With me being on holiday with Mrs Pikey, there was no fishing for me last wednesday as we spent the day in Brighton (as you can see from the picture) !!!! I therefore obtained the services of Paul Law (also known as Justin Case on the Match Fishing Scene and Total Fishing.Com websites) as a guest blogger, and the following is a report of his efforts to win the "Fish for 3K" qualifier at Monk Lakes.
Having fished round 2 at the same venue a week prior and having such a good result I was very eager to get the venue, I was out side my garage with my kit at 6am waiting for my travelling partner Steve Fisher, after a few minutes he turned up we loaded up and set off from My base at Waltham Abbey and headed towards Nells café on the A2, and all the way wondering if the Dartford crossing was going to be nice to us today, indeed it was and we made good time and was at the café waiting for it to open.
I have been quite lucky at Monk’s having won lake 1 on the last 2 matches and a 3rd on the one prior I was brimming with confidence. My only requirement was a draw on the much better lake 2. I have prepared quite well for this one, making plenty of duplicate rigs the day before, checked and adjusted all my elastics and prepared all my bait to great detail, the only thing I had to do was tie some hooks which I did all the way to the venue.
Now there are strict bait limits and Monks its essential the right choice is made, I’m not convinced this is a one method venue so I tend to use a variety of bait and try to cover all bases, My recent visits have seen me use ground bait more and more and my intentions today were to ball it in at 5 metres unless I drew peg 45,46,56,67 or 77 and fish micro pellet and corn in the margins, both methods have been working well with my style of fishing and the only difference with pegs mentioned above is I will take the 5 pints of red maggots with me and leave the bulk of the pellets on the van.
On arrival at the car park I noticed Matt Love and Nick Gilbert and went over to say hello, you cant miss Matt as well as being quite tall he was wearing his regular santa outfit, why is it the guys from MfS have strange fishing attire ? I said hello to Hathers and noticed he was wearing a pair of shorts that looked as if he had just cut them down with a pair of worm sheers, I felt seriously under dressed in a pair of work jeans, and wasn't sure I had made enough effort.
Most seem to be hoping for a lake 2 draw, the field today is quite strong and quite a few well known anglers, and a few tidy local anglers to boot, I have a good chat with Dave Vincent and after a while I summoned up to take all the names and do the peg entries for John Bell.
I love nothing more than a good laugh and a windup so every one that drew on my half of the match as they came to me to log there names I asked each and every one of them their name, “the looks I got from the superstars” I could almost hear the words “don’t you know who I am” I love it I just grin and carry on.
John Bell offered me a draw right at the off as I was helping and I declined I like to have what ever is left, as the draw comes to an end its my turn, there are 6 envelopes left I look at my board and only peg 30 on Lake 1 is left I have a 6 to 1 chance of a lake 2 draw so in I go, Peg 73 I'm middle of the lake 2 spit facing the un pegged bank I’m more than happy with that, For bait I decide on the full 2 kilo of ground bait, 3 pints of micros 2 pints of maggots 1 pint of corn and 2 pints of 4mm to make up the 8 pints.
I have been quite lucky at Monk’s having won lake 1 on the last 2 matches and a 3rd on the one prior I was brimming with confidence. My only requirement was a draw on the much better lake 2. I have prepared quite well for this one, making plenty of duplicate rigs the day before, checked and adjusted all my elastics and prepared all my bait to great detail, the only thing I had to do was tie some hooks which I did all the way to the venue.
Now there are strict bait limits and Monks its essential the right choice is made, I’m not convinced this is a one method venue so I tend to use a variety of bait and try to cover all bases, My recent visits have seen me use ground bait more and more and my intentions today were to ball it in at 5 metres unless I drew peg 45,46,56,67 or 77 and fish micro pellet and corn in the margins, both methods have been working well with my style of fishing and the only difference with pegs mentioned above is I will take the 5 pints of red maggots with me and leave the bulk of the pellets on the van.
On arrival at the car park I noticed Matt Love and Nick Gilbert and went over to say hello, you cant miss Matt as well as being quite tall he was wearing his regular santa outfit, why is it the guys from MfS have strange fishing attire ? I said hello to Hathers and noticed he was wearing a pair of shorts that looked as if he had just cut them down with a pair of worm sheers, I felt seriously under dressed in a pair of work jeans, and wasn't sure I had made enough effort.
Most seem to be hoping for a lake 2 draw, the field today is quite strong and quite a few well known anglers, and a few tidy local anglers to boot, I have a good chat with Dave Vincent and after a while I summoned up to take all the names and do the peg entries for John Bell.
I love nothing more than a good laugh and a windup so every one that drew on my half of the match as they came to me to log there names I asked each and every one of them their name, “the looks I got from the superstars” I could almost hear the words “don’t you know who I am” I love it I just grin and carry on.
John Bell offered me a draw right at the off as I was helping and I declined I like to have what ever is left, as the draw comes to an end its my turn, there are 6 envelopes left I look at my board and only peg 30 on Lake 1 is left I have a 6 to 1 chance of a lake 2 draw so in I go, Peg 73 I'm middle of the lake 2 spit facing the un pegged bank I’m more than happy with that, For bait I decide on the full 2 kilo of ground bait, 3 pints of micros 2 pints of maggots 1 pint of corn and 2 pints of 4mm to make up the 8 pints.
The peg is quite deep compared to the lake 1 pegs I have fished, around 6 ft at 5 metres ideal for my balling in approach, I set up 6 rigs my main bagging rigs which are 2 x 0.4 Ackoo prototype body down floats set on a short line these are identical with a stung bulk of number 9 stotz with a couple of number 11 droppers, a 0.6 Wilkie pellet with an olivette in case the fish are really going to town 2 margin rigs and a top 3 to hand with an Ackoo pellet stix this is a 0.3 with number 11 stotz strung throughout the depth. All rigs are on black hydro with the exception of the margins they have Orange Wilkie. lines are .17 to .17 for the margin and .15 to .15 for the rest, people often ask me why do I do this well its very rare for the line to break anywhere other than the knot, it gives me that little extra control in the wind having a thinner line above the water and today was windy.
Im ready to roll and only a few minutes remains to the whistle, the plan is 7 babies heads at 5 metres and two shorter that I can reach with the 3 to hand rig this line I will also trickle maggots over the top, I will put a 250mm pot of micros and corn down both margins. I add a large handful of corn some loosely chopped worms and a pint of micros to the ground bait and proceed to make up the bombs.
The whistle goes and I hold back for a minute and just watch what everyone else is doing, most around me seem to be going down the paste route, no one has fed long
So in we go, Balling in always gets funny looks I always stand to throw my ground bait and as I do, I look around, you can see what people are thinking for 30 seconds I feel like a solitary Millwall fan at the Hammers ground. But this match is about 2 people, only 2 will qualify for the final which is at Lake John and at the end of my road. There is no point in doing what everyone else is doing.
In we go with the float and a piece of corn, then again and again and again a pattern is emerging 20 minutes has past and I haven’t had a bite, I try maggots and still nothing., I’m starting to get the feeling that I have made a grave error but in looking around no one is really putting anything together, then the float dips not a good bite just a dig, instinct takes over I strike and have a carp on, 10 seconds later its slipped the hook, this happens two or three more times and then I land one a nice plump 4 pounder in the office. Bites were hard to come by and all the time I had been dripping maggots on the 3 to hand line and I spotted a swirl, I put 3 maggots on the 3 to hand rig cast out and the float just carries on under, I’m rewarded with a cracking Ide around 2lb I go on to land 4 more of these and a few chub, I m not doing brilliant by any stretch of the imagination and certainly below par for Monk standards sadly after about an hour. These fish died off.
We are now halfway in and I have about 20lb I cant get bites the only bites im getting is on a worm that I have to drag around the peg and every now and then a fish will grab hold, so I decide to get a feeder rods out of the ready made bag, as I’m getting this out Hathers asks how I’m doing and I replied no good he came back with a similar comment. I take a good look around 45 to 48 are bagging the end two pegs on the spit are catching and the guy in what looks like peg 77 is also catching. Pretty much to form. I also see Dave Vincent net a fish from peg 44 on lake 1.
I chuck out the feeder with a banded 8mm pellet as soon as it hits the bottom the rod is wrenched from the net, I land a carp around 4lb, I eagerly recast and get the same
I’m now thinking here we go, sadly 1 more bite was all that could be mustered,
1.5 hours to go and what do I do the margins are dead 3 to hand and the 5 metre line are the same, I cant win anything but want to catch a few fish for my troubles, so I use one of the 5 metres rigs and plumb up at 11metres I had noticed the guys either side had nicked a few carp on the paste fishing long. To my surprise the depth was exact of that at 5metres I put a very small pot of micros at 11 metres and dropped a soft hooker over it, after a while I started to nick a few fish a few F1’s followed by a couple of carp and chub then the elastic ripped out and a good barbel was in the office this continued for about 40 minutes and also died off, all that was willing to grace the net after that were 3 and 4 inch skimmers, those skimmers that wouldn’t usually get a look in.
The whistle finally blew, It was a very strange day today the carp didn’t show in any real numbers I was probably 40% of my target weight, a quick glance at the clicker showed 54lb I would be well under that as I tend to be a little generous due to the strict net limits.
I packed my kit away, A steady flood of people back to their cars confirmed it had fished hard most on the spit had left without weighing the two pegs on the end and 77 had caught ok and were sure to take the section there would be no envelopes for me today so I had a good look and tipped back, On my way back to the van I had a chat with Dave Vincent who was on peg 44 the peg I was fortunate enough to draw on last weeks qualifier, he had over a ton but would be last to weigh going on the way in which lake two had fished he was certainly in with a shout, and that proved to be correct as the results below show.
Dave Vincent......Peg 44....136lb 2oz
Robbie Taylor.....Peg 45....131lb 12oz
Dave Sandford.....Peg 68....112lb 8oz
Russ Berryman.........112lb 4oz
Graham Dack......Peg 48.....110lb 4oz
Ben Emery......Peg 77.......102lb
Steve Copping..Peg 46.......100lb 9oz
The results were pretty much to form for when the carp at this venue sulk, well done to John Bell for having the determination to kick of the south’s very own fishomania.
And well done to Dave Vincent I would like to think my info from last weeks qualifier helped him on his way.
Returning to match fishing after so long has filled a huge gap, the people the competitiveness you cant beat it. Roll on next Wednesdays qualifier at Newlands Hall
Paul Law
Steve Copping..Peg 46.......100lb 9oz
The results were pretty much to form for when the carp at this venue sulk, well done to John Bell for having the determination to kick of the south’s very own fishomania.
And well done to Dave Vincent I would like to think my info from last weeks qualifier helped him on his way.
Returning to match fishing after so long has filled a huge gap, the people the competitiveness you cant beat it. Roll on next Wednesdays qualifier at Newlands Hall
Paul Law
