Round 9 lodge Farm Sand Martin 18.3.2023

[Leo Martin]

Winter league round 9 Lodge Farm 18.03.2023

Spring is definitely in the air light mornings and nights, birds singing, nesting and getting fruity with each other. Spotted the first lambs in the field as well driving to Lodge Farm along the country lanes.  The weather whilst still very changeable is hopefully improving overall but no doubt will still hold a few surprises in store for us.

So the last winter league match was a new winter venue for the Bashers in Lodge farm Sand Martin lake. A clean well maintained fishery, small café, net dipping in place and generous bags of pellets. Sand Martin is one of the newest lakes on the complex and has been prolific since it opened a couple of years ago.  A long rectangular lake, grass sloping embankments down to platforms on scaffold poles over the water. It is exposed should the wind blow as there is no tree cover but this is minor detail and we go for what's in the water not aesthetics on the bank. 30 evenly spaced pegs, I guess it would be tight if peg to peg however we had it spaced out with 11 anglers on one back, a second match was pegged opposite side. Park behind the pegs, very popular with the Bashers now. The lake is deep, very deep, 8-9 feet in places at 10 to 14m. 5 to 6 feet at top 2+2. Sides of established reeds and sedges.

Friday night draw dealt me peg 1 which I was pleased with and my neighbour on peg 2 was Chef Indian so a chatty day was on the cards. Plan was maggots, hard pellets and corn. Pole lines at top 2 + 4 in front, top 2 + 4 to side of lake on my right ( very shallow here, less than a foot) and method and bomb rods for along the side of lake just shy of half way where there were some rushes in the water edge.

Arrival at the lake and I was disappointed to see our end of the lake was flat calm and the breeze and ripples was at the other end of the lake. Very few fish showing on top but the weather was kind , sunshine to start the day off.

Match opposite went in before us and the guy opposite me had a fish first chuck on his bomb rod to side of lake quickly followed by another.  This resulted in a last minute change on my bomb rod from spiked hook to banded hook for pellets.

Glens whistle and in we went. An hour later I had only had one indication on rods which came on bomb rod second chuck as I tightened to weight, maybe I foul hooked one but it was released before I held it....... I peppered the side of lake on bomb and method for no bites all times. I went through range of pellets but no luck so it got sacked off.  Hard to understand as the guy opposite must have had about 8 fish on his rods. Pole out and fishing just off bottom went onto maggots looking for a bite. Indian also had a lean first hour before he engaged some decent Ide. About 20 minutes on this line before the float dipped nd an Ide was netted. All my fish came off this line, decent Ide a few decent skimmers and a solitary carp with 20 minutes of the match left.

The rods were tried intermittently fort nothing and side of lake line tried as fish could be seen in it several times. 2 bites on corn and one on maggots on this line but no fish when lifting hoping to engage.

Indian next door worked on his pole and maggot approach and tried swapping lines a few times as the fish were drifting in and out of his swim. Again carp were avoiding our baits at our end, I think he had one.

John Lanelly on favoured peg 4 set off well and caught consistently throughout but has to work hard for his fish

Glen next door to his hero had a frustrating day rotating lines in his quest to up his catch rate. He did spend a lot of time planning his excursion with Big john for a boys fishing week away. I think he is getting excited about this break and no doubt we will read about it in the papers.

Whistle blown and we had a slight delay as we all looked around for our resident weighmaster Steve Curtis but he didn't show. 1st reserve yours truly stepped up and I am not sure if the scales went on a go slow or the lads were testing me out with the how long can he hold the net game.

Match winner Joe Martin took the match out with 70-10 from peg 7, Andy Waite peg 8 46-9  for section win and John Lanelly peg 4 with 36-12 second in section.
Second section winner was Jasper peg 13 with 46-15 and second in section Paul Whitehouse with 37-15, closely run from next door by Rider Steve Guy on end peg with 36-6.
Well done everyone.

The Ide seemed to be dominant at the lower end numbers of the lake where very few carp were caught, however the wind and ripple attracted the carp to the second section. The ide caught are of a decent stamp with some upwards of a pound, carp caught from a pound to 4 pound I would say.
Maggot seemed to be the most successful bait along the whole bank, doubles and singles taking fish.

Everyone caught a few fish however it wasn't easy and some anglers struggled to string bites together. If its any conciliation, the match opposite had similar results, some catching, some not and even a couple gave in and packed up. The weather was also kind considering Big Bash winter league usual conditions so I guess it was a reasonable day. Good to see our guests Joe Martin, Andy Waite and Steve Guy dusting his tackle down.

Being the final match means we look at the league, announce and reward our winners.
Steve Curtis league winner without even fishing today 7 points 471lb
John Utting second in league 16 points 265 pounds
Kev Indian Webster 3rd in league 16 points 168 pounds
Paul Whitehouse 4th in league 17 points 222 pounds
Massive well done to Steve and other packet pickers.

Head to Head league Steve Curtis first and John Utting second, well done to you both on the cleaning up.

So the 2022-2023 winter league ends and we move onto the Summer league.
Thank you to Jasper for the admin and faultless organisation
Thank you to Steve for his weighing in duties ad Glen for his whistle blowing.
Special thanks to everyone who has fished our matches be them league members or guests and made it an enjoyable winter. I think the variation in venues has added a different dimension and increased interest this year.

We now look forward to the clocks changing, hanging up the thermals and breaking out the shorts as Summer league starts on Aprils fools Day, (beware of Mr Guys tricks). Our first match is on Lindholme Bonsai. 21 members summer league members no doubt like coiled springs and waiting to fish. Please pay on your membership and pegging in advance so we are good to go.

[jasper31]

Great write up buddy

On the day i was unlucky to draw peg 13 - (just a couple of pegs away from where i needed to be)

Peg 15 looked the peg with slight wind blowing into a reed fringed bank it looked perfect for Steve Guy to empty it.

I have never fished Sand Martin but most reports were that there was plenty of fish, with young carp and large Ide it was an ideal winter water.

I set up one rod - method to a hard area about 25m out
2 pole lines - 13m with maggot & 5m with pellet - the lake is deep and i mean deep - about 10ft at 13m  :o

With the depth i decided that i would set up a float rod with a small insert waggler (not fished like that in about 30 years)

Start on method for first hour and had 2 carp - whilst waiting for bites i was feeding red maggots at 13m , after an hour and not a lot being caught i decided to go on waggler.

Double maggot set with a very slow drop resulted in a bite just as the bait settled on the bottom. First fish skimmer, this carried on a for a while and strange how never had a fish on the drop but always as it hit the bottom. I have carp, Ide and skimmers doing this and enjoyed it, but they soo drifted off. Back on method and had one then nothing. Went on pole and spent 15 minutes battling a carp of about 4lb due to using light elastic thinking it was all going to be ide fishing.

With 2 hrs left Paul next door started catching on Bomb n Corn - so i followed suit fishing a little further out then the pole line fish came in spurts really - have a couple then nothing.

To weigh 46lb i was happy with and to get 2nd in match was a surprise as my winter fishing has been awful this year.

Well done on all the winners and runner-ups of the leagues, fantastic effort and support.

[jasper31]

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