Sunday 10 December 2006

Rockells Farm. Saffron Walden. Essex. December 10th, 2006.

Marsh AC. Christmas Match.
RockellsFarm-2.jpg Rockells Farm picture by pnm123
Well after 10 weeks without wetting a line I had received an invitation to join Dave (The Fish) Collier and the members of Marsh AC on their Christmas match at Rockell’s Farm. I had heard some good reports about the venue and duly arranged to meet Dave at the services at junction 8 on the M11 at 7·30am.

A heavy frost greeted me as I loaded the car, matching the first one of the year that had arrived on Saturday morning, and the drive up saw the temp refuse to rise above 0°C which didn’t bode well.

Now Dave had only returned the previous day from a Caribbean Cruise so may have been disorientated, but even with his sat-nav managed to take the wrong turn out of the services and lead us back towards London.

Arriving nearer to 8·30 than the planned 8am welcomes were soon exchanged with familiar faces amongst the others that had been invited including 4 of the lads from the GOT Baits Squad (Gary, Keith, Vic & Phil aka Madd) and Terry Goff aka Wily Coyote (a fellow MD’er).
Due to our late arrival the pegging was carried out in a bit of a rush prior to the draw, but a bit of misunderstanding ensued that put a spanner in the works, and although it was finally resolved, it did make things a bit rushed for the start of the match as peg numbers had to be shuffled.

I ended up pegged between Keith and Madd, and just set up a pole to fish at around 6mtrs into around 4ft of water and down the left bank around 2½ft deep.
Bait for the day was corn and pellet, though in hindsight I should have set up a bomb rod to fish to the island at around 30yds.

The heavy frost had started to knock the colour out of the water, and for me it never happened, not a single bite.
Keith and Madd however both managed to get among a few fish, Keith ending up in 1st place with 7 carp for 22½lbs.
while Madd took 8 carp for 20¾lb and 2nd overall
which had the effect of leaving me feeling like a bit of Cod (Battered both sides).

A peg draw in the car park after the match saw everyone getting a prize and these were boosted by a generous donation of goodies from Trev and Gary of GOT Baits, ensuring that everyone went home with a prize.

So not the best of days for me, but still great just to be back out on the bank in good company after a bit of a lay-off.
Thanks again to the lads from Marsh AC, I look forward to fishing with you again, though hopefully I’ll put a few fish in the net next time
.





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