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MFS - Rookery Waters, Pidley, 7th July 2013

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The fish were busy with each other! It was another early start from London, 5:30am to be on the road for 6am... The drive up to Pidley in Cambridgeshire was easy given the time so I arrived at the Mad Cat Pub for our breakfast gathering with plenty of time to spare.  Colin Mercer was already at the pub car park having stayed over after a two day event close by.  The weather was glorious and there had been talk that the carp had been spawning on the saturday which made the fishing tough going for those competing with weighs well done on the normal 100-200lb bags! We all arrived at the fishery, lucky for Colbrad we caught him up on the famers path into the fishery and he looked a little bit lost but was soon in the convey to the car park.  Everyone unpacked their gear and we all head down to Magpie lake for the draw.  The fish were indeed spawning again and all you could hear was splashing of fish chasing each other and the slurping noise that car make in the margins... it was an a

MFS - Bury Hill Fisheries, 30th June 2013

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Peg 30 Bury Hill Fisheries is one I've heard about a lot.   Russ Evans, The Obsessed Angler used to be the head bailiff with plenty of videos to be found on YouTube .  I was looking forward to this match where the main species to target is Bream.  I contacted Russ to get an idea of how to approach Bury Hill and he gave me some good advice about the pegs, what groundbait to feed and to be prepared to chase the bream further out as they tend to back off. Arriving at the fishery I was greeted by Ken who had obviously been set up by the southern lads.  As I walked into the tackle shop Ken says, "I'm sorry mate but it's Sunday and there is a problem", I responded, "What is the problem mate?", he says, "Yeah, Sunday and no Northerner's allowed to fish on a Sunday"... brilliant craic!  I'll thanks Brian Green (Proper Tidal Boy on MFS) for that one! ;-) The Draw George was sorting all the lads out in his usual no-nonsense style I d

MFS - How End Fishery, 9th June 2013

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After a very heavy weekend out with friends in St James Park and then in Clapham I managed to drag my butt out of bed at 6am to get ready for a day at Phil and Tarnya's place, How End Fishery in Bedfordshire organise by Colbrad from Matchfishing Scene.  Col had put extra effort in to ensure there were enough anglers competing that it would count towards MFS Champions League points!  So a big thanks to Col and the lads who came from further afield (Mark and Ruddy). Gathering round in Peb's tackle shop, we were all buying out bait, odds and sods and then there was RuddyRoach (Steve) who apparently calls Phil when he breaks tackle which he has been doing quite a lot latey!  So Ruddy turns up with a top kit that had "smashed" on him at the Glebe in the MFS Glebe pairs event...  There were at 5 pieces of carbon taped together with elastic, pulla bung and connector just dangling in the carbon wreckage.  He is a funny bloke Ruddy and he was wearing his lucky jumper... you

Gold Valley - Open Match, 2nd June 2013

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After returning to London to live and work there was one place I was itching to get back too, Gold Valley, home of Will Raison, former England World Champion.  I felt a bit of a "Billy no mates" as it had been a while since I had fished an Open Match and there were plenty of faces I didn't recognise.  That was soon to change when Pat Pritchard came up and said, "hello Lewy".  Great to see him and then the other lads, John Rhodes and Steve from Talk Angling.  Thanks lads. The Draw The regulars tend to know when the draw is about to take place, generally when they hear the pegs going into the cup ;-)  This is the time when the line kind of forms up... I grab the first peg from the cup and out came number 39.  So I would be on Gold rather than middle lake. The Set-Up Arriving at Peg 39 I thought to myself, "I've been here before..." and I had, back in January 2012 .  Peg 39 is on the bank between Gold and Middle Lake and has an island at about 1

MFS - Witherington Farm, 5th May 2013

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After a night of much merriment and playing pool with ladies underwear on... yes, that was the rules otherwise you were fined the Withy 2013 crowd gathered in the cafe for the final day of the weekend.  Again, the weather was cracking, bright sunshine with a few clouds in the sky, maybe not ideal angling weather but none the less I could top up the tan, sorry sunburn! The Draw I was going to be on the outer snake high numbers today and the draw revealed I was on peg 36 (I think).  The Set-up Arriving at the peg, I had a great margin line to my right to the next platform, a 16.5 metre stretch to the far bank and the bridge over the gap between the outer and inner snake lakes.  Rolly wandered by and told me to set up a small pellet feeder and cast it to the bridge area, saying, "the tip will go round all day...".  So the set up was: Pellet Feeder 16.5 metre far bank pole line 13 metre right hand margin top 3 left hand margin 5 metre meat line Bait was sweetcor

MFS - Witherington Farm, 4th May 2013

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The Annual Withy event with the Match Fishing Scene lads this is one of best weekends I've ever had the pleasure of fishing/socialising especially after last years event. The Draw Peg 5 on Cottage came out of the bag for me giving me a great island chuck straight ahead and a long left hand margin swim to the corner where the wind was blowing into.  Neighbours for the day would be Sconey and Withybagger. The Set-Up The island was an great target area and I had plenty of room for pole lines, so I set up the following: Method Rod 13 metre left hand margin swim 14.5 metre swim straight ahead 5 metre meat line Bait for the day was luncheon meat, sweetcorn, dampened 4mm and micro pellets, 4-6mm expander pellets and some worms for the hook.  I also mixed up some dark sweet fishmeal groundbait to cup in loosely on the margin line. The All-In I cupped in some pellets and meat on my two pole lines straight ahead and went onto the method feeder for the first hour of the match

Maggotdrowning - Lindholme Lakes, 3rd May 2013

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The final day of the 5 day festival and we would be back on Lindholme Lakes Bonsai lake.  After a great Thursday night there were plenty of sore heads. The Draw I drew last after helping Gary and peg 64 was left in the bag for me so I would be on the middle arm but this time on the left hand side.  There was a good ripple on the water and I had an island to cast to with the method or bomb rod, plus a peg to my right which was empty and would be a great margin line later in the match.  Neighbours for the day were Keith (Shallowman) and Pete (Texas Pete) so I knew it would be a fun match. The Set-Up The island would be a target area for the method feeder and I also chose a couple of pole lines. 8 metre line's at 10 and 2 o'clock Margin line to the empty peg to my right I would rely on sweetcorn again, 6mm pellets,  6mm cubed luncheon meat and loose groundbait. The All-In Cupped some meat in on the left hand 8 metre line and some 6mm pellets on the right hand li