drive at Willinghurst the temperature gauge on Don's car said Minus 2 degrees and we knew a tough days fishing was in store for some if not all.
With 22 hardy anglers turning out, we placed 7 on Horseshoe Lake and 15 on Top Lake. Steve Sanders did the pegging as he has a winter league at Willinghurst on sunday and whilst I didn't agree with all his pegs, I really couldn't be bothered to argue ! I drew Top 17 which is a peg that isn't often used but with 16 and 18 not pegged, at least I had a lot of room. It was bloody cold though with the wind blowing across into my face and although the sun was out, I was in the shade of a tree to my left. For those on the other bank, it was like fishing in the Bahamas with no wind and the sun shining on them, and I was hardly jealous at all......much !
I have been guilty in the past of not setting up a lead rod when I knew I should, so from now on in winter, that will be the first tackle I set up. Having done that, I then set up a couple of pole rigs to fish corn in various parts of the peg. On the whistle at 10am I fed a few grains of corn on each of the pole lines and then lobbed out the lead to catch a few early fish - except I didn't ! I did have a few liners but chucking shorter and trying a pop up etc made no difference and whilst a few people round the lake had started to catch, sadly I was not one of them.
At 12.32 I had my first bite.....................a cheeseburger with plenty of ketchup and a snickers bar from the cabin. Before returning to my peg I had a quick wander down to Horseshoe Lake and found that the two Dorking Steve's (Gardener and Sanders) were catching a few F1's but not a lot else was happening. Returning to my peg, the younger half of the Sanders duo (Michael) was still catching from Peg 8 whilst Don had a few from Peg 2 and James Eisinger had caught 5 or 6 behind me on Peg 25 on the back spit.
I decided to give it another few chucks and if things didn't pick up then I'd pack up. On went two bits of corn and I launched the lead somewhere to my left towards Peg 18. I was just sitting there thinking about the pegging for sundays match at Gold Valley when the rod nearly left the rest and I soon had a fish of about 8lb in the net. Whilst it wasn't going to do me any good in the match, at least it gave me the chance to take the mickey out of those that hadn't caught so far, including Woody on Peg 24 and Sponge Bob on Peg 15. Another fish of about 5lb followed about 15 minutes later but with Sanders Junior still catching I thought I'd wander round and spend the final half hour watching him. I would probably have gone round earlier but Jimmy Bullard was stalking him for what seemed like hours so there was no room. However, as Jimmy was playing for Fulham in the evening he had to nip off early meaning I could fill the spectators position behind Michael !
It never ceases to amaze me just how smooth the top anglers are when they fish and after watching Michael catch a couple of fish I went round to watch Don in Peg 2, he'd so far had 9 carp but the bite I saw him miss with 2 minutes to go did prove costly !
I returned to my peg after the final whistle to find that Marcus Page and Sponge Bob who were supposed to be on the scales had both buggered off meaning I was left to weigh in with James - thanks lads. My two carp went 13-0-0 and on our set of scales James was top weight with 45-4-0. Don's missed bite proved costly as his 9 carp went 42-8-0 as he tied for the section with Mick Keeper on Peg 10. As expected Sanders Junior won the match with 70-12-0 whilst Sanders senior came third with 55-0-0, the pair being split by God who filled second spot with 60-10-0.
Result
Michael Sanders Top 8 70-12-0
Steve Gardener Horseshoe 5 60-10-0
Steve Sanders Horseshoe 10 55-0-0
James Eisinger Top 25 45-4-0
Donald Garnish Top 2 42-8-0
Mick Keeper Top 10 42-8-0
Sunday sees us back at Gold Valley on Gold Lake for Round 3 of Pikey's Winter League, we have the Big H's in my team for this round (Hathers and Haisman) and with us top of the league, the pressure is on for them to deliver the goods ! Come back here on Monday to see how we get on.
JPZ's from Marukyu - "The Dogs Danglies"
Jordan Whitby with a PB Carp of 18lb from Newdigate
Maggotdrowning.com
Exclusive Pictures
Fred Davis with his personal best chub of 7-2-0 from the River Lea
and his 6-8-0 tench !
Neil Humpage with part of his 89-10-0 match winning chub catch from the River Wye
Mike Spragg with his personal best Barbel from the The Wye, a whopping 10-1-0.
Davey P's Locker - Tackle I would recommend
Drennan Lake Floats - I used to use these floats for crucians and have recently started using them again for my silvers fishing, The cane bristle makes them especially sensitive.
I use this hook for nearly all my carp fishing from Size 10's with paste, 14's with the knotless knot on the lead and 18's for Hook in the loop rigs and they have never let me down.
How smart are this lot - Andy May and his wife with some of the motley Total fishing.com crew. There is a small pond just out of the picture and they fished a small sweepstake between the wedding ceremony and the reception ! Andy May won, Haisman was last - no change there then !
Myles Levy and his mate Chris with a 59lb catfish from France.
When I was writing in the Angling Times I promised some friends that I would try and get "Fish Cakes" mentioned in an article. However, as I was sacked before I could do so, I thought I'd put them on here ! So Mick and Karen Jones, here they are as promised !
At least one member of the Baxter clan can catch fish ! Young Dylan with a 4lb bream.
Hathers at Stafford Moor - Let this picture be a lesson to you all, those last couple of drinks the night before are never a good idea !
World Exclusive !!!!!!!
Andy Toplis playing a fish.
Ryan Hughes with part of an 80lb bag from White Springs Fishery in Wales
Mick Bull wont have received many points for this dive - but having just won the Fisho Final and £25k I don't think he really cared !
Another exclusive for Pikey's Progress - Terry Molloy not talking ! Oh yes and with a decent River Thames Pike.
OK Own up - who lent Mick The Bookie some fish to pose with ?
Martin Harper with a superb 8lb tench from Farlows Lake
Young match star Tony Curd with an 11lb barbel from the River Kennet - he didn't say where, these spessy hunters are so secretive !
Total Fishing's Justin Laundon with a fine net of fish from Lindholme Lakes
Fred Davis with 3 chub over 5lb and a small one from the River Lea.
http://www.carpvader.com/index.asp
Jeff Moors took part in the recent Catfish Challenge and caught this one - more of a "kitten" than a cat really !
And here are some proper ones that the winners had.
BNF - with part of a near 100lb haul from the Glebe
Scone - Angling writer, float maker and all round good egg !
"Hathers" with his 3-8-0 roach from Timsbury Manor - some claim it was really a hybrid, I couldn't possibly comment !
"Fordy on the Telly" with 40lb of prime River Kennet chub.
.........and this one weighed 5-2-0
Alan Dove with a small Skimmer Bream of 15-8-0 from Walthamstow Reservoir
Fred Davis plied Alan Dove with coffee all day then when he went to attend to a call of nature caught this one with his gear !
Colin Ormston (Billy no Fish) with the reason that some anglers still fish rivers !
Phil Stone (Pebs) with a fine net of roach and rudd from Witherington Farm
Total Fishing.com ventriloquist Gary Haisman with his two new dummies - Billy No Fish and Pebs.
