With no match planned for Sunday, I let Plummers (my regular fishing buddy) convince me to go with him to Greenridge Farm at Ampfield in Hampshire. Don't get me wrong but with me being a 6 metre paste angler and most fish long pole to the far bank, I wasn't expecting great things !
The day didn't start well as we both forgot to make a note of the suggested breakfast stop and we ended up stopping at the Basingstoke Services for a not particularly nice 2 English breakfasts with tea and coffee for a bargain £22.40 !
Arriving at the fishery, having survived our mugging, the first thing I noticed was that the place had received a "Gold Valley" haircut and the lakes looked very very bare. At the draw ably organised by Calum Craig (thanks mate for running the match) Plummers drew Peg 11 and I drew Peg 4, both on Lake 1. A quick look at the draw sheet revealed that I had Mark Poppleton (or Slider as he is better known) on Peg 3 and Pegs 5 and 6 had both been left out, which I thought was a right result, as a bit of room is never a bad thing - although I did notice that there was a load of water coming into the lake through a pipe about 8 metres to my right.
My cunning plan was to fish 14 metres tight to the far bank - yes I know this would involve using the sections of the pole with the writing on but I'd been psyching myself up for a while, down the track was a more sensible 7 metre option and then 2 edge lines, one at 9 metres towards the empty platform to my right and then a shorter 4 metre line. Bait was to be either maggots or meat. Fortunately for Mark and ingfisher on Peg 1, the chap on Peg 2 didn't turn up for the match so they both had a blank peg as well and whilst I didn't make use of mine they both caught steadily through out the match. IMy far bank seemed to be a lot deeper than Marks and I really struggled to catch across although I did catch a few big fish late having put on a heavier float and also starting to feed more meat, although I think by then it was "Carp O'clock" that magic time when the fish just start to feed properly. Having struggled to catch across, I also tried down the middle but only had I big ide, a seven pound carp and one big bream which turned out to be a member of the smallest bream shoal in the south. The edge proved a little more successful as I did have a few big fish but it was all too little too late. Although my 58lb was very disappointing, it was nevertheless nice to fish without rain or frost and fish in a T shirt once again.
Result
Lake 1
Peg Name Weight Position
1 Pete Newman 106lb 08oz 2nd
3 Mark poppleton 113lb 12oz 1st
4 Pikey 58lb 12oz 4th
7 Graham Spiller DNW =7th
8 Brian Hayse 38lb 00oz 6th
9 Mike smith 61lb 08oz 3rd
10 Nick Merry 53lb 12oz 5th
11 Tony Plumbridge DNW =7th
Lake 2
Peg Name Weight Position
12 Bryan moore 32lb 00oz 6th
13 Paul barnard 61lb 08oz 4th
14 Trevor holmes 13lb 00oz 9th
15 Kev downer 14lb 00oz 8th
16 Rob Gallagher 83lb 00oz 1st
17 Nathen fox 64lb 08oz 3rd
18 Andy fox 31lb 00oz 7th
19 Steve hemming 44lb 00oz 5th
20 Dave burford 69lb 10oz 2nd
Lake 3
Peg Name Weight Position
21 Calum craig 57lb 08oz 5th
22 Gareth boycott 171lb 06oz 1st
23 Jake Gallagher 93lb 10oz 2nd
24 Bob wackril 23lb 00oz 6th
26 Dean rowden 22lb 00oz 7th
27 Tom miller DNW =8th
28 Mark blake 78lb 14oz 3rd
29 Tony blight 74lb 14oz 4th
30 Bernard blight DNW =8th
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.
