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Kingsland Reservoir, Coates, 14th September 2014

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After 3 days at the Glebe, may as well make it 4 and I was closer to Cambridge than I was to London, so it was prudent to catch up with my old mate Mark to continue the battle for 2014 honours, maybe having a hot curry the night before wasn't the best idea... We decided to fish at Kingsland Reservoir again.  The lure of large carp was just too tempting.  We arrived early and managed to grab two swims together on the big lake.  A club was also fishing the big lake, so we were keen to stay out of the way. Mark chose a peg with a method feeder chuck to the aerator and I took the one to his right, one peg away from the nearest corner as you get to the lake. The Set-Up After 3 days at the Glebe I had plenty of sweetcorn left over, so decided to fish the following lines: 5 metre line Margin line Method Feeder, just in case Surprisingly bait was sweetcorn, hemp, left over casters, worms and some expander pellets as a change of hook bait.  A simple set up. The All-In We

MFS - Munkees vs Shandies, The Glebe, 13th September 2014

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Elvis Presley lives!  Well he did visit the Longshoot last night.  I've never seen the place so packed.  Together with the XXL burger it was a quiet'ish night.  I was knackered and headed to bed well before the rest of the lads, some of which where up until the small hours. Arriving at the fishery it was clear who had been out on a big night.  The final day and the scores between the Munkees and the Shandies was all tied.  24 points on offer today and it was one Munkee verses one Shandy a head to head battle, who would I be fishing against and where would I draw? The Draw Pool 1 for the third day running, this time Peg 24.  One down from my day 1 draw and the Shandy I was up against?  My old mate Steve 50-50, so time for another £2 bet. The Set-Up After seeing yesterday fish were being caught shallow I decided to change my match plan.  I set up the following: Feeder rod which would double as a bomb and pellet line 13 metre shallow 13 metre at full depth 5 metre l

MFS - Munkees vs Shandies, The Glebe, 12th September 2014

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Roy's Kitchen window and chickens were in trouble today! Considering we didn’t get to bed late I felt surprisingly good this morning and met Sconey, Big Ron and Dave Swain for breakfast. A late draw certainly helped! Thanks Sconey… All the lads had gathered in the Marquee and today would be the pairs. Sconey and Myself were recreating the epic battle we had with Hathers and Pikey last year. That ended in a halved point, what would be the result this year. My confidence was high. The Draw We drew on Pool 1 again, pegs, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Peg 6 would be my home for the day. It looked like the ideal feeder peg with boards across between two clumps of reeds. The Set-Up The feeder rod was the first to come out of the bag. I also set up the 5 metre and the margin to my left. Bait again, casters, micros, dead reds, worms, corn and hemp. The All-In Straight across on the feeder, but my cast was a little out. The wind was up but I could adjust for that. After 6 casts

MFS - Munkees vs Shandies, The Glebe, 11th September 2014

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Finally, the Northern Munkees vs the Southern Shandies… I had a great 3 days last year with the lads and this has become part of my “must attend” events. The Glebe, a great venue. I arrived just after 8:30am after some rubbish traffic on the M1 and getting stuck behind a tractor on the run into the Glebe. Most of the lads were at the Glebe and the banter started. It’s a great event organised and run by Sconey. The Draw In the section today was, Shogun (Munkee who was fishing for the Shandies), Dum Dum (Adam), Steve 50-50, George T, Iansi, Kenfish and Sconey. Peg 25 on Pool 1 was my home for the day. The Set-Up Remembering the advice from Andy Kindy, which was to set up the lines you think will catch you the most fish I opted for the feeder rod and 5 metre line. I had a good selection of bait, casters, micro’s, sweetcorn, dead reads, hemp and worms for a change of hookbait. The All-In I had a plan and it revolved around the feeder across and the 5 metre line, althou

River Thames, Shepperton Lock, 26th August 2014

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Something a little different for the blog. My good mate Dave Speller, most of you will know him as Shedders or those that attend the Withy weekend; Spiderman, enjoys a bit of river fishing for Barbel and whatever else comes along.  He can be often found with the other gentleman, Jaap Stam "of West Ham", either on the river or playing darts! So, as I wasn't travelling with work this week I thought I'd sent Shedders a text to see if he would kindly take me Barbel fishing one night this week.  My chance came earlier than expected and we set a date, time and place.  I met Shedders down on the River Thames near Shepperton Lock. Now, it has been over 20 years since I fished a river and I've never caught a river Barbel before, so I was looking forward to the evening's events. The Set-Up No need to lug all the match gear around and Shedders had kindly offered to bring a rod set-up for me.  I decided to take my small spinning rod that was purchased when I lived

MFS - How End Fishery, 3rd August 2014

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What a great night, the BBQ was going, there was CO2 "nuggets" cooling peoples beer and often freezing it, gazeboo gate 1 where the gazebos blew over and new ones put up in there place. Football won by MFS, luckily no injuries, plenty of beer, wine and spirits flowing.  Shedders bringing midnight snacks.  Professor Colbrad picking up and sleeping in the wrong sleeping bag, coupled together with plenty of laughing and DJ Dum Dum, music for young people. You can imagine there were a few sore heads in the morning! Day 2 was upon us.  Today I'd be fishing Yasi's and with a great result yesterday I was hoping to back it up. The Draw Peg 10 on Yasi's came out of the drawbag for me, another great peg with the aerator.  Alan, my fishing partner for the weekend gave me some good advice on how to fish the peg.  3 foot depth, fish on the slope for the barbel towards the aerator, don't both about going over to the far bank. Once again I was pegged next to Pe

MFS - How End Fishery, 2nd August 2014

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 Another event that is a regular date in the diary, the How End vs MFS two dayer.  Last year was a blast, not only the fishing but the craic with the lads and the hospitality of Pebs, Tarnya and the family.  Day 1 and I arrived a little late with plenty of the lads already in the car park unpacking their gear. Weather was pretty good although the forecast was predicting showers later in the day, but that wouldn't dampen anybodies spirits!  Mistake one for me as I was getting my gear together, I'd forgotten to bring some socks... oops, Pete Bailey stepped in a with a clean pair of Nike socks... cheers matey, they have now been washed, but not ironed ;-) The Draw So as we were waiting for the draw and Pebs was giving his rules speech, Simon from How End handed me what looked like a car key remote which I though would make some funny noise.  Pressing the button I got an electric shock akin to an electric cattle fence.  Well the lads were laughing away and of course this inter