Army Carpers Match 1 Newlands Hall fishery

Right I know it’s been a while but I thought that to keep some new content coming on my blog that I would start to add my carp matches, plus I can add a bit more detail than I tend to in the videos as I find that too many videos end up with the host waffling some rubbish about his tea. On that the video can be found here :
Avoiding the Blank 17 Part 10
But for now ....I was off to Brook lake at Newlands Hall in Essex the other week, I managed a quick 24hr practice so I shall start there:

As I drove over to Essex the temperature barely reached above zero degrees the whole way and I was greeted by a frosty view as I started my first couple of laps around the lake. My main plan was to get the pegging sorted for the main competition the following week and also to see if I could find or discount any tactics.  Pegging laps done I managed to get have a bit of a chat with a couple of locals, Dan and Freddie, they were both very helpful and pointed out the better areas and also the areas that were not fishing as well.  I decided that I would start on the Mark Pitchers swim peg 40 though as it was next to the island and also had some open water to go at.

I decided to start with mag aligners and small bags of maggot as the air temperature was still well down, but after an hour I was starting to question my sanity as I was constantly getting done by small roach and bits. I tried several areas of the swim to no avail and decided that a move was needed, so it was off to peg 46 as it looked like a very good margin swim.  This time I changed tactics and started to fish method feeders on both rods, it didn’t take long and I soon had a couple of small fish on the bank but at about a pound in weight they were not what I was after.  A fish showed under the far bank tree line so I sent both method feeders along the far bank snags, within 20 minutes I had had another brace of bigger carp this time one at 6lb the second at about 4lb.

This was enough to tell me that there were fish in the area and that if I could get a bait on them it was possible to get a couple of quick bites. It was time to find a swim for the night as I did not fancy snag fishing, so I loaded up the barrow again and wandered over to peg 14, this was between a couple of points and had a nice margin and loads of open water.  I started again on the method feeder and after a quick fish I decided to try some more normal tactics. A wafter rig was sent into the same area this time clipped up to a patch of harder bottom and I accurately loose fed a few boilies over the top.  Again it wasn’t long and I had another 6lb carp on the bank so it was time to try and forse the peg, 3 spods and another quick bite for another 6lb.  I thought that I had cracked it so fed 3 more spods and that was the last indication I had for 14hrs!!!  I tried going back to maggot, method, zigs, casting at showing fish, casting tight to the far bank in fact everything short of dynamite, but I learnt a lot and I felt better as Dan and Freddie stopped getting bites during the nighty as well.

I did another couple of laps in the morning, said my farewells to the guys and drove home with a bit of a plan for the following week and a good idea of how to peg it to try and make it fair.

So to the match weekend, I had kept Chris fully briefed on my little visit and we had quite a few little chats on the run up to the match, I got to the lake nice and early on the Thursday so that I could peg it out and then the social took the form of hiding in Freddies shack eating burgers and hiding from the cold wet weather that had descended for the evening.

Come the morning we all awoke to frozen bivvies, so the conditions were well against us again, I managed to spin the draw out to allow a late comer to arrive but once he was present we got the show on the road.

It was apparent that the luck of the organiser had rolled on from last year as Chris and I were first out of the bag and we pounced on Peg 5 (perm pegs 16 and 17) as it gave us access to a couple of nice margins and also a lot of open water where the fish historically held up.  All the other pegs came out of the bag all bar peg 6 to our right, so the water was divided between ourselves and pegs 7 and 8 opposite.

The plan reasonably simple, Chris was going to try and plunder the margin to the right of the swim and I was going to work the open water using method feeders hoping that regular recasting might give me a few opportunities.  I called the all in at 9 O’Clock and within 20 minutes I had a small carp on the bank from next to a tree in my left hand margin, I wasn’t expecting too many from this swim as it was going to suffer from any disturbance that we made in the swim but it was a good start.

The rest of the day saw Chris picking up the odd fish from down the margin and I was able to get some small fish from in the open water, I was having issues with finding any sort of rhythm or rhyme as to how the bites were coming and some of the fish were very small, I had a Common of 11 ounces on the first night. By 11 O’clock the next morning it was apparent that Pegs 1 and 7 had the lion’s share of carp in front of them and Lewis and Tom on peg 1 were keeping a healthy lead with 18 Carp for 164lb, they were being chased by Ian and Mark on peg 7 with 15 carp for 134lb. There was a battle for 3rd starting to develop though between Chris and James on peg 8 with 8 carp for 71lb closely followed by Chris and myself on Peg 5 where a quick couple of fish saw us start to catch up with 13 carp for 60lb. It was all to play for as the top 3 teams would all walk away with a small prize so Chris and I started trying to figure out how to extract the best from the swim.

We decided to swap sides of the swim at around lunch time as the cast down the right hand margin was very tricky and I thought that I might stand a better chance of pitching a method into the snags and hopefully the path of a passing carp.  The tactical switch worked and over the next 2 hours I had 5 bites landing 4 and come the penultimate weigh in Chris and I were now in third place albeit by the narrowest of margins.

The last night was nerve racking as I struggled to get a rig into place in the darkness with new branches snatching my rigs out of the sky most chucks, but we kept on working and were rewarded with a couple of bites throughout the night and also with a 6lb carp at first light.

We were never going to catch the top two pairs as the stamp of fish that we were catching was tiny, on the second night I caught an 8 ounce carp whereas the other pairs were catching fish that averaged out at around 10lb a fish.   

I called the match to an end and the final results were:

1st:  Peg 1: Lewis and Tom 270lb 9oz (27 Carp)

2nd: Peg 7: Ian and Mark  214lb 13oz  (23 Carp)
3rd: Peg 5: Chris and I 109lb 12oz  (23 Carp)
4th: Peg 8: Chris and James 103lb 7oz  (12 Carp)

All that was left was to do the prize giving and to wish everyone well until the next match in April, in all it was a very enjoyable weekend as the weather was nice for November, there were plenty of laughs, especially when Tom in peg 1 decided to use himself as a plummet.  The fishery staff really  looked after us, Ian the bailiff was still trimming branches in the swims on the Friday so that as much of the lake could be covered by the swims as possible, and he was also saw dusting Dave’s peg at the all in (oops).  Freddy and his awesome breakfast rolls was another highlight and saved me from cooking in the morning, and his top tips were well received.

What would I have done differently?

Not a lot really I didn’t leave a stone unturned for the first 27 hours when I was working the open water, I tried everything that I could think off bar smashing a load of bait in open water on an area, and I didn’t fancy that with the weather we were suffering. Maybe picking an corner peg next time?? J

Tackle used:

Method Feeder:

Rod: Drennan 11ft 1.5lb TC series 7 Specialist

Reel: Daiwa TDM 4012

Line: 12lb Syncro XT loaded 0.21mm powerline hooklength

Hook: 10 QM1

Feeder: 36g-45g Guru Hyrid medium and large black elastic in a long stem

Zig:

Rod: 12ft Avid traction 2.5lb (Modified Butt).

Reel: Korum 6000 bait feeder reel

Line: 18lb Syncro XT to 0.21 or 0.24mm Powerline

Hook: 8 Fox beaked wide gape barbless

Maggot and wafters rigs:

Rod: 12ft Fox Horizon X 3.5lb TC

Reel: Shimano Ci4 ultegra 14000 XTB

Line: 15lb Korda Touchdown

Rig: Various